I would encourage Mardi Gras-ish behavior on the rivers; since the Republicans cracked down on fun last year, float trip revenue has dropped 55%.

In Illinois, the State Park systems have been turned over to for-profit entities to operate the lodges over the past several years. The upshot is that the cost of using these amenities has increased exponentially. If the parks are for the use of ALL the people, then the cost of using them should be nominal, at most. Having to spend $200-$300 for a weekend at Starved Rock is out of the question for many people.

All state parks should be handicap accessible, that would include cabins, walks, trails, interpretive centers, etc. They should also be family friendly and yes that includes the pets!! I have been a camper for masny years, on both sides of the river and most families go because it is a cheap way to spend some quality time with their children, if they can’t afford it - they can’t go - it’s State Parks paid by the taxpayers, not to line the pockets of the for profit entities that run some of them!!!

what do I want them to do…Nothing. no new structures or rental pavillians or paved jogging and biking trails or fences for dogs. I want them to aquire as much land as they can, leave most of it wooded, maintain it, and make sure it is relatively safe enough for people who want to go to a park and experience the outdoors and maybe toss a frisbee.

Dry, clean, bug free bathrooms in all state parks with real flush johns. Eliminate the nasty spidery one-holers. Also, keep the drunken slobs off the rivers.

1. Step up enforcement on the river system. Spend 1 or 2 seasons giving every beer swilling hoosier in a canoe or on a raft a $300 ticket for boozing on the riverway. If you can watch and prove they leave beer cans or trash then give them another $500 dollar ticket for littering. In short, run the boozers and trash off the river.

Tough luck to slobs like robsmyth who use the waterways for drunken sprawls and treat them like public toilets. I could care LESS that the revenue is down 55%. Once people figure out that the rivers have less drunks and hoosiers on them - the families will return and revenue will rise. It’s encumbent on the river rental operators to advertise the fact that there are fewer drunks due to enforcement. Get the message out. If you clean it up - people will return.

2. Absolutely no dogs in the cabins or the parks or the campgrounds. Please. I’m a dog lover. I own Boxers. They are a beloved part of my family. I still don’t want to stay in a cabin covered with dog-hair or smelling like dog and dog droppings. I’m sick and tired of stepping around the big steaming piles on the trails because of inconsiderate dog owners who refuse to scoop up after their pets. And I can’t tell you how crappy it is to plan a camping trip for months only to not be able to enjoy the wonderful night sounds of the woods and the rivers because some FOOL has dragged his dog along and it YAPS all night. NO THANK YOU. I love my dog like everyone else - I’m still considerate enough to leave it at home when I camp, float, fish, hike, bike.

3. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD THE RENTAL SYSTEMS BE PRIVATIZED. Doing so converts a tax-based system into a for-profit enterprise that degrades the quality and drives up the prices for everyone. The idea is horrible, and the individual that organized it in IL should be investigated. Don’t even attempt it over here in MO.

4. Keep doing what your doing in most state parks. Virtually every state park I’ve been to is clean and well maintained. They are a joy.

Mac
http://www.brownsludge.com

Wouldn’t it be a great experimnet to ban alcohol, and then watch all the alcoholics deny they are alcoholics while not going to the parks because they NEED their alcohol? They’ll have to go to BALLGAMES instead. For real, now if you chill back with a doobie and bother no one, you may get arrested if an uncool ranger gets a whiff. Be a fool with massive consumption of alcohol and you are just an everyday park visitor. Alcoholics tebnd to litter more, disturb others and take indecent liberty with minors. I’ve seen it wit my own wittle eyes in MO parks. Deliverance indeed!

1) The state parks have no control over the rivers except within their boundaries. Ozark National Scenic Riverways is federal– a unit of the National Park Service. They only control the parts of the Current and Jacks Fork within their boundaries. Parts of the Eleven Point River are controlled by the US Forest Service as a Wild and Scenic River. Only the Dept. of Conservation, Water Patrol and the local sheriffs have jurisdiction on rivers like the Meramec, Black, etc. The Army Corps of Engineers has jurisdiction on Corps lakes like Table Rock, Bull Shoals and Truman. Get your jurisdicitions straight.

2)When you do your public surveys, LISTEN and ACT on what is being said– don’t use it as an excuse that the people have been ‘listened to’ and the bureaucrats go ahead and commit whatever atrocity they had in mind in the first place. (Like the planned redevelopment of Johnson’s Shut-Ins into a place no one would want to go.)

3)As for the state parks: Cease immediately turning them into high priced KOAs. We want primitive camping opportunities, not RV-only situations. Interpret what you have: the geology at Johnson’s Shut-ins, the hardwood swamp at Big Oak Tree, basic Missouri ecology at most of them. State parks are not playgrounds for the wealthy– they’ve got enough already. Don’t price your constituents out of reach. Rescind the camping reservation system– many working people don’t know until a day or two in advance they can go to a park, and they have been effectively shut out of camping there.

3) Beyond that– do nothing except maintain the existing level of facilities, and make new facilities comply with the ‘little bit of roughing it’ experience of my youth. Make only those rules which are essential– allow people to enjoy the parks, discover nature. DON’T CLOSE THEM IN THE WINTER. Some of us prefer to camp and explore in the late fall, winter and early spring, before the morons come out and make campfires when it is 97 degrees in July. Limit artificial noise so we can hear the birds and the breeze and the water running.

P.S. Keep the bugs. They were there before the people.

I agree with Teresa, except the reservation system should stay. I hate it, but I know what it was like without it. You would get shut out anyway, but wouldn’t know until you got there, and then what do you do? Go home? I almost had to make that choice more than once.

I don’t have any complaints about the parks I visit. Just keep it affordable.

The heritage of the CCC and the old stone lodges are something OTHER. They reflect a different time where one can get away from daily life in the city, away from TVs and cell phones and busy (or pretending-to-be) people.

Hiking on the trails under cover of leaves and over exposed rocks, risking a twisted ankle… the view over the valleys… the slight sounds of nature, the surprised scurrying of lizards and frogs…. wading and slipping across streams, getting caught out in a rain storm… The experience is priceless.

I’m with the poster who suggests reserving ever wider areas for conservation. It would be great if we had some of these areas closer to St. Louis. Can you believe taking the train to the Meramec at Valley Park was once a luxurious getaway from the city?