volume 30 • number 1 janua ry / februa ry 1998...ry to bring pressure on state officials to...

VOLUME 30 • NUMBER 1 JANUA RY / FEBRUA RY 1998

The air is still and crisp... critter tracks crisscross the path ahead...the trees’ skeletal structure revealed. Winter is a great time to hike.See pages 22-23 for a selection of outings you won’t want to miss.

photo by Sherry Best

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C h a p t e r E x e c u t i v e C o m m i t t e eA T L A R G E :

Gale Burrus, Chapter Chair, SC Council Delegate9828 Willow Avenue, #1A, Kansas City, MO 64134; (816) 763-5120Andrew Gonzur, Vice Chair4037 McDonald Ave., St. Louis, MO 63116Keet Kopecky, Treasurer, Newsletter Editor9211 Olmstead, Kansas City, MO 64138; (816) 966-9544Ginger Harris 556 Oakhaven La., St. Louis, MO 63141; (314) 432-2618Chris Hayday, Political Chair700 West Blvd. N., Columbia, MO 65203; (573) 875-4507Wallace McMullen2805 Mohawk Dr., Jeff. City, MO 65101; (573)636-6067Rebecca Schedler, Membership Chair,.1103 Jewell Avenue, Apt. 1, Columbia, MO 65203; (573) 443-4401Claus Wawrzinek,P.O. Box 45542, Kansas City, MO 64171; (816) 561-7863

G R O U P R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S

Eastern Missouri Group: openThomas Hart Benton Group: Bob Sherrick10807 E. 205th St., Peculiar, MO 64078; (816) 779-6708Osage Group: Hank Ottinger511 Westwood Ave., Columbia, MO 65203; (573) 443-4954Trail of Tears Group: Brian Alworth2826 Whitener St., Cape Girardeau, MO 63701; (314) 334-7978White River Group: Bob RodgersRR 5 Box 323, Rogersville, MO 65742; (417) 753-5051

C hap ter Com m ittee Chairs Conservation: Caroline Pufalt13415 Land-O-Woods, #3, St. Louis, MO 63141; (314) 878-3165

Transportation: Ron McLinden3236 Coleman Rd., Kansas City, MO 64111; (816) 931-0498

Highlands Activity Section: Lori Anne Clark3027 Hogan Dr., Jefferson City, MO 65109

Population: Robert Elworth, M.D.RR 2 Box 5324, Willard, MO 65781; (417) 742-2775

Legal Chair, Deferred Gifts Officer: Roger Hershey18308 Hanthorne Drive, Independence, MO 64057; (816) 795-7533

Legislative: Joe Engeln2407 Topaz, Columbia, MO 65203

Sierra Club Board of Directors: Roy Hengerson(Treasurer) 2201 Weathered Rock Rd., Jefferson City,MO. 65105; (573) 635-8066

S t a ff C hap te r Off i c eKen Midkiff, Program DirectorTerri Folsom, Administrative Assistant914 N. College, Suite 1, Columbia, MO 65203; (573) 815-9250 voice/answering machine; (573) 442-7051 FAX/modem(800) 628-5333 Water Quality Hotline

EMG Off i c eClaralyn Price-Bollinger, Staff Member325 N. Kirkwood Rd., Suite 100St. Louis, MO 63122;(314) 909-0890 (phone)(314) 909-9770 (fax)

The Ozark Sierran is published six times ayear by the Ozark Chapter of the SierraClub. Annual dues of Sierra Club memberspay for subscription to this publication.Non-members may subscribe for $15 peryear.Items for publication: Contact Keet Kopecky via E-mail [email protected] or phone (816) 966-9544 PRIOR TOSENDING, for information on how to submit articles. The editors reserve the right to edit articles! Material may beedited for length, content, or clarity. It is our job to help youcommunicate. If you have strong creative ownership of yourwriting, and wish to review your edited article beforepublication, consider your deadline 10 days prior to thepublished deadline. With notice, we will be happy to workwith you. Reproduction quality photographs (prints) or artwork aredearly welcome. Pleeease: send us photos...

The published deadline is the real, honest-to-goodness, drop-dead deadline — not acouple of days or a week later!Submissions r eceived after the deadline aresubject to the possibility they won’t appearin the issue: you will feel bad and we will

feel bad. Call us nasty, but we are determined this newsletterwill come out on time!The OZARK SIERRAN is produced on a PC and a Macintoshcomputer, so we strongly prefer to receive materialelectronically (E-mail), or on a Mac or PC disk (3.5“), WITH AHARD COPY OF THE TEXT. Typed articles are also OK (mustbe received a few days before the deadline.) All submissionsmust include name, address, and phone number of the author.If you want your submission returned (including your disk),please include a SASE.H a rd-working, All-volunteer Editorial and Production Staff :Keet Kopecky, Editor; Anne Brown, Barb Conover, NancyF e r a l d i , a n d Ed Fullert o n .

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mailto:[email protected]

Ozark Sierran Ja n / Feb ’98

by Hank and Katie Dorst and CarolinePufalt

In previous issues of the O z a rkS i e rra n we have described newf o rms of accelerated loggi n g

m oving into the Missouri Ozarks. H i g hcapacity chip mills have been the focusof our concern . Our forests face a gr avet h r e at from chip mills and whole loge x p o rts to out-of-state mills. T h emomentum comes from the southwhere timber supplies are tight due toove r - c u t t i n g . In the southern regi o nonly V i r ginia and North Carolina aregr owing more pine than is cut annually.Vast acreage of pine and hardwoods areclearcut for paper production onp ri vate lands across the south. C l e a rcutting pri vate lands in Missouri islikely to increase to feed the highvolume demands of the chip mills.

Two high capacity chip mills areunder construction in Missouri. One isowned by Williamette Industries atMill Spring northwest of Poplar Bluff,and another called Canal Chip isbeing built in Scott City near CapeGirardeau. The Scott City facility ison the Mississippi River and is partlyowned by a Japanese company. It willprobably barge chips down river to aGulf port for shipment to the FarEast. Williamette Industries will loadchips onto trains bound for its paper

plant at Hawesville, Kentucky, andcould ship excess chips for export.

Chip mills are highly automated.The new Williamette Industries millwill employ only six people. Industryand agency economists have calculatedthat for every one million dollarsinvested in chip mills only one job iscreated. However, one million dollarsinvested in a saw mill creates 8 to 10jobs and one million dollars invested inthe furniture industry creates 40 jobs!

Chip mills focus on small treesbut can also use larger trees.Thesmaller trees they use represent notonly the future forests, but the futuresource of saw logs for flooring andfurniture. Even without the influx ofchip mills into Missouri, our state’ssaw timber production has increased.We cannot afford the extra pressurefrom chip mills.

U n f o rt u n at e l y, we cannot expectthe Missouri Department of Conserva-

Will Missouri’s Forests BeChipped and Shipped?

cont’d on page 4… “Chip Mills”

3

Help (still) Wa n t e d

The O z a rk Sierran is looking form e m b e rs and others whowould like to vo l u n t e e r.We

still need a schedule coord i n at o r:someone who will be in charge of theproduction schedule, set up meetings,contact laggard authors , e t c. T h i sp e rson needs to be organized andp e rs i s t e n t . The O z a rk Sierra n i sproduced in Kansas City, so ford e a d l i n e / budget considerat i o n s , wereally need vo l u n t e e rs in the KansasCity area, but if you are out-stat e ,we ’d still like to hear from yo u .If this job interests you...or if yo uthink yo u ’d like to volunteer but theseare not your skills, please contactBarb Conover at (816) 822-8136.

