Call For Action

I want you to look at the pictures above. The top picture is the upper end of Seventeen down in Area 1 at Blue River. You see those protruding rocks? Well...you're not suppose to see them. Normally there is water over those rocks sufficient enough to cover a fellow's ankle or higher while wading.

Now...take a look at the second picture...that's Horseshoe Falls. Notice anything strange about that "falls"? Yeah, you got it...there's no friggin' water comng over it.

In the last two weeks I have noticed some disturbing differences in our beloved little Blue, so once again I'm goin' to climb back on the soap box, dress in my drama queen fashion, piss a bunch of you off and if I do I don't really give a hoot, because I will fight for this river until my dying breath.

Blue, along with many of our natural streams, are in trouble.

Before I posted this blog, I checked the streamflow of Blue and currently she is running at 22 cubic feet per second. Over seventy-two years of record the normal streamflow is 59 cubic feet per second. If you check the mean the "mean" shows a factor of 302 but you can't check the record of the "mean", which I assure you has lowered over the years.

We're slowly losing our river and I will argue that fact with anyone, anyday, anytime. And why are we losing our river? Is it drought...yes. Is it demand...oh hell yeah? Do the two interact or have some relation in all of this. Well no shit Sherlock. And that is a big part of the problem.

Oklahoma is currently trying to come up with a statewide water plan for the next fifty years. Will they factor in the relationship between drought and demand, the needs of our natural environment to stay intact and healthy, or will we just sell out?

I'm not waiting on the water plan. I want something done now and this is why I call for action from our community of outdoorspeople. It's our to lose guys and gals! Let's don't lose it, let us all take the time to send a short concern via this electronic medium we have come to rely on. And let our message, although blended, come together as one great recipe that will solidify our resolve to save our natural areas.

Here are some contacts and I hope each of you will send a short concern for Blue River and the Arbuckle Simpson Aquifer.

Oklahoma Water Resources Board
http://www.owrb.ok.gov/util/comments.php

State Representative Paul Roan
paulroan@okhouse.gov

State Senator J. Paul Gumm
gumm@oksenate.gov

State Representative Wes Hillard
weshillard@okhouse.gov

Oklahoma Department Of Wildlife
info@odwc.state.ok.us

Citizens For The Protection Of The Arbuckle Simpson
cpasa@cpasa.net

Thanks,

Barry