{"id":24080,"date":"2015-06-04T10:47:29","date_gmt":"2015-06-04T15:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=24080"},"modified":"2015-06-04T11:30:07","modified_gmt":"2015-06-04T16:30:07","slug":"agency-that-protects-oklahomas-scenic-rivers-takes-another-big-budget-cut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2015\/06\/04\/agency-that-protects-oklahomas-scenic-rivers-takes-another-big-budget-cut\/","title":{"rendered":"Agency That Protects Oklahoma&#8217;s Scenic Rivers Takes Another Big Budget Cut"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_24088\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-24088\" alt=\"James Gaylor plays in a tributary of the Illinois River near Tahlequah, Okla. \" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/06\/20150604-RiverBudget001_WEB-620x412.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"412\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">James Gaylor plays in a tributary of the Illinois River near Tahlequah, Okla.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>When Governor Mary Fallin signed the <a title=\"OKgovlink\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ok.gov\/governor\/documents\/FY%2016%20Budget.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">$7.1 billion budget<\/a> earlier this week, the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission took a big cut. It\u2019s a small state agency with a big job: overseeing hundreds of miles of river and roads in northeast Oklahoma with dwindling resources.<\/p><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/208781883&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=false\" height=\"150\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p><p><!--more-->This weekend, kayakers, floaters and fishermen will flock to the Illinois River area by the thousands. On the morning of June 2, though, most of the activity is centered at Peavine Hollow, where a natural ramp of river stones that usually allows easy access to the river has been washed away.<\/p><p>Archie Peyton Jr., owner of Peyton\u2019s Place, uses a small bulldozer to push rocks into the water in an attempt to rebuild the bank before the busy weekend. He\u2019s one of the many float operators whose business depends on the handful of state-owned and operated public access points like Peavine Hollow.<\/p><p>\u201cThis access point is important for a lot of camps, not just mine,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s probably four major camps and two or three small camps that this supports, or helps support.\u201d<\/p><p>Peyton needs Peavine Hollow. But the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission can\u2019t afford to fix it. That\u2019s why he\u2019s doing it himself, on his own dime. It\u2019s just one example of the impact of budget cuts over the last few years.<\/p><p>And it just got a lot worse, says Ed Fite,\u00a0the commission\u2019s administrator for more than 30 years.<\/p><p>\u201cWe cannot provide all the services that we have been accustomed to providing,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u201cWe are operating on a model from the &#8217;80s and funding from the &#8217;80s levels. We\u2019re down to four full-time employees. I would have never thought that I would see that when I went to work in 1983.\u201d<\/p><p>The Scenic Rivers Commission will see nearly a quarter of their funding from last year disappear on July 1, down to about $270,000. One important water quality monitoring program is on the chopping block, Fite says. The river commission shares the cost of the program with the federal government.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_24092\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-24092\" alt=\"The Illinois River, still murky from all the recent rain.\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/06\/20150604-RiverBudget002_WEB-620x412.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"412\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Illinois River, still murky from all the recent rain.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>\u201cIf we\u2019re unable to find the money by July first, and we\u2019re not able to pay our end of the bargain, then not only do we shutter that program for this year until next year, we lose the ability to have the $120,000 in the next budget cycle, because that money will be reallocated by the feds to other gauges and other programs,\u201d Fite says.<\/p><p>That program helps gauge water depth during storm events and monitor water quality in an area where growing industry and tourism put pressure on the natural ecology.<\/p><p>\u201cWe\u2019re trying to hit a magic balance. You\u2019ve got to have just the right mix of nutrients for the aquatic community,\u201d Fite says. \u201cIf we get the water so clean that there\u2019s no nutrients there at all, we disrupt the food chain.\u201d<\/p><p>So maybe the river commission decides that program is too important to cut, and instead cuts back on law enforcement, which Fite says is a real possibility.<\/p><p>Rangers with the agency clean up graffiti, pick up trash, break up drunken fights, do search and rescue, and find the bodies of drowning victims. There have been two in just the last couple of weeks. It\u2019s a lot to handle for the agency\u2019s one full time ranger, Bill James.<\/p><p>\u201cWe\u2019ve had sexual assaults. We\u2019ve had rapes in the three years I\u2019ve been here. Numerous fight calls. I mean, those are just regular every weekend,\u201d James says.<\/p><p>The Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission knew cuts were coming, and <a title=\"StateofOKlink\" href=\"http:\/\/webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us\/cf_pdf\/2015-16%20INT\/SB\/SB37%20INT.PDF\" target=\"_blank\">pushed for legislation<\/a> that would\u2019ve given the agency more control over the fees it charges to commercial float operators and wants to charge at campsites.<\/p><p>\u201cAnd if we could just get the authority from the legislature, we could pay our own way,\u201d Fite says.<\/p><p>The bill failed, but the budget cuts didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s a small state agency with a big job: overseeing hundreds of miles of river and roads in northeast Oklahoma with dwindling resources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":24088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[491],"tags":[630,620,427],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24080"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24080"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24110,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24080\/revisions\/24110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}