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tion (MDC) Fo r e s t ry Division to be inthe forefront in responding to the highcapacity chip mill issue. Although somein the department have expressed con-c e rn , there have also been outri g h texpressions of support for chip mills inM i s s o u ri from MDC pers o n n e l . S o m esee chip mills as away to “ u t i l i z eexcess forestgr ow t h ” or to makeuse of small or “ l owq u a l i t y ” t r e e s.

T h u s , it is upto Missouri ’s citizen-ry to bring pressureon state officials toconfront the chipmill issue.T h e s emills may affectwildlife habitat ,wat e rshed quality,community econom-i c s , and local qualityof life. Chip millsa r e , of cours e , p ri vat ebu s i n e s s e s. But theycan operate only ifthey comply withrequired permit con-ditions for wat e rru n o f f.The condi-tions of those per-mits have been under

r e v i e w. High capacity chip mills repre-sent a new level of industri a l i z ation inM i s s o u ri forestry practices. M i s s o u ri a n scan therefore justify the need for com-p r e h e n s i ve study of chip mill impactsand request a temporary morat o rium onp e rmits for new chip mills until suchstudy is completed. ■

Chip Mills... c o n t ’d from page 3

By Caroline Pufalt

It’s forest planning time for theMark Twain National Forest. Butwhat does that mean? How can

forests be planned? Before you conjureup visions of trees in rows, please bearwith the following explanation ofplanning and its regulatory history.

Forest planning is a processthrough which each National Forestdevelops a plan for managing its landfor a 10 to 15 year period. These plansare intended to provide an overallframework under which each forestwill operate. Plans should consider all

What Direction for Fore s tPlanning in Missouri?

Chip Mill Letter Writing Alert

Our Gove rnor and State Legi s l at o rs need to hearabout your concerns regarding the impact ofchip mills on Missouri ’s forests. At the turn of

the century much of our forests had been decimated bye x c e s s i ve logging and other abu s i ve practices.We do not want to see historyr e p e ated through high capacitychip mills. Please write a letterasking for:1 . a state study regarding thepotential environmental and eco-nomic impacts of high capacitychip mills;2 . a morat o rium on permitting anynew high capacity chip mills duri n gthe study peri o d .W rite to: G ove rnor Mel Carn a h a n

Rm 216 State CapitolJe f f e rson City, MO 65101M i s s o u ri Senat o rs and Representat i ve sS t ate Capitol BldgJe f f e rson City, MO 65101

cont’d on page 5… “Forest”

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conservation needs, such as wildlife,plant communities, watershed and soilprotection, and resource outputs suchas timber and recreation. Forest plansprovide a framework under whichindividual “site specific” decisions aremade. Forest plans should bedeveloped by an interdisciplinary teamof resource specialists, such as wildlifebiologists, soil scientists and foresters.The planning process should includepublic outreach and public input.

Several laws have conspired tobring us the forest planning process. In1974 the Forest and RangelandRenewable Resource Planning Act(RPA) required the Forest Service todevelop national-level, long-rangemultiple use plans. Later, the NationalForest Management Act (NFMA)required planning at the individualforest level.Those forest plans areofficially called Land and ResourceManagement Plans or LRMPs. Onestep further down the chain is theindividual site-specific decision: forexample, a timber sale or a new trail tobe built.

All of this decision makingshould comply with the NationalEnvironmental Policy Act (NEPA),which requires consideration of publicinput in decisions and agencyrequirements for analysis. Finally, thecontent of the forest plan needs tocomply with other federal laws such asthe Endangered Species Act (ESA),the Clean Water Act, and lawsprotecting historical and cultural sites.

Fortunately, in order toparticipate in forest planning youneedn’t be able to distinguish NFMAfrom NEPA, or RPA from ESA! Youonly need to be concerned about theMark Twain National Forest.What’smost important to understand is thatthe forest planning process is anopportunity to make some significantchanges in how The Mark TwainNational Forest is managed.

The MTNF contains about 1.5million acres in Missouri. Most of thatland has some degree of forest cover

but many acres are characterized asglades, pasture, or other non-foresthabitat.The MTNF is spread overmuch of southern Missouri. The forestis comprised of several districts whichhave administrative offices and areheaded by district rangers. Only one ofthose districts, the Cedar CreekDistrict, is north of the Missouri River.The MTNF is a national forest offragmented ownership.That meansthat land owned by the federalgover nment is often in irregularsegments with adjoining acres ofprivately held land. The MTNF forestplan will cover management plans forthe entire MTNF. Thus the documentmust consider all issues relevant to allof its districts.

Our Chapter was invo l ved in thed e velopment of the current 1986 planfor the MTNF.We will work toinfluence the upcoming plan which isscheduled for final completion inN ove m b e r , 2 0 0 0 . Before that time, t h eMTNF will conduct three stages ofpublic outreach.We are in stage onen ow, which is simply gat h e ri n gi n f o rm ation on items that need change.

In future issues of the OzarkSierran we will update our readers onMTNF forest planning. To begin wehave provided a brief summary ofsome issues that we would like to seeaddressed in the new plan.

R E C R E AT I O N : A few ye a rs agom a ny Sierrans were invo l ved ind e f e ating a proposal for extensive offroad vehicle (ORV) trails in the Salemand Potosi Districts of the MTNF.Wem ay see pressure to revisit similar issuesin the new plan.The MTNF hasi m p r oved its facilities at the existingO RV recreation site, the ChadwickM o t o r cycle Tr a i l . At the same time, i thas closed campgrounds elsewhereacross the forest. We will need to defendand promote appropri ate low impactr e c r e ation opportunities in the MTNF.

MINING: Our chapter andmany individual Sierrans providedcomments on the recent proposal topermit exploratory drilling for lead and

F o re s t . . . c o n t ’d from page 4


cont’d on page 6… “Forest”

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other minerals in the MTNF. Thatspecific proposal will likely continue tobe an issue in 1998 and beyond. In themeantime we can address the overallappropriateness of mining in theMTNF or in certain districts withinthe MTNF through the forestplanning process.

ENDANGERED SPECIESAND OTHER WILDLIFE NEEDS:Wildlife habitat is a primary amenityprovided by our national forests.Habitat protects the heritage of ournative biodiversity and providesrecreational opportunities. Recentlythe MTNF has had to confront itsneed to protect the Indiana Bat, afederally listed endangered species. Foryears the Ozark Chapter and otherenvironmental groups have listed ourconcerns about habitat needs for thebat. Its numbers have continued todecline. A recent court ruling hasraised this issue further. (See previoustwo issues of the Ozark Sierran forIndiana Bat information).

LOGGING: Another acronymfor forest planning fanatics is ASQ for“allowable sale quantity.”The ForestService defines ASQ as “the maximumamount of timber that could beharvested on a sustained basis.” As youmight guess there’s a lot loaded intothat definition. Specifically, what doessustained mean? Sustained for whatpurpose? Another problem with ASQis that the term “maximum” somehowgets translated into the word“required.” Timber is just one“product” provided by the forest. TheForest Service is not required to putthe maximize timber over other issues,although it usually does. In addition toissues of volume, the issue of methodis also involved in forest planning. Inpast years the only logging method theMTNF seemed to appreciate was clearcutting. In response to public pressureit has acknowledged that there is morethan one way to cut a tree. But it stillpractices some clear cutting as well asother forms of “even-agedmanagement” (EAM). EAM results in

a forest of trees of approximately thesame age and is thus often regarded asnot adequately mimicking naturalforces. Both ASQ and EAM will beissues in the new forest plan.

SENSITIVE AREAS: TheMTNF has seven “Sensitive Areas.”Most of those areas were at one timepart of an inventory for potentialwilderness acres. Although these areasare not federally designatedwilderness, they are afforded someprotection to preserve their roadlessstate. Management of these SensitiveAreas under the current plan has attimes been controversial. Sierrans mayrecall earlier efforts regarding theLoving Ridge and North Fork roads.Those issues were both related to theprotection of Sensitive Areas. Ourexperience with the MTNF’smanagement of Sensitive Areas underthe current plan has been mixed.Weclearly need to reinforce theirprotection in the new plan.

These are just a few of the topicsto be covered in forest planning. Basedon your own use of the MTNF youcan probably think of more. Now isthe time to let the MNTF know what’simportant to you. Our chapter has aPublic Lands Committee which willwork on inputs to the planningprocess. If you would like moreinformation, contact me at the addresson page 2.

It’s also important to contact theMTNF, express an interest in thisprocess and be placed on the mailinglist for further information.You maywrite to:Planning Team, MTNF

401 Fairgrounds RoadRolla, MO 65401;(573)364-4621, fax (573)341-7475 ■

F o re s t . . . c o n t ’d from page 5

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Natural Areas Confere n c e

The 1998 Missouri Natural Resources Conference will be held February18-20, 1998 at the Tan-Tar-A Resort on the Lake of the Ozarks. OnFriday, February 20, 1998, 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m., a Missouri Natural

Areas Session is scheduled to take place.This session includes eleven techni-cal papers on the areas of scientific studies and management issues related tothe Natural Areas of Missouri. For example, there are five papers on prairies,two on insect distribution and response to seasonal burn events, one on thedeer impact on native flora species, and one on the composition of understoryvegetation in oak savannas. Registration is required to attend the various func-tions over the three day conference.This annual event is attended by severalhundred professional and academic stewards and students of Missouri’s pub-lic and private natural resources. Members interested in the state of ournational heritage will find the proceedings of interest. For more informationcontact Mike Currier at (573)526-2990 or [email protected]

Chipping Forests and Jobs

This 82 page report on the impacts of chip mills in the southeasternUnited States was produced by the Dogwood Alliance and the NativeForest Network. The report summarizes the environmental and

economic impacts of high capacity chip mills and includes recommendationsfor citizen and legislative responses to the problems chip mills pose. Thereport analyzes the players involved: timber companies, local mills, state andfederal agencies, impacted communities and the forest itself. Given the factthat high capacity chip mills are moving into Missouri, this booklet providesvaluable and timely information.You can order your copy of “ChippingForests and Jobs” by sending $7.00 to The Dogwood Alliance, PO Box 4193,Chattanooga, TN 37405-0826.

P ro g ress on the Big Muddy National Fishand Wildlife Refuge

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has released the draft EnvironmentalImpact Statement regarding the expansion of the Big Muddy NationalFish and Wildlife Refuge. Public comment on the draft was completed

January 7, 1997.The agency proposes the expansion of the refuge from itscurrently approved 16,628 acres to a total of 60,000. The refuge is spread outalong the Missouri River from St Louis to Kansas City. It has been referredto as a “string of pearls,” and to those of us who appreciate natural aquatichabitat it is a jewel. If you want to become involved contact the EIS ProjectManager below. It is not too late to express your support before the final EISdecision. Judy McClendon, EIS Project Manager

US Fish & Wildlife Service24385 State Highway 51Puxico MO 63960

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mailto:[email protected]

200 pages (DEIS Draft Summary is 27 pgs).

The Missouri River oncemeandered 544 miles on itspath from Rulo, Nebraska, to

its mouth just north of St. Louis. Itnow courses less that 500 milesbetween those two points. Between1879 and 1972, 50% of the originalwater surface area was lost and 98% ofthe land surface area of river islandswas eliminated*. The channelizing andlevee proliferation that produced thisphenomenon was paid for by the U.S.taxpayer and executed by the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers. The 1993floods abruptly reversed variousparameters of these trends andproduced an opportunity to try tosalvage some of Missouri’s mostthreatened plant and animalcommunities. Hence the Big MuddyWildlife Refuge was established in1994 with authority to purchase16,628 acres from willing sellers. TheUS Fish & Wildlife Service(USF&WS)is now proposing to increase theauthorized acreage of the Big MiddyWildlife Refuge to 60,000 acres.

The public is invited to sendcomments on the proposal to Ms. JudyMcClendon, EIS Project Manager, USFish & Wildlife Service, 24385 StateHighway 51, Puxico, MO 63960, orto call 1(800)686-8339. Commentsmust be received by January 7, 1998.

Ask the USF&WS to restore thethreatened natural communities of ournative flora and fauna.

* “Changes in the Channel ofthe Lower Missouri River and Effectson the Fish & Wildlife,” by John L.Funk & John W. Robinson. AquaticSeries No. 11; Missouri Department ofConservation, 1974.


July 1996 – June 1997, prepared byDennis E. Figg and Carol Dav i t . , 76 page s.

The Missouri Department ofConservation (MDC) reportson its many natural history

activities (other than the education,hunting, fishing, and forestryfunctions). Report subject areasinclude: Restoration & Recovery,Research, Surveys, Monitoring,Wildlife Diversity Planning, NaturalAreas, Natural Heritage Data Base,

and Rare & Endangered Speciessummary. Those who wish to beinformed about the status of the nativeflora and fauna of Missouri will findmuch of interest here. For the MDC,the stewards of about 900 thousandacres of select public lands in theState, there is ample subject matter.Copies are available by writing to:Missouri Department of Conservation,Natural History Programs, PO Box180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180.

Publications of Intere s tMissouri Department of Conservation Wi l d l i f eDiversity Report

Big Muddy Wildlife Refuge Enviro n m e n t a lImpact Statement (DEIS) Draft

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by Hank Ottinger

As an occasional teacher ofenvironmental studies, I tirequickly of students (and, if truth

be told, of environmentalists as well)who begin their proclamations ofenvironmental cures with, “We need to ___.” Fill in the blank: we need toreduce population... we need toconsume less... we need to developsustainable solutions to our problems. Iwant to shout: “don’t say ‘need to:’ tellus how!”

One possible way is througheducation. Integrating Sustainability intoAcademic Programs is an easilyunderstood, well-organized book thatprovides some cogent answers to howsustainability can become somethingother than an abstraction. Co-editorand contributor Robert Wixom (alongtime, loyal Osage Group SierraClub member) has put together a solidgroup of thirteen authors from a widerange of disciplines to address thiscrucial issue. The papers thatcomprise the text were presented at arecent symposium sponsored by theFriends Association for HigherEducation.

If there is to be educationalprogress on reversing trends of theunsustainable, it should be clear toall that no one academic disciplineholds the key. Fortunately, all thecontributors to this book are unitedin their support of interdisciplinaryapproaches to problem-solving. Timeand again this theme is sounded.

The first two essays present therelevance of the 1992 UN “EarthSummit” to higher education. Thecore of the book is broken into threesections, each explaining howsustainable principles can beintegrated across the curriculum.

Essays from teachers in the life andphysical sciences, the social sciences,and the humanities provide practicalinformation for interrelating thedisciplines as well as moving beyondthe walls of academia into the localcommunity.

Central to these discussions arethe “Four Emphases of Sustainability”:environmental concerns, academicprograms, scientific investigations, andreligious motivation. As Wixom statesin his concluding essay, “all four areneeded in the search for truth….”

