River serves different uses from different banks

<br>SPRINGDALE, Ark. (AP) _ Oklahoma officials want people in Arkansas to understand why the Illinois River is important enough to impose strict limits on discharges into the waterway. <br><br>While Arkansas

Monday, September 30th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SPRINGDALE, Ark. (AP) _ Oklahoma officials want people in Arkansas to understand why the Illinois River is important enough to impose strict limits on discharges into the waterway.

While Arkansas has an abundance of scenic rivers, Oklahoma has only a few and the Illinois is one of them. On Saturday, officials from both states got a first-hand look at the river and at the aquatic life the waterway harbors on the Oklahoma side.

The river's water quality is much worse than it was 30 or more years ago, but it has improved significantly from 20 years ago, said Ed Fite, administrator of the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission.

Fite and other officials discussed the effects phosphorus from cities and poultry operations in northwest Arkansas have on the river. Several Arkansas cities discharge treated sewage into the river. The area also has a heavy concentration of poultry operations. Urban and farm runoff also drain nutrients into the river, which flows west into Oklahoma.

Arkansas officials acknowledge the discharges but disagree with the limits set by Oklahoma and dispute Oklahoma's authority to enforce the strictures.

Mark Dunham, a stream biologist with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, ``shocked'' a small area of the river near Tahlequah, Okla., on Saturday and provided a look at several types of fish, including many that are difficult to catch with a rod and reel.

River redhorse, channel catfish, largemouth buffalo, northern hogsucker, drum, long-eared sunfish, spotted or Kentucky bass, largemouth bass, rock bass and smallmouth bass are some that were captured and released by Durham.

Durham explained that a new limit for smallmouth bass is designed to increase the number of large ``brownies'' in the state's streams. A daily limit of six fish between 9 and 12 inches begins Jan. 1, he said.

The river has a good smallmouth population, but there are not very many big ones remaining, he said. A 12-inch smallmouth in a stream is about 8 years old, he said.

Along Oklahoma Highway 10 are several canoe-rental and camping operations. Public-access points line the river along the roadway, illustrating how important the river is to the local tourism industry. Many who use the river come for the smallmouth bass, and local entrepreneurs would like to see them keep coming.

Excess nutrients bring about reduced water clarity and the growth of dark-tan-to-olive-colored algae on the rocks along the river bed. Game fish thrive in clean water, while suckers and other bottom fish flourish in areas where algae growth is high because of nutrients.