What Does This Impact?

Too many horses concentrated in particular areas in this national park are causing pollution of the rivers.

In 1964 there were no commercial equestrian stable operations in the vicinity of the Riverways. Today there may be a dozen or more. There are few, if any, restrictions for a thousand or more riders to have access to many areas of the national park for individual or group rides multiple times each summer. The trails were never designed and cannot accommodate such high use. Too often they follow the river and too many horses degrade the river’s water quality. A river with potential health problems is an economic disaster waiting to happen.

Studies conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) (Barks, 1978; David and Bell, 1998). Emrie (1986), NPS (National Park Service written commun., 1997), and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) (1998) have indicated that intense recreational use is causing adverse affects on the water quality of the river, including fecal coliform bacteria that, on occasion, exceed the water-quality standard for whole-body contact recreation.
Assessment of Possible Sources of Microbiological Contamination and Water-Quality Characteristics of the Jacks Fork, Ozark National Scenic Riverways, Missouri—Phase II
By Jerri V. Davis and Joseph M. Richards
Rolla, Missouri 2002

Even the most recent data from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Water Protection Program shows that E.coli levels in the lower seven miles of the Jacks Fork have been increasing since 2002. E.coli levels have been linked to increased horse waste in the river and its tributaries. These rivers, the Jacks Fork and the Current, are supposed to be of the highest water quality in Missouri. Their high quality for recreation, especially for swimming in the national park, must not be degraded. In 2002 at river mile 4.5 the annual E.coli geometric mean was 26 and last year in 2009 it was 116. (See the dashed red line in the graph below). We must reverse this alarming trend.

The Park Service must establish and enforce reasonable regulations regarding the number of horses allowed on the Riverways, reduce the number of river crossings within the park, and develop a trail system which protects the riparian habitats along the river.