Integrating Sustainability intoAcademic Programs is a useful tool forthose seeking to bring these crucialideas into a college or universitysetting. Finding the book may not beeasy: it can be ordered, however, fromthe Friends Committee on Unity withNature, 179 N Prospect Street,Burlington,VT 05401-1607. ■

Book Review: I n t e g r a t i n gSustainability into AcademicP ro g r a m s

W hat will yours be? You joined theS i e rra Club because you are concern e d

about the well-being of the Earth. Continueyour involvement by remembering the Sierr aClub in your will. For more information andconfidential assistance contact John Calaway, S i e rra Club Planned Giving Program, 85 Second St., 2nd floor, San Francisco, CA 94109, (415) 923-5538, or l o c a l l y, contact Roger Hershey (816) 795-7533

Legacy

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by Claralyn Price-Bollinger

We continue to score morevictories on the way tostopping the Page Avenue

Freeway. By December 1, 1997, 20 ofthe 92 St. Louis County municipalitieshad passed resolutions expressing theiropposition to this wasteful highwayproject. Here’s the list ofmunicipalities: BellefontaineNeighbors, Blackjack, Clayton,Dellwood, Ferguson, Florissant,MacKenzie, Maplewood, Normandy,Northwoods, Pagedale, Pasadena Hills,Shrewsbury, St. Ann, St. John,Town &Country, University City,Vinita Park,Wildwood, and Woodson Terrace. TheFlorissant Valley Chamber ofCommerce and the St. Louis CountyMunicipal League have also opposedthe Page Avenue Freeway.

By the time you read this issue ofthe Ozark Sierran, the EasternMissouri Group will have sent anupdate on the Page Avenue project toover 800 municipal officials, schoolboard members, and staterepresentatives and senators in St.Louis City and County. We lastcontacted these officials at the end ofAugust; since then, 18 municipalitieshave passed their resolutions.

The following is an excerpt fromthis update:

We refer to the “ Page Ave n u eE x t e n s i o n ” as the “ Page Ave n u eF r e e way ” since that is what this projectt ruly is: a new, ten-lane highway projectthrough Creve Coeur Lake Memori a lPa r k , a magnificent park dedicated towar veterans which receives ove r1,000,000 visitors per ye a r.

Over the past several decades,our metropolitan region’s populationhas remained virtually stagnant, butour urbanized land has increased at analarming rate. As a result, someestablished areas are cannibalizedwhen assets are shifted to newly

developed areas of the region. We seeone example of this situation in theregion’s schools. Some outlying areasbuild new schools, while establisheddistricts wrestle with dwindlingresources.

We need to stop the Page AvenueFreeway because of the economicimpact it would have on St. Louis. Ourgasoline tax dollars are being used todrain the tax base out of our cities andschool districts.Time after time, wehave seen businesses and jobs followour tax dollars out of town becauseadequate funds are not available torebuild and maintain our existinginfrastructure. It is time for establishedareas to be supported by ourtransportation decisions.

We do not think that theMissouri Highway and TransportationCommission should cater todevelopers and continue with thisharmful project that would bedetrimental to our entire metropolitanregion. We should have learned by nowthat we cannot build ourselves out oftraffic congestion. One in three stateand federal transportation dollarsspent in the St. Louis metropolitanregion in the next nine years will go tothe Page Avenue Bridge and Freeway.Why should we spend so much of ourtax money on this one project, whichwill not solve traffic congestionproblems and will hurt our tax base?

Here is the Sample Resolutionwe have offered to municipalities andorganizations:

WHEREAS, the region’spopulation has increased by very little inthe last 25 years, but the amount ofdeveloped land has dramaticallyincreased; and

WHEREAS, this imbalancebetween the rate of population increaseand the rate of land development has been

P ro g ress on Stopping the PageAvenue Freeway

cont’d on page 11… “Page Ave.”

Ozark Sierran Ja n / Feb ’981 0

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unsustainable, causing disproportionatehighway expenditures for expansionprojects as compared to maintenance andmodernization of the built system; and

WHEREAS, the proposed PageAvenue Freeway and Bridges will bringthe total freeway bridge lanes between St.Louis County and St. Charles County to32, from 9 in 1977; and

WHEREAS, 32 bridge lanes acrossthe Missouri River exceeds the number offreeway/interstate lanes between St. LouisCity and St. Louis County; and

WHEREAS, the $250,000,000Highway 370 Freeway andBridge across the Missouri Riverrecently opened; and

WHEREAS,Highway 40is scheduled to be widened andimproved to interstate standards inSt. Charles; and

WHEREAS, the MissouriDepartment of Transportation’sofficial cost estimates for the PageAvenue Freeway have increasedfrom $372,000,000 to$550,000,000 since 1995; and

WHEREAS, the Pageproject is scheduled to utilize one-third of the region’s state andfederal highway funds for the nextthree years, and with additionalcosts,will utilize similarpercentages for the next eightyears; and

WHEREAS, state gasolinetaxes have increased ten cents pergallon in the last ten years, andthe Governor’s TotalTransportation Commission hasrecommended a one cent statewidesales tax increase pr imarily forhighways, thereby providingfurther proof of our inability tosustain patterns of highwayexpansion and maintenanceprojects and outward developmentof land; and

WHEREAS, this pattern ofdevelopment has contributed to ashift in population, tax base andemployment locations with little orno net gain to the region; and

WHEREAS, this pattern has alsoassisted in the continuing loss of middleclass residents in many at-risk areas of theregion; and

WHEREAS, this pattern can bechanged to promote quality developmentthroughout the region if there is thepolitical will to do so; and

WHEREAS, the environmentaland scenic impact on Creve Coeur LakeMemorial Park by construction and use ofthe Page Avenue Extension is exceptionaland will change the entire character of thePark; and

WHEREAS, the Page Avenue

Page Av e.. . . c o n t ’d from page 10

cont’d on page 12… “Page Ave.”

What Can I Do?If you live in St. Louis County, p l e a s e

call or write St. Louis County Exe c u t i veGeorge “ B u z z ”We s t fall (314)889-2016 andyour county council member (314)889-2 4 3 2 , both at 41 South Central Ave . S t .L o u i s , MO 63105. S t . Louis CountyS i e rrans should also contact their municipalofficials to find out if they have passed aresolution opposing Page Avenue (sees a m p l e ) .

If you live elsewhere in the St. L o u i smetropolitan regi o n , please contact yo u relected officials to ask for their opposition tothe Page Avenue Freeway project.

A nybody outside of the St. L o u i smetropolitan regi o n , please write toG ove rnor Carnahan at Missouri CapitolB u i l d i n g, Room 216 P. O. B ox 720 Je f f e rs o nC i t y, MO 65102-0720.

You can also write letters to the editorof your local newspaper. Reach out ton e i g h b o rs , f ri e n d s , family and cowo r k e rs anddiscuss how our tax dollars are spent.C u rr e n t l y, there are volunteer opport u n i t i e sin the St. Louis area to help stop the Pa g eAvenue Freeway.You can attend mailingp a rt i e s , phone banks, volunteer regularly inthe Eastern Missouri Group office or otheractivities on an as needed basis. P l e a s econtact Claralyn Pri c e - B o l l i n g e r , S t a f fMember for the Eastern Missouri Group tooffer your assistance. My e-mail address isc l a r a l y n . p rice- bollinger@sierr a c l u b. o r g .

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Freeway project presents the possibility offlooding of the St. Louis County WaterCompany, thereby threatening the region’swater supply; and

WHEREAS, the state of Missouriusurped the authority of all localgovernments, including the City ofMaryland Heights, to control state-sponsored projects in flood plains; and

NOW,THEREFORE, BE ITRESOLVED BY THE CITY OF____________, ST.LOUIS COUNTY,MISSOURI, AS FOLLOWS:

The City of _______________expresses our opposition to the proposedPage Avenue Freeway.

The Page Avenue Freewayproject affects all Missourians, not justthose in the St. Louis metropolitanregion, since it would be paid for bygasoline tax dollars. Are there bridgesfalling apart in your community? Whatabout the rural roads all over ourstate? Many of them are in a very sorrycondition due to lack of funds.Situations like this will only continuewhen projects such as Page Avenuegobble up massive amounts of our taxdollars. ■

Page Av e.. . . c o n t ’d from page 11

by Ginger Harris

Congress failed to reachagreement this year on re-authorization of the Inermodal

Surface Transportation Efficiency Act(ISTEA). Hours before adjourning forthe year, Congress instead passed astop-gap transportation authorizationbill (S1519) that extends funding untilMay 1, 1998.The Senate expects totake up “ISTEA-II” in February, butthe House expects to wait until after abudget resolution process in Marchwith the hope of allocating morefederal funds to transportation.

A troubling provision of thestop-gap bill allows states totemporarily shift funds amongprogram categories. Since states havealready spent most of their regularhighway funds, it’s feared that stateswill be shifting money from air quality,enhancements, transit, and safetycategories to continue buildinghighways, and will then persuadeCongress to renege on promises to paythese funds back to the programs fromwhich they were borrowed.

Meantime, take advantage of thedelay in reauthorization to ask yourRepresentative and Senators to do thefollowing:1. Preserve CMAQ (Congestion

Mitigation and Air Qualityprogram). Don’t let this money beused for reducing highwaycongestion by adding highwaycapacity!

2. Preserve NEPA (NationalEnvironmental Policy Act). Don’t letthis provision be “streamlined” assome Congressmen propose. Theywant to:(a) allow projects to receive permits

before environmental assessmentsare completed (“concurrentpermitting”);

(b) devolve NEPA review to thestates;

(c) mandate narrow time frames forenvironmental agency or publicreview;

(d) allow one federal agency to usurpreview authority of other agencies;

ISTEA Not Yet Reauthorized

cont’d on page 13... “ISTEA”

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by Ginger Harris and Ron McLinden

St. Louis Smart GrowthAlliance

...is alive and well. MetropolitanCongregations United for St. Louis(MCU) is negotiating with St. LouisCounty and City to agree to jointlyfund a study of the costs of sprawl.MCU continues to meet with Missourilegislators to introduce a bill on urbangrowth boundaries in January. Othermembers of the Alliance are puttingtheir efforts into stopping the PageBridge/Freeway. The Alliancecontinues to share insights into howbest to respond to the consequences ofsprawl. EMG’s Sierra Club office hascopies of a Sierra Club MidwestRegion publication called “SprawlCosts Us All.” Call (314)909-0890 ifyou would like a copy.

Urban Growth CommitteeHolds Hearings

The House Interim Committeeon Urban Growth, formed at theurging of the Smart Growth Allianceand chaired by Rep. Ron Auer, heldhearings on sprawl in St. Louis and St.

Peters on October 29 and 30. Severaldozen witnesses presented a widerange of views. Smart Growth Alliancesupporters enumerated the negativeimpacts of suburban growth on thecity and older suburbs. Suburbanitesgenerally defended their right to betterthemselves and said the city shouldput its own house in order and notblame them for the city’s problems. Inshort, lots of finger-pointing. Our(slightly biased) assessment is thatSGA supporters generally took a moreconstructive and analytical approach tothe situation, while suburbanites weremore likely to deny the problem.Claralyn Price-Bollinger presented astatement on behalf of the Sierra Club.Speaking personally, EMG ChairArthur Towers pointed out the flow oftaxes from the city to the outersuburbs. Also speaking personally,Ozark Chapter Transportation ChairRon McLinden emphasized thatsprawl is occurring all over the state,and that state policies should bereviewed to determine how they affecturban growth patterns. Rep. Auerexpects to report the Committee’s

cont’d on page 14...“Short Trips”

S h o rt Tr i p s

(e) allow DOT Secretary todetermine the purpose of ahighway project, thereby limitingalternatives analysis;

(f) preclude raising legitimate issuesafter the scoping or planningprocess.

If Congress amends NEPA in theabove ways for transportationactivities, it may do so eventually forall applications of NEPA.3. Restore highway maintenance as a

funding category. On September 16a “Potholes and Politics” report was

released showing that states arespending a majority of federaltransportation funds on new roadconstruction even though 58% ofurban freeways and expressways arerated in only poor to fair condition.

4. Leave transit funds directly underthe authority of MPO’s; don’tallocate these funds through thestates.

5. Restore Sustainable Transportationprogram research funds.

6. Keep Amtrak in ISTEA, so thatfederal funds can be used for inter-city rail operations. ■

I S T E A . . . c o n t ’d f rom page 12

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findings to the Speaker of the House,and to introduce legislation in January.

Proposition M Gets MixedReviews

A proposed quarter-cent salestax for light rail extension squeaked bywith 50.4% of the vote in St. LouisCity, but the same Prop M in St. LouisCounty and a half-cent sales tax inMadison County (Illinois) went downto defeat on November 4. Thecampaigns were not as aggressive asthe successful 1994 Prop M campaignin St. Louis City and County, butthere were other reasons for defeat.

Seven weeks prior to theelection, the Board of East-WestGateway Coordinating Counciladopted the “North-of-the-Park”alignment for extending MetroLinkamid a lot of controversy.Subsequently, some environmentalistswho had campaigned for the South-of-the-Park option decided not to workfor Prop M. And some public officials,including several county councilmenand state legislators, took advantage ofthe split among environmentalists overthe light rail planning process, andconfusing news coverage to mountcampaigns against Prop M. Citizensvoted NO for opposing reasons: a fewbecause the extensions would cometoo close to their homes; a much largernumber because the extensionswouldn’t come close enough. Inaddition, many citizens voted NObecause the extensions were too farinto the future: 2010 for St. LouisCounty, 2014 for Madison County.Unfortunately, by not passing the taxnow to save up for future construction,the total future cost could almostdouble.

Because Prop M did pass in St.Louis City, it does not have to besubmitted to the voters again in thatjurisdiction. However, until it passes inSt. Louis County, no taxes can becollected, even in the City. And itcannot be put back on the ballot in St.Louis County for at least one year.

Chamber Discovers PublicTransit

The Greater Kansas CityChamber of Commerce has“discovered” public transit. In a reportprepared by its special six-week taskforce, the Chamber declares that “thebusiness community must be involvedin planning a public transportationsystem (for) the citizens of GreaterKansas City.” The report goes on tosay that “the Chamber is ready toassume a leadership role,” both forpublic transit in general and forseeking consensus on proposed lightrail and commuter rail projects. TheChamber proposes to lead a year-longeffort to determine how best toimprove transit. Mid-AmericaRegional Council will put $100,000 ofits federal planning funds toward theeffort. The Chamber’s involvementshould be welcomed — and wewonder where they’ve been all along.We’ve expressed our concerns thatnext year’s processes be completelyopen, keeping in mind that theChamber will be helping MARC to dothe “region’s business,” not theChamber doing its own thing.Meanwhile, planning for the first stageof Kansas City’s light rail system isside-tracked.

National Trails System Actthreatened

The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy(RTC) successfully defeated anamendment by Jim Ryun (R- KS)which would have eliminated thenational policy of land-banking unusedrail rights-of-way for use as bicycle andpedestrian trails. This amendment isexpected to re-appear next session, sobe prepared to oppose it again.

For information on the above issuescontact Ginger Harris at (314)432-2618

or Ron McLinden at (816)931-0498.

S h o rt Tr i p s... c o n t ’d from page 13

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by Chris Hayday

The Missouri General Assemblypassed legislation in 1994 thatwould implement a Scenic

Byways program here in Missouri.This program would allow highways tobe designated as “Scenic Byways” andthese routes would be highlighted onhighway maps and protected frombillboard blight. There are currentlytwo applications pending: Highway 79between Clarksville and Hannibal, andHighway 65 between Route EE andthe Arkansas border.

To implement the program, theScenic Byways Advisory Committee(SBAC) was formed, representing thevarious interests involved withMissouri’s roads and tourism:Missouri Department ofTransportation, AAA, MissouriDepartment of Natural Resources,Missouri Department of Conservation,the Department of Tourism, OutdoorAdvertising Association and ScenicMissouri. The SBAC serves as anadvisory committee and makesrecommendations to the HighwayCommission on designating aparticular stretch of highway a ScenicByway. I have been serving on theSBAC representing Scenic Missouri

and helping to develop the applicationformat and criteria by which aproposed route is judged “scenic.”

