{"id":26612,"date":"2016-05-16T15:10:22","date_gmt":"2016-05-16T20:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=26612"},"modified":"2016-05-16T15:10:22","modified_gmt":"2016-05-16T20:10:22","slug":"oklahoma-agency-protecting-scenic-rivers-dissolved-as-state-funding-dries-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2016\/05\/16\/oklahoma-agency-protecting-scenic-rivers-dissolved-as-state-funding-dries-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma Agency Protecting Scenic Rivers Dissolved As State Funding Dries Up"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission's Fite next to a mountain of life vests at the War Eagle Resort near Tahlequah, Okla.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Come July 1, the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission will be no more.<\/p>

Gov. Mary Fallin on May 11 signed a bill disbanding the small state agency, transferring its mission \u2014 and employees \u2014 to the Grand River Dam Authority, which now takes on the Commission’s role of keeping Oklahoma’s six scenic rivers clean and safe for tourists.<\/p>

The Tulsa World<\/em>‘s Kelly Bostian reported on an introductory meeting<\/a> between GRDA and OSRC staff, including Commission Administrator Ed Fite, late last week:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here because of the state\u2019s financial woes,\u201d Fite said. \u201cWhat is most important is, whatever the name of the organization, whether its OSRC or GRDA, that core mission continues for which there is no endpoint, the protection of our rivers.\u201d<\/p>\n

…With an annual operating budget at less than $500,000 and minimal staff and expected further cuts given the state\u2019s dire budget situation, Fite and GRDA Chief Executive Officer Dan Sullivan saw the move as a way to preserve Oklahoma\u2019s mission to preserve its most precious waters and combine those efforts under one roof.<\/p>

GRDA has increased its work on water quality issues in recent years and initiated public outreach regarding water use and preservation in the Grand River drainage area. Now that role will expand, Sullivan said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Scenic Rivers Commission has been dealing with a shrinking budget<\/a> for several years, and the prospects for 2017 were dire. Fite told StateImpact in April<\/a> his agency was running on a budget of less than $500,000, with only one full time ranger and maintenance person to help oversee the thousands of tourists that come to float the eastern Oklahoma rivers, particularly the Illinois River, each summer weekend.<\/p>

In addition to keeping often rowdy tourists in line, OSRC staff are responsible for administering an important federal water quality monitoring program, picking up trash, regulating area commercial float businesses, even rescue and recovery during flood events.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

The Illinois River, still murky from rain, in summer 2015.<\/p>\n<\/div>

After that same April meeting of the Commission, GRDA CEO Dan Sullivan told StateImpact someone has to take care of the rivers, and GRDA has the experience it takes.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI can\u2019t image that they\u2019ve been able to do what they have done on the budget that they have,\u201d Sullivan says.<\/p>\n

GRDA is an electric utility, but Sullivan says it already has the responsibility of managing lakes, and controlling the rivers would be similar.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not something that\u2019s going to be a moneymaker for us in any way, so that\u2019s not the motive at all,\u201d Sullivan says. \u201cBut we think that it\u2019s a natural relationship because of the water issues of recreation and law enforcement. There\u2019s a lot of commonality there.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The GRDA doesn’t rely on state-appropriated funds, so in theory, the effort to preserve the rivers’ natural beauty can continue without the threat of future budget cuts from the state legislature.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The GRDA doesn’t rely on state-appropriated funds, so in theory, the effort to preserve the rivers’ natural beauty can continue without the threat of future budget cuts from the state legislature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[491],"tags":[518,586,620,427],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26612"}],"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=26612"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26626,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26612\/revisions\/26626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}