Saving the Meramec all over again
by Jo Schaper
In 1967, measurements had been taken of the upper Meramec for its brand-new dam. The lower Meramec, once the destination of choice for weekend parties, anglers, horse riders and boaters threatened to become the big southern brother to the concreted and sewage stinking River Des Peres.
Map of Meramec Greenway from meramecgreeway.org
William Schock and Al Foster decided enough was enough. Schock practiced law and loved rivers; Al Foster was an environmental journalist before such things existed by that name. Together, they decided to clean up the Meramec.
Forty-four years later, Operation Clean Stream, the cooperative effort of businesses and non-profits, government agencies, and most importantly, now three generations of late August volunteers who do the actual dirty work is in full force as a permanent project of the St. Louis Regional Open Space Council.
It's not just about St. Louis County: other local federal and state agencies are involved.
River-beaten shacks, junked cars, appliances, tires, and trash of all sorts lined the banks of the lower Meramec back then. Announce you were fishing or swimming, and someone questioned your sanity. Untreated sewage and rain runoff debris poured into the water.
Segments of land along the river have been added to the trail system one at a time. Fenton City Park Greenway trail
A few years later, in 1975, what was a fight against a dam on the upper river turned into a fight for the entire river, as the Meramec River Recreation Association, the Open Space Council, and other groups took on the challenge of gathering land along the river corridor from the Arnold area out to about Gray Summit for public accesses, parks and trails.
Arnold's Grove/Valley Park levee section of the trail
The plan for the Meramec Greenway is to run a green space trail from the Meramec confluence with the Mississippi to Meramec State Park near Sullivan. Somewhere in Franklin County, the trail will intersect the Ozark Trail, enabling people to eventually walk from the Mississippi River to Arkansas.
Than is, unless St. Louis County loses the Meramec Greenway parks.
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Jo,
FYI
The Greenway might be bound to die out because it is not set up to support enough multi-use areas with 24/hour camping, 24 hour boat ramps, moto-cross and quad runner trails, gun ranges, hunting, swimming/wading, plus no alcohol ruling combined with the rest kills it.
The tax payers want something in return for their investment and that something is; for those who are left in trust to manage the public land to do so in the ways that supplement the other provisions of law in Title 43 of the US code that were set forth which include all of the above.
As it stands right now somewhere between 80% and 95% of the land that was purchased along the Meramec for public use has been set aside for an elite group of trail goers specially managed to supplement hikers and bicyclist. That is not fair and it is not what the public expects for their investment.
I think the idea behind not allowing all the multi use is a novel idea and I support it as a private idea where the Hikers and Bicyclist should form their own organization and fund this privately since it really is just for them.
A good example of proper use of our tax dollars for public lands can be found at Finger Lakes Conservation Area about 9 miles north of Hwy70 on Hwy 63. The Conservation Commission knows how to manage land and their lead should be what is followed by others left in trust of the public lands called parks. When speaking of public tax dollars for parks, every multi-use must be satisfied in equal proportions.
Did you know that since hunting has been banned in these park areas that the deer population has exploded in the surrounding communities causing a lot of problems? I have 16 and sometimes up to 30 deer in my back yard here in Ellisville “every” night and they have ruined my steep hillside all hoofed up now causing erosion and silt that is filling in a local pond. They come to eat the acorns and wild burs. This pond supported water fowl up to about 20 years ago but now it is too shallow due to all the deer causing the pond to fill in. Sherman Beach was purchased and made into a no hunting zone in the late 1970s and it is the closest greenway area to my home. The creek at the out fall of this pond joins the Meramec River in this same no hunting zone and thus the abundance of deer have to go somewhere to find food….my yard. This is all due to poor management of the wild life and public land that we left in trust to a group who are apparently incompetent to do their job in accordance with other provisions of law.
So, I see no reason to support the current group that is in charge of the greenway project. They don’t know what they are supposed be doing. In addition I am not alone in my thoughts as there are many like me feeling the same way about all of this.
Thanks for your work in documenting how they are trying to manipulate us by threatening to close the parks. However, I don’t get anything from the parks along the Meramec right now to make it worth my dollar to invest another dime in this.