Hello everyone!

As a reminder, we will NOT be having a meeting in November in Mountain Grove because of Thanksgiving.

We will meet in Mountain Grove, at the Hayloft Restaurant on 95-north of the Mountain Grove Square on Thursday, December 6th at 7pm in the meeting room.

We’ll be discussing the upcoming State legislative session and the specific efforts we expect to be engaged in during session. We are likely to also discuss the elections and some of the effects of Obamacare. There is an initiative, “Our Missouri Waters”, regarding watersheds by the Missouri DNR that we plan to discuss.

Please arrive early and enjoy a good meal from our lovely hosts at the Hayloft. There is no food allowed in the meeting room, so plan to be finished up by 7pm so the meeting can start on time!

We want to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Property Rights Meeting
Thursday, March 25, 7:00 p.m.
Hayloft Restaurant, Mountain Grove, MO

Come early, if you care to eat, as no food is allowed in the meeting room,
due to limited restaurant staff.

If you are a cattle producer, please take note of this:
You don’t have to accept 840 Tags at Sale Barns

If you buy or sell livestock at sale barns, you have the right to demand they not use 840 tags to mark the cattle you sell or buy. Any accredited veterinarian can choose not to use the 840 tags. It is up to you to make sure that you don’t get sucked into the 840 identification system.
There will be more information on this at the meeting.
 

Water Issues are coming to the forefront again!

 A bi-state agreement between Missouri & Arkansas and a ballot initiative in Arkansas giving control of waters in the state to Arkansas Natural Resources Conservation Commission are taking liberties with property rights. Plus, information on other water related property rights threats.

Update:  

We will update progress on the discussions between Douglas County landowners and the MDC.

Department Of Natural Resources Meets With Ozarks Property Rights Congress to discuss proposed Small Stream Regulations

Two section heads with the water protection program of the Department of Natural Resources met with the Ozarks Property Rights Congress at their monthly meeting in Mountain Grove on February 26. The packed room heard Phil Schroeder and Robert Morrison explain the MDNR`s current proposal to expand regulatory controls on small Missouri streams that are now considered unclassified.
 
The two stated the program is still in the “study “stage with no firm date set for implementation. The proposal to expand water quality regulations into smaller streams would place standards on 100,000 additional miles of streams they said. The amended rules would result in expanded programs to control “pollutants” normally associated with agriculture such as nutrients, ammonia, sediments, and bacteria.

During the two hour discussion between the MDNR regulators and the land owners, points of both agreement and contention were touched on. It was generally agreed that specific points of stream pollution caused by city, industrial, or identifiable agricultural use should be dealt with under existing regulations. The landowners objected to the proposal of regulating watersheds where there is no proven need and no identifiable source of a problem as the new proposed regulation would do.

The MDNR representatives admitted there is presently no eminent problem that needs to be addressed with expanded regulations. The purpose is more directed at what might happen in the future, they said. They also said that water quality in the state is improving over previous years.

The loudest objection from the large crowd came when Morrison stated that if the state did not move to place controls on small streams the Federal agencies would step in and do it .The crowd took exception to this position and pointed out 10th Amendment restrictions, state sovereignty, and that such federal control was based on funds doled out from federal to state agencies.

The OPRC is invited by MDNR to join a work group discussing the proposal on small streams. A delegation representing OPRC at future meetings of the work group in Jefferson City will be Travis Morrison, Linda Garrett, Bob Parker, Wilma Urban and Wayne Beck.