DNR Meeting and Park Tour

The meeting last night was well attended. Each agency involved in the cleanup had a table with video or computer slide shows explaining what was going on. Channel 2 and 4 from St Louis had their satellite trucks set up in front of school and 5 was in a lower parking lot. Channel 12 from Cape and 3 from Springfield were at the Shut-Ins earlier in the day. For those of you not in St Louis here is a link to the article in the Post about the Shut-Ins tour.

I got to talk to the DNR people that were involved in water turbidity. If you click on the River Gauge Data link on the right and look at the last graph you will see that the data goes back and forth between 10 and 12. They said that if they had a sample from last summer that it would read below 1. However, if you were to take a gallon jar down to the river at BRL right now and fill it and hold it up, it would appear clear. From the bridge it still looks blue/green.

I talked to a representive from DNR who stated that they still don't have any drinking water at the Park. I thought they had a well system, but they took water from the East Fork and had a small water treatment plant that supplied water to the campground and the rest of the park. That water treatment plant was destroyed and they have not made a decision on how or when it will be replaced. That also means that they have no sewer system at the Park. So I'm sure that if the park reopens on a limited basis this summer it will be with a lot of porta-potties.

Finally, for those readers from Black River Lodge, I saw Gil and Linda at last nights meeting and they thanked me for these efforts and asked that I say HI! to everyone. And remember, only eight weeks till the hummingbirds are back in the valley.