AP Features, March 14th, 2007
They may be a right of passage, but beer kegs, beer bongs and "dry ice bombs" will not be tolerated on the Current and Jacks Fork rivers, the National Park Service said Tuesday in announcing a crackdown on drunken, rowdy behavior on the federally protected streams.
Noel Poe, superintendent of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways in south central Missouri, said he will sign new regulations Wednesday that will take effect May 1.
The new rules are aimed at halting public drunkenness, illegal drug use, fighting, public nudity, littering, profanity, loud music and other "obnoxious behavior" that park rangers have struggled to control the past few years along the rivers' 134 miles, Poe said.
A minority of river users are causing the problems, he said, mostly 20- and 30-year-olds coming to the rivers on weekends "to let off steam."
"But family groups, Boy Scouts, church groups and other users have been driven out of here," he said. " ... We want to get the message out to the public and to our visitors that this isn't going to be tolerated. We will do our best to enforce it."
The park also is asking the public's help in reporting any violator's watercraft identification number to authorities.
Poe said he has observed the problem firsthand since arriving at the park in October 2002. He got an earful of complaints from park users last fall during public hearings on the national park's management plan.
He said the public's No. 1 concern is alcohol and related behaviors. "A lot of people at the meetings asked us to ban alcohol," Poe said. "I'm going to try everything else first."
Poe said he wrote the regulations with the help of neighboring sheriff's departments, the Missouri Department of Conservation, the Missouri Water Patrol, canoe rental outfitters, and other partners.
Alcohol is not banned in the park, but beer kegs, beer bongs and other "volume drinking devices" _ often used for chugging contests _ will be prohibited, as will "jello shots" or other containers of alcohol and gelatin.
Poe is recommending that river users restrict themselves to six cans of beer per day, and that canoe- and raft-floaters bring a cooler no larger than one holding 48 quarts.
He said park staff and other law enforcement officers will aggressively enforce rules prohibiting drugs, public intoxication, alcohol use by minors, and disorderly conduct.
The Park Service will beef up staff on weekends, when most of the problems occur, both on the rivers and the landings.
Rangers will be equipped with audio decibel readers to enforce National Park Service regulations on noise to discourage loud stereo systems and air horns.
The park also is prohibiting cliff jumping and rope-swinging within the park, which each year results in serious injury and death. Poe said the last few years of drought have left water holes more shallow and dangerous.
The park also is prohibiting the use of polystyrene food and beverage coolers, although foam containers for bait will be allowed. Poe said the coolers often break up when the canoe overturns, leaving a trail of polystyrene in the river.
Park staff will step up efforts to combat littering, and enforce a prohibition on so-called dry ice bombs.
To make the bombs, dry ice pellets are placed in a soda bottle and thrown in the river. When warm water mixes with the dry ice, it produces an explosive chemical reaction.
"It makes a huge boom and tears up the bottle into shrapnel," Deputy Superintendent Russ Runge said. "I don't know what it's doing to aquatic life."
In each of the last three years, park rangers have issued 1,100 citations and made three dozen arrests. That's up from an average of 800 in previous years. Sixty percent of the violations are alcohol-related, Poe said.
The new rules will be posted at canoe outfitters and on the buses used to transport canoers to the river.
Jack Peters, 69, who has operated Running River Canoe Rental on the upper Current since 1979, said the new regulations are long overdue. He said rowdiness has hurt business and applauded the Park Service efforts to regain control of the rivers.
He said some outfitters believe it's best not to publicize the problem, but he disagrees.
"I'd rather deal with people who are ready to hear about the National Park Service having higher behavioral standards," he said.
The two spring-fed rivers and 80,000 acres of forest, field and glades that straddle four counties in south central Missouri make up the Ozark National Scenic Riverways.
A 1964 law preserved the rivers and springs and created the nation's oldest federally protected river system.
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On the Net:
Ozark National Scenic Riverways: http://www.nps.gov/ozar
