Expert: Recreation On Illinois River Has Declined

JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — About 30,000 fewer people floated in the Illinois River watershed in 2007 compared with two years earlier, a professor testified Tuesday, suggesting that decades of chicken manure pollution may have made one of the state's top recreational areas less attractive to the public.

Oklahoma State University professor Lowell Caneday, who has studied the 1 million-acre watershed for decades, also testified he personally witnessed some of the pollution, such as a clump of poultry manure with feathers, straw and other debris, floating down the Illinois River. On one rainy day in 2007, Caneday claimed he saw a farm field spread with so much chicken manure, it appeared to "move" across the road in the storm.

Caneday is a witness in the state of Oklahoma's federal pollution trial against the Arkansas poultry industry. Oklahoma claims 11 companies, including Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat producer, are responsible for mucking up a once-pristine river valley that straddles portions of both states.

Tuesday was the 20th day of the trial, which began in September.

Charlie Price, a spokesman for the Oklahoma attorney general's office, said Tuesday the state is hoping to finish its side of the case in the next three to four weeks — a near-guarantee the nonjury trial will stretch into January because the poultry companies still have yet to present their case.