Scenic streams label?

May 05, 2008 02:54 pm

— Editor, Daily Press:
A lot has been made of the priority that Oklahoma places on water quality in general, and scenic streams in particular.
But is calling a stream in Oklahoma “scenic” little more than a label?
The Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission is made up of 12 individuals, five elected and seven appointed. But McCurtain County and Sequoyah County are not represented on the commission by elected representatives, even though Lee Creek and the Mountain Fork are designated scenic streams. Nor does the OSRC have any jurisdiction over the scenic streams in those counties. The same is true of the Barren Fork Creek in Adair County.
With this jurisdictional patchwork and jerrymandered representation, it is perhaps understandable when our Arkansas neighbors to the east have a hard time deciphering when the word “scenic” really means anything at all in Oklahoma.
Each of the streams designated “scenic” by the state of Oklahoma faces specific and unique challenges. The counties in which these streams lie deserve representation on the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission so those challenges can receive the attention and review they deserve.
Additionally, for the sake of continuity jurisdiction over scenic stream issues should be consolidated to the most logical entity – the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission.
The meager funding and authority granted to the state agency entrusted to protecting our state’s most treasured waters – scenic streams – is a true testament to how little Oklahoma lawmakers really care about water quality.
Republicans and Democrats alike recreate on our scenic streams. If the definition of a scenic stream means anything, these waters are too important a resource to be relegated to political tug-of-wars – the official sport of Oklahoma legislators.
Officials in Sequoyah and McCurtain counties should push their legislative representatives to demand seats on the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission. And jurisdiction over scenic streams should be expanded so the commission can actually do the job it was formed to do.
Then perhaps the public perception of defining a stream as “scenic” will more closely match reality.
Rick Stubblefield
Adair County Representative
Steve Randall
Delaware County Representative
Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission