Environment: Invaders on The Black River

Villages on Missouri's Black River like Lesterville and Centerville used to be oases of tranquillity, the destination of weekend canoeists, tube floaters and fishermen. No longer. All too often the solitude of the Ozarks wilderness is shattered these days by the whine and rumble of powerful engines. The river's banks are littered with mountains of discarded beer cans, used Pampers and empty motor-oil cans. A steady stream of pickup trucks rolls through village streets hauling trailers loaded with all-terrain vehicles, heading for the river's edge. Locals call it "the Invasion."

On Memorial Day weekend the invaders descended with a vengeance. Each day some 250 ATVs gathered on a stretch of the Black River near Centerville, a wide-open area of gravel bars and shallow water. The weekend warriors jousted at one another with their three- and four-wheel vehicles, running up and down the riverbed with abandon. As some ATV riders sat chugging beer on the bank, cohorts roared past at breakneck speeds, narrowly missing other vehicles. Music blasted from portable radios and car stereos, commingling with the whoops of riders and the growl of unmuffled engines. The air stank of gasoline. Usually clear, the Black River in places ran the crayon green of a sewage ditch as algae were stirred up by the commotion.

For the ATV crowd, it was all just good fun. But for conservationists and others interested in keeping the river pristine, the Invasion is a nightmare. Many had thought a bill passed by the Missouri legislature in April would ban ATVs in the river; the new law requires riders to have a landowner's permission to ride the river. The catch is that much of the Black River is still unposted, and the law has failed to halt the nightmare. "These things destroy the ecology of the river," says Larry Koeler, a Centerville lawyer, of the ATVs. "Some drivers drain their crankcases in the water. And if you're running a machine with oil and gas through the water, some of that gets in the river."

Canoe Guide John Marlin of the nearby Twin Rivers Landing receives up to 16 complaints a day about ATVs. "The problems are from outsiders," he says. "When all those people get together with ATVs, and you combine that with alcohol, you have a real problem." Horror stories abound. Former River Guide Eric Dunn recalls an encounter in which an ATV jostled a canoe and knocked a little boy into the river. The child's father and the ATV driver "went at it for a while," recalls Dunn dryly. "Over three years ago, a young boy tried to run down me and my wife and son," Marlin relates. "The boy splashed us on the first pass. The next time he was going to bump the canoe. I held the paddle like a baseball bat and took a swing. He didn't take the second pass. I've seen these ATVs herd canoes like a dog herds sheep."