The U.S. Forest Service is updating its Comprehensive River Management Plan for all 44.4 Missouri miles of the Eleven Point Wild and Scenic River, adapting the original 1972 plan to the changing times. Updating the plan involves public engagement to ensure the river is protected for future generations.
Let the Forest Service hear from you!
Personal comments are encouraged. The Missouri Coalition for the Environment supports updating the current plan, but we’d like the Mark Twain National Forest to consider these additions.
- The updated plan should include a commitment to keep the 25 horsepower limit for boats intact. Motors generate both noise and potential pollution. Let’s continue keeping the Eleven Point River both wild and scenic.
- Parts of the Viburnum Trend, an area with lead mining potential, is close to the Eleven Point River. 50 years ago, part of a compromise to create the Wild and Scenic designation for the river allowed mineral exploration in the National Forest, including the Eleven Point Wild and Scenic River corridor. Its time to revise this archaic regulation. Hard rock mining should be prohibited within the Wild and Scenic corridor, and we encourage a ban on mining in the entire Eleven Point watershed.
- Horse trails have a place in the National Forest, but not near the river. Horse trails should be prohibited in the W & S corridor and all unauthorized trails should be permanently closed.
- The plan should identify and address high levels of E. coli and other water pollution sources so as to protect both water quality and the families who enjoy it.
Submit Your Comments for a Stronger Plan to the U.S. Forest Service by March 25, 2022.
Electronic comments can be submitted to sm.fs.mtnf_rec@usda.gov or mailed to:
Eleven Point Ranger District Office
Attn: Ed Sherman
#66 Confederate Ridge Road
Doniphan, MO, 63935.