The SBAC is now open andready for business. If there is a favoritestretch of highway you like to drivethat you would like to be designated asa Scenic Byway, please submit yourrequests to the Missouri Departmentof Transportation. Perhaps it isHighway 94 through the MissouriRiver bottoms, Highway 19 nearHermann, or Route 32 leading intothe Mark Twain National Forest. Thereare some procedures which must befollowed, but most questions areanswered by the information packetsupplied with the application.

This is a great way to preservethose routes which have a uniquescenic character. Missouri is a statewith abundant natural scenery,recreational areas, parks, and historicsites. The Scenic Byways program canprovide a means of promoting theseareas while protecting them fromunwanted billboards and development.If you have any questions, pleasecontact the Scenic Byways Program,PO Box 270, Jefferson City, MO65102 or call toll-free at 1(888)275-6636.You can reach Scenic Missouriat (573)446-3129. ■

Scenic Byways Program Underw a y

by Caroline Pufalt

Our Chapter’s ConservationCommittee met October 25 inSt Louis. Eastern Missouri

Group (EMG) staff person, ClaraylnPrice-Bollinger attended and filled thegroup in on all the EMG’s efforts tostop the Page Avenue Highway and

address the overall issue of urbansprawl in the greater St Louis area.Claralyn has helped greatly inmobilizing EMG members and ingaining needed publicity.

In a related issue the committeediscussed the potential relation

Ozark Chapter Conserv a t i o nCommittee Report

cont’d on page 16... “CONSCOM”

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between proposed funding mechanismsfor Metro Link in St Louis and astatewide sales tax for transportation.Since our meeting, the Metro Link taxwas unfortunately defeated. EMG hadendorsed the Metro Link measure butour Chapter has not yet taken a formalposition on the statewide sales tax.There are many reasons we questionits appropriateness.

In other issues, the committeevoted to approve a campaign to bri n gattention to water quality problemsr e l ated to chicken processing fa c i l i t i e s

in southwe s t e rn Missouri and to“ i n d u s t ri a l ” hog fa rms in nort h e rnM i s s o u ri . In Nove m b e r , t h eC o n s e rvation Committee voted tos u p p o rt a statewide study on chip mills.

The Chapter’s ConservationCommittee will start 1998 with ameeting in Jefferson City on Jan 17.Our meetings are open to all Sierrans.The committee meets at differentlocations around the state to encourageattendance by local Sierrans. If you areinterested in attending, contact yourlocal Group for details. ■

by Ken Midkiff

NeoshoThere are a lot of ways to look at

the same thing. I have been roamingaround McDonald and Newtoncounties the past few days viewing thearea from the perspective of the peoplewho live there. At the same time, therewas an “official” tour for state policymakers, and we didn’t come away withthe same conclusions.

Several residents had invited medown and with these folks as my hosts,we spent a lot of time sitting aroundkitchen tables in far m homes aroundthe countryside drinking coffee, eatingcookies, donuts, cakes, homemadecandy and whatever else they couldforce me to eat. Good food, strongcoffee, and horror tales of living in“chicken hell” as one man described it.

A little background: there havebeen chicken farms in southwestMissouri and northwest Arkansas sincejust after World War II. The bony hillsof the area didn’t serve ver y well forrow-cropping, so when GI’s returnedhome or as a few city folks retired tothe area, they would set up a littlechicken farm for extra income. A few

of these chickenfarmers hit the bigtime, buildingprocessing plantsand contractingwith other farmersto supply theseplants.

About 12to15 years ago, the situation changedrapidly towards an increasinglycentralized and concentrated system. Afew large companies controlled themarkets and if growers didn’t contractwith one of these companies, there wasno market for the chickens. But, thecompanies promised the sky: theywould supply the birds, the feeds, anda guaranteed market. All the growersneeded to do was provide the land, thebuildings, and the equipment (cages,food conveyors, and so forth).

An explosion of gr owth haso c c u rred in the past few ye a rs.According to inform ation obtained bythe local residents that I visited, t h ecounty tax assessor told them that thereare approx i m ately 600 active chickenhouses in McDonald County, e a c hcontaining from 10,000 to 22,000

cont’d on page 17… “Staff”Ozark Sierran Ja n / Feb ’981 6

ConsCom... c o n t ’d from page 15

S t a ff Report

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c h i c k e n s. S o, there are on any gi ven daysomewhere around 10 million chickensin McDonald county and a like amountin adjacent Newton and Barryc o u n t i e s , and all of them are gr ow neither directly by the large corp o r at i o n sor under contract with them.

The processing plants in the areakill and pack about 3.5 millionchickens a week. As can easily be seen,these are huge operations. By anydefinition, 10 million chickens is onebig bunch of birds. And akin to allanimals, they excrete. This manychickens excrete a lot, and the packingplants discharge a lot of waste(millions of gallons a day). All of thisends up on the lands and in thestreams of the area.

Add into this the steep hillsidesand karst topography of the area.“Karst” is used to describe an area ofporous limestone with many springs,caves and sinkholes. SouthwestMissouri is also blessed with once-splendid fishing and canoeing streams:Big Sugar Creek, Shoal Creek, ElkRiver, and others.

There are lots of people living inand around all of these poultryoperations who are very unhappy —miserable, in fact. Most of them havebeen born, raised, and spent their livesin the area and have no intention ofleaving. Others have tried to leave buthave been unable to sell their homes.The stench is unbearable. Wells arepolluted from runoff into the poroussoils and rocks.

One couple, holding back tears,showed me photos taken recently ofsludge that contained, in addition tofecal material, broken eggs and rottenchicken carcasses. This sludge wasspread onto a field right up to thefence line of their yard. They could notopen their windows or doors and fliesswarmed on everything: their cozyfarm home with neatly tended yardand gardens became a nightmare.

There were many such tales. Inanother incident, a grower who hadgone broke (not an unusual situation)

simply abandoned a chicken housewith over 10,000 laying hens in it. Allof the caged chickens died and the reekof decaying flesh was overpowering.No agency would take responsibility,although the couple living next doorcalled the health departments, the USEPA, and the Department of NaturalResources.This occurred two yearsago, and the skeletons of these ill-fatedbirds are still there, packed in theirsmall cages in an abandoned chickenhouse surrounded by weeds. A real-lifeStephen King vision.

These localized incidents lead upto a big picture of an areaoverwhelmed by an industry that hassimply grown too big too fast in asmall space. The cool, clear-flowingstreams of the area, once favoritevacation spots for thousands offamilies, are now algae choked. Someare little more than open sewer s. Theremaining fish are bottom feeders, andthese have open sores; their guts arefilled with tapeworms, and their fleshinfested with parasites.

The Missouri Clean WaterCommission didn’t take my tour offarm homes, devastated people, anddestroyed streams. Rather, the poultryindustry leaders took them to a“model” growing facility and showedthem a sterile, spotless operation. Iasked members of the Commission ifthey had taken a look at the Elk River(algae choked) or Cave Springs Branch(open sewer), and the answer was,“No, but we saw a model chickenhouse.” They saw the “reality” that thepoultry industry wants to impart.

The poultry industry has formeda task force to deal with the“perception” that they are causingenvironmental problems. It is not aperception. It is real. But I guess itdepends on what you choose to lookat: money—or a destroyed quality oflife in a ruined environment. ■

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by Ken Midkiff

Over the course of the past year,activists in the Ozark Chapterhave been noting a decline of

water quality in specific areas of thestate. Most of these problems werecalled to our attention by local citizenswho had become frustrated withinaction by state and federal resourceprotection agencies, and called theChapter office for help.

Some of these problems are well-documented and well-known toMissouri Sierra Club members andthe public.

In northern Missouri, giant hogoperations have sprung up like mush-rooms, with the wastes overwhelminglocal streams and resulting in cata-strophic spills and fish kills.

In southwest Missouri, years ofover-application of chicken manureand discharges from packing plantshave slowly but surely filled localriver s, streams, and lakes with anoverload of “nutrients” degrading andin some cases, destroying water qualityand aquatic habitat.The Elk Riveronce was a premier canoeing andsmallmouth bass stream. It is nowalgae-choked and little used byrecreationists.

In the south-central Ozarks, theproblem stems from human waste withsome horse manure mixed in.Thelevel of fecal coliform bacteria reachedthe danger level in one of our favoritecanoeing streams, the Jacks Fork River.

None of this happened ove rn i g h t ,but has developed over the course ofs e veral ye a rs.The large corp o r ate sw i n ei n d u s t ry claimed that their pollutionproblems were due to “ s t a rt - u p ”p r o b l e m s , e ven though they had beenin business for four to five ye a rs at thepolluting sites.The poultry industryhas been operating in McDonald,

N e w t o n , and Barry counties for ye a rs.In both of these cases, h owe ve r , t h e r eh ave been several periods of rampantand uncontrolled gr ow t h .

In the case of the Jacks ForkRiver, this, too, was not a startling newoccurrence, but had built slowly andrelatively unchecked for several years.Even though the Jacks Fork is aNational Ozark Scenic Riverway, and aState and National OutstandingResource Waters river, with verystringent water quality standards andall sorts of legal tools for protection ofthose standards, pollution levels haveincreased to the point where advisoriesshould have been issued against bodilycontact with the water. The sourceswere the Eminence wastewatertreatment plant and two largecampgrounds that release partially ortotally untreated sewage. One of thecampgrounds is a horse trail ride thatoccasionally has over 1,000 horsesadjacent to the Jacks Fork.

What is going on here? Don’t wehave strong water quality protectionlaws? Didn’t we just celebrate the 25thanniversary of the federal Clean WaterAct? Don’t all the polls show thatMissourians value clean water over justabout everything? Don’t we have theDNR and the US EPA to protect ourwaters?

Well, yes, all of that is true. Butlaws are only as good as theirenforcement. And citizens need to letgovernment agencies know of theirstrong feelings. Sometimes, politiciansare inclined to serve the wrongmasters, thinking that large industrialcorporations are in charge.

There is one other factorinvolved: individual citizens sometimesfeel an appropriate sense ofhelplessness in moving their own

cont’d on page 19... “Water”

Wa t e r, Water Every w h e re but Nota Drop to Drink because its full of chicken and hog poop

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government to do what should bedone. In each of the above-mentionedareas there were concerned, butrelatively unorganized, individuals.

For the past year or so, theChapter has been assisting localcitizens in getting organized. And forthe past few months, I, as ChapterDirector, have been assisting thoseorganized citizens in taking their issuesto the larger public and in presentingunified requests to affect theenforcement of clean water laws andregulations.

The Ozark Chapter has beenrunning radio ads, doing pressconferences and media events, andurging members and involved citizensto contact the Governor’s office. Themessage: enforce the law. Pollution is acrime. Polluters should be fined,penalized, and ordered to “cease anddesist.”

In southwest Missouri in justone week, all of the local televisionstations ran stories on this issue. Therewere radio interviews devoted to theproblems, and all of the local daily andweekly newspapers ran major articlesand editorials on the problem of too

many chickens in one small part of thestate.The St. Louis Post-Dispatchdevoted the lead front-page story, withfull-color photos, to the water qualityproblems (and social problems) causedby the poultry industry in southwestMissouri.

Citizens responded by callingand making their concerns known tothe Governor’s office. The poultryindustry could not ignore all of thisand they announced the formation of atask force to address the issue.

Similar media and public-involvement activities are planned forthe other areas at risk. Some of theseproblems should have been dealt withyears ago. Our searches of files in theDNR reveal years of documentationindicating that our state water qualityprotection agency was standing aroundtaking notes while some of our fineststreams were being severely impactedby pollution.

Thanks to our efforts and thoseof local citizens’ groups, the AttorneyGeneral’s Office is bringing lawsuitsagainst major offenders in southwestMissouri (Simmons Industries) and innorthern Missouri (Premium Standard“Farms”).The US EPA has taken aninterest in the ongoing pollution of the

Jacks Fork.But degradation continues.

While I write this, and while youread it, partially treatedwastewaters are illegally pollutingthe waters of the Elk River andthe Jacks Fork, and the Big Pigoperations continue to over-applysludge from manure pits whichthen runs into neighboringstreams.

So, we will continue toraise a ruckus and to help localcitizens put pressure on ourelected officials to put publichealth and the environment abovethe inflated profit margins ofpolluters. ■

Wa t e r... c o n t ’d from page 18


Want to help pro t e c tM i s s o u r i ’s streams andr i v e r s ?

Call theGovernor’sOffice at

(573)751-3222and ask thatDNR bedirected tostop thosewho arefouling ourwaters. If youwant to do more, call the Ozark Chapterwater quality hotline at 1(800)628-5333and leave your name and phone number.

OzSrn 1-2/98 1/25/16 10:54 PM Page 12


by Chris Hayday

Once upon a time, Missouri’scampaign finance lawsmirrored its motto: show me.

Show me where the money came fromand show me where it went. Over theyears, there have been attempts toreform the system of campaign financelaws, each having varying degrees ofsuccess. Some focused on spendinglimits, others looked at where thecontributions were coming from. Stillother reform efforts looked exclusivelyat reporting requirements. This angle,beefing up the reporting requirements,has probably had the most success.The creation of the Missouri EthicsCommission established a centralclearinghouse for reporting andinvestigating the financing of elections.

Perhaps the most notable andfar-reaching effort was 1994’sProposition A, which sought to limitcontributions and impose spendinglimits. Prop A passed by referendumwith a high degree of support. It is notsurprising that Prop A sold as well as itdid. There was considerable voterdistaste for the current system andpeople wanted change, no matter whatthat change might be. Unfortunatelyfor campaign finance reformproponents, Prop A lasted about fiveminutes in the courts until most of itwas found to be unconstitutional.

The downfall of Prop A wasconsistent with most campaign financereform efforts, including the federalchanges made after the 1973 Watergatehearings. In the attempt to close aparticular loophole, several new oneswere created. However, the failure ofProp A paved the way for the nextstage in campaign finance reform andin a Phoenix-style birth, the MissouriAlliance for Campaign Reform(MACR) was created.

Formed three years ago, MACRis a state-wide coalition of roughly 35different chapters and affiliatedorganizations, including the Ozark

Sierra Club. MACR is working tosolve the abuses of the current systemof campaign finance laws. While thegroups comprising MACR are diversein their agendas, all member groups doshare the common desire to changethe way in which elections arefinanced. Most groups have hadsimilar electoral experiences and havefought similar battles and agree on oneimportant premise: money plays toolarge a role in electing our publicservants.

Most reform efforts have focusedon the regulatory side of campaignfinance laws and have all met withsimilar fate: the United StatesSupreme Court has consistently ruledthat money equals free speech, andaccordingly, free speech can be subjectto only minor regulation. To getaround this roadblock, MACR isproposing a campaign finance systemthat would accomplish the goals ofcampaign finance reform (spendinglimits, ending the money-chase forcandidates and creating a level playingfield for both candidates andcontributors) and would also passconstitutional muster. This is a systemof public funding called the CleanMoney, Clean Election system inwhich candidates voluntarily agree tospending limits in exchange for fullpublic funding of their primary andgeneral elections.

The Sierra Club is invo l ved inthis effort because we know that onlywhen we can elect candidates who areinterested in protecting our clean airand clean wat e r , and in public lands t e wardship can we expect the passageof laws which enhance these ri g h t s.U n f o rt u n at e l y, there is a shortage ofc a n d i d ates who have the money it takesto successfully run for office. C a m p a i g nfinance reform is as important a tool asa ny in protecting the air we breathe andthe water we dri n k .

MACR is hosting its annual

Show Me the Money

more photos on page 21... “Money”

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conference in Columbia on January31, 1998, at 9:30 a.m. at the ColumbiaRamada Inn. There will be trainingseminars to learn more about not onlyMACR, but also the Clean Money,Clean Election system and how youcan become more involved in the

battle for a campaign finance systemthat equally represents us all.

To get more involved or to justlearn more about MACR call,MACR’s Executive Director PatHarvey at (314)731-5312 or call me at(573)875-4507. ■


M o n e y... c o n t ’d f rom page 20

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Without their commitment to the wild places of this earth, photos like thiswould be impossible. Join us!

OzSrn 1-2/98 1/25/16 10:54 PM Page 8

E a s t e rn MissouriG ro u pJan 1 (Thu) New YearsDay hike to Meramec StatePark. 5-6 miles. Best hikeof the year! Limit 15. PaulStupperich (314) 429-4352.

Jan 3-4 (Sat-Sun) Winterbackpack trip. Think snow.Where we will go willdepend on drivingconditions. Bob Gestel(314) 296-8975.

Jan 4 (Sun) Day hike atWashington State Park.About 6 miles through theforest, across the glades,and over the hills. PaulStupperich (314) 429-4352.

Jan 10 (Sat) Highwaycleanup. Will we find moreholiday wrapping orchampagne bottles? Comefind out! Diane DuBois(314) 721-0594.

Jan 11 (Sun) Walking tourof old St. Charles. Dinnerafter at historic location.Kathy Wodell (314) 240-0675.

Jan 11 (Sun) Eagle watchto Grafton, Ill., and hikeat Pere Marquette StatePark. We will eat lunchat the lodge. DianeFavier (314) 894-5549.

Jan 17-18 (Sat-Sun) Gladerestoration. Learn aboutMissouri’s natural historywhile helping to restore anoriginal landscape ofunique ecological value atWashington State Park.Come one day or both.Penny Holtzmann (314)487-2738.

Jan 18 (Sun) Day hike atSt. Francis State Park.We will hikeSwimming DeerTrail and do somecross country fora total of 8-10miles. GaryClifton andBob Gestel(314) 296-8975.

Jan 20 (Tues)Sierra Club PresidentAdam Werbach is Comingto St. Louis. He will speakat Washington University’sGraham Chapel onTuesday, January 20.Detailed information isavailable from your GroupRepresentative listed onpage 2.

Jan 25 (Sun) Afternoonhike to Tavern Cave,

where MeriwetherLewis nearlybroke his neck in1803. We willalso visit nearby

EnglemannWoods. Wayne

Miller (314) 569-0094.

Feb 1 (Sun) Eagle hike.Have binoculars... willtravel. Easy five milewalk. John andDorothy Stade (314)524-3322.

Feb 7 (Sat) Day hike atCuivre River State Park. 6-10 miles through the BigSugar Creek Wild Area.Paul Stupperich (314)429-4352.

Feb 8 (Sun) OutingsLeaders Workshop. If youhave ever consideredbeing an outings leader,

come find out what isinvolved in leading

a successfulouting. Learnfrom our pros.Ann Eggebrecht

(314) 725-1560.

Feb 14 (Sat) Highwaycleanup. If you think yoursweetheart will forgetabout you today, trypicking up some new trashby the road. Diane DuBois(314) 721-0594.

Feb 14 (Sat) Water qualitymonitoring at Creve CoeurCreek, including chemicaltesting and macroinvertebrate sampling. Weneed trainees to help us inthis important projectfacilitated by Mo. Dept. ofNatural Resources and Mo.Dept. of Conservation.Leslie Lihou (314) 726-2140.

Feb 14-15 (Sat-Sun)Valentines Day backpacktrip. Take your sweetie ona romantic backpack atMeramec State Park. GaryClifton and Bob Gestel(314) 296-8975.

Be sure to checkyour G R O U Pnewsletter

for m o re or c u rre n to u t i n g s !


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Feb 15 (Sun) Hike TaumSauk Mountain to Hwy. 21.Limit 15. 6-8 miles. PaulStupperich (314) 429-4352.

Feb 15 (Sun) Three milehike. Creve Coeur LakeMemorial Park. View oldgrowth forest threatenedby Page Ave. extension.Mark Kaufmann (314)434-4743.

Feb 21-22 (Sat-Sun) Gladerestoration in MeramecState Park. Enjoy thewarmth of big fires on acold day. Come one day orboth. Penny Holtzmann(314) 487-2738.

Feb 22 (Sun) BellMountain. Our Ozark Trailtrek heads south from thewilderness area into thestate park, all the way tothe end of Bell Mountain,with an exit through OtteryCreek Shut-in. WayneMiller (314) 569-0094.

Feb 28 (Sat) Day hikein Cuivre RiverState Park.Eclectic tour.Includes oldgrowth forest,winter prairie and bluffviews. Kathy Wodell (314)240-0675.

Osage Gro u pJan 10 (Sat) Birding &Banding. Join Dr. & Mrs.Elder at their home in thewoods for a morning ofwinter bird watching andhands on bird banding.Elders (573) 442-5092.

Jan 17 (Sat) Winter floattrip on the Big Piney —overnight option. KayStewart (573) 445-0114.

Jan 25 (Sun)Gans CreekHike & ChiliPot Luck.Hike the wildarea ofRockBridgeStateParkfollowedwith the traditional chilipot luck. Randal Clark(573) 875-0514.

Feb 8 (Sun) Hike the KATYTrail. Enjoy the scenicRocheport section of trail;photographing bald eagles,ice flows on the river andIndian mounds will beencouraged! Marti Kardinal(573) 698-2140.

Feb 11 (Wed) Full MoonHike and Pot

Luck. Hike ascenic nearbytrail in themoon light,pot luck

dinner followsthe walk. Ken

Midkiff (573) 815-9250.

Feb 15 (Sun) ExploreCedar Creek NationalForest. Hike a little knownarea, while monitoring themanagement of thisimportant area. DickLuecke (573) 882-3691.

Trail of Tears Gro u pJan 24 (Sat) Eagle-watching along theMississippi. Possiblepicnic, cookout, orrestaurant visit to followdepending on the weather.Joy Bell (573) 334-9580.

Thomas HartBenton Gro u pJan 10-11 (Sat-Sun)

Perry Lake WinterCamping. Hike a few mileswith day packs, then carrygear a short distance andspend the night in tents;great introduction to cold-weather camping. ScottHoober (913)722- 3882.

Jan 25 (Sun) KU NaturalHistory Museum. Day tripto one of the region’ssuperb museums. SteveHassler (913)599-6028.

Jan 31 (Sat) Build-A-Trail-Day. You’ve no doubt hikedtrails before —- but haveyou ever helped build one?Join us for the day and seewhat it’s like. Steve Hassler(913)599-6028.

Feb 21-22 (Sat-Sun)Winter Backpacking atClinton Lake. Hike aroundthe Woodridge areaoutside Lawrence andspend night in a tent. AnneMcDonald (913)441-2449.

Feb 28 (Sat) Lied RainForest in Omaha, next toHenry Doorly Zoo. DorisSherrick (816)779-6708.

O u t i n g s C o n t i n u e d

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volume 30 • number 1 janua ry / februa ry 1998...ry to bring pressure on state officials to...

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