Mo. DNR Refers Unauthorized Road in Current River State Park to Attorney General’s Office

First posted on 11-07-2008

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has referred the issue of an unauthorized road in the new Current River State Park in Shannon County to the Missouri Attorney General’s Office.

“We are asking the Attorney General’s Office for legal clarification on county roads in state parks, and specifically on this situation in Current River State Park. This legal clarification will help us adequately plan and design this new state park,” said Doyle Childers, department director.

The issue in question concerns a road built recently by Shannon County road crews on an old trail from Highway 19 in Shannon County through the new Current River State Park, which is currently under development and closed to the public. The road was built without the department’s permission and has damaged a number of natural resource features as well as created operational and park visitor security issues. The new state park is being built on land transferred earlier this year from the Missouri Department of Conservation to the Department of Natural Resources for development of the park.

“We have tried to work with the Shannon County Commission on this issue but have been unsuccessful,” Childers said. “Our department’s policy is to work with all parties involved to reach a mutual decision, but no resolution has been reached in this case.” Childers indicated that the department asked the Shannon County Commission to provide evidence of a platted or prescriptive road in this location, and the commission failed to provide any evidence. The department was unable to find any record that there was a county road there in the past.

“These issues about the county road in question are part of the legal clarification we are seeking from the Attorney General’s Office,” Childers said. “Based on their findings, it will help us determine what our next step will be.”

In addition to being built on private property without the department’s permission, the road presents several resource damage issues. The commission apparently bulldozed an old trail to make it wider and more accessible and the trees that were uprooted were pushed to the side of the new road. The road, which is more than a mile long, travels about 200 feet down a steep hillside. This has created erosion gullies with resulting sediment that runs into a pristine stream and eventually the Current River, which is listed as an Outstanding National Resource Water. On the way down the valley, it passes through a fen in Jones Hollow. At one point, the stream bed itself is used as the corridor for the road.

The road also provides another access into the park, which creates many security issues. The road’s location in close proximity to the planned special use camping area may threaten the area’s use by Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and church youth groups