Missouri Association of
Professional
Soil Scientists

To Advance The Knowledge And Wise Use Of Our Soil Resources
April, 2000 Volume 61

The Probauger

Fall Meeting
Officers
MAPSS Float Trip
Comments on Dept of Health
Fire Out of Control

1999 FALL MAPSS MEETING

by Dave Skaer

On October 15,1999 ajovial group of near 30 assembled at Lane Springs for our fall meeting. Following a couple of hours of general BS and lies the "wing ding" as prepared by chefs John "Frenchy" Fraga and yours truly achieved near perfection. We feasted on barbequed pork loin, barbequed chicken wings, hot wings, and a new favorite "bullhead" wings; and loads of carbohydrate filler. Six brave souls participated in the overnite festivities.

The scheduled program of Mark Osborn's China slides were sidelined to a future meeting due to a lack of electricity at the US Forest Service pavilion. Officers were elected and Jerry Gott is the new vice-president, Bill Pauls is the secretary/treasurer, and Dick Henderson and Brad McKee are members at large. I have taken the liberty to renew the chairmanships of last year: Finance-John Preston, Constitution-Tom DeWitt, Membership-Dennis Meinert, Education-Leon Thompson, Ethics & Certification-Dave Skaer, & Nominations-John Fraga.

A letter to the Mo. Dept. of Health was reviewed as the original Mo. Senate Bill 446 was proposed to be changed. A copy of the final letter sent is included. There is potential that a new bill may be proposed and we need to talk and write our congress people in support of soil science.

The spring meeting was discussed and a float/fishing tournament will be held on May 19 & 20 at Pomme de Terre dam. We'll convene at the damsite about noon, with our nets and dynamite (fishing lures). Give Dick Henderson a call or e-mail reserving your place. If anything besides a cold is caught a trophy will be presented at the fall assembly.

The plan for the fall meeting will be in conjunction with the Central States Forest Soils Workshop on October 10-12, 2000 scheduled to take place in Hannibal Mo. Details will be out.

CURRENT LIST OF MAPSS OFFICERS
PresidentDavid Skaer Vice-PresidentJerry Gott
Sec./TreasurerBill Pauls Past PresidentsMark Osborn, Robert Rouse
Members-at-largeDick Henderson, Brad McKee

SPRING MAPSS FLOAT TRIP

The Spring MAPSS float trip will be held below Pomme de Terre Dam near Hermitage, Missouri on May 13. Ve will be floating on the Pomme from the Dam to Hermitage. This is about a five hour float depending on water condition. The fishing is good; but there is no white water unless the Dam gates are open. On Friday the 12th, the pavilion on the north side of the Dam has been reserved for our socializing pleasure. We will probably start in the early afternoon about 1 or 2. There are campsites available nearby as well as canoe rentals. If you have any questions or want reservations for campsites, call Dick Henderson at 417-326-8371.

Comments on Dept of Health

DATE: September 14, 1999
FROM: Dennis M Meinert.
TO: John Preston
SUBJECT: Comments on Dept. of Health meeting for Probauger.

John, here is an article for the probeauger. Please review and if acceptable place in the next addition.

The Dept. of Health has Convened a committee of stakeholders to review the existing authority as described in Section 701 RSMo (1994) and Supplement (1995). The committee's title is "On-Site Sewage Law Review Stakeholder Advisory Committee." The committee consists of 30 to 36 members. Members come from government and private sectors. They represent geologists, engineers, sanitarians, soil scientists, installers, bankers, mortgage lenders, realtors, manufacturers, and government personnel. We have no authority to revise the law! Our charge is to levy the current law (not the rules) and make recommendations to the Dept. of Health as to items we feel need to be revised. The Departments will make the final decisions on what goes forward to the legislature. Our first meeting is on September 7. 1999

At this meeting the Dept. brought up several articles of the law that they had concerns about. So even though we will be looking at the wording of the entire law, the Dept. wanted to stress the following items. These are as follows:

a). Ambiguity as to scope of establishment covered in Section 701.
b). Continuation or repeal of the three acre and 3,000 gallon restrictions.
c). State oversight of local ordinances.
d). Loan evaluation standards and clear prohihitions of conflict of interest.
e). Authority to establish standards that are specific to certain establishments such as residential, food, lodging, churches, etc. The committee added to this list many items it also wanted to look at carelully and discuss. Some of them are listed below:

a). Establish training standards for specialized professional disciplines.
b). Definitions.
c). Fee structure.
d). Elimination of perc test and landowner installations.
e). Single Family discharging systems.
f). Product standards.
g). etc. To make this process easier the items were grouped by category along with the section or sections of the law which pertain to all Four main groups were developed. The committee was divided into four groups and each was given one of the categories. The subgroups will begin work on their respective sections at the Sept.21 meeting. During this initial meeting four points were brought up for discussion by the entire group. It was believed that these issues needed to be settled prior to discussing the items utilizing the subgroup format. These four items are listed below and how the voting went on each of the issues.

1). Elimination ofthe three acre minimum requirement. This issue passed unanimously. No limit was placed on the am6unt of acreage owned to require a sight evaluation.
2). Elimination of the perc test. This issue passed 27 to 2.
3). Any structure producing~liumati waste will be considered under this law. Passed unanimously.
4). Any structure producing human waste will be held to the same standards. Passed 28 to 1.

The committe will be using these four issues as a starting point in looking at the remainder of the law in their subgroups. What is needed is input from the soil scientists of Missouri on any of the issues listed above or any other portion of hte law. One of the main sections to be discussed in a subgroup will be section 701.040. This section deals with who is qualified to perform soil morphologies and what requirements they must meet. We need to take a close look at this section again.

Dennis Meinert

Fire Out of Control

It was the last Friday work day. in the month of February. The sky was covered with various shades of gray colored clouds and the southerly winds were gusty. I was soil mapping in the northeast corner of Washington. County. This area has.abandoned barite strip mines characterized by open, somewhat deep pits, with adjacent piles of. overburden or waste material. The vegetation is red cedar trees, broom sedge grass and anything else that will grow. I had talked to the wife of the couple who own 75 acres in this type of area. I had no problem with having access to their property. The property adjacent to theirs was cabled off and padlocked. They had~a key but wouldn't let me have vehicle access without permission. The owner was called but only got an answering machine recording. On this particular day I stopped there again to see if any response had occurred from that phone call. Still no call had been returned, so I told the lady that I would park my truck just east of her new earth house, along the mine road, and do my work.

I went about my work of mapping when I heard a series of emergency vehicle sirens near by. I thought it was a result of a vehicle accident some where along the square letter designated highway. near where I was mapping. When I got out of the woods and was walking on the mine road and within sighting distance of the probe truck, I saw a rising cloud of smoke behind the truck. The truck was parked an estimated lOO& feet from the grass fire. The mine road was blocked off by one large fire truck, and two 3/4 ton sized pumper trucks. They were pumping and spraying water on the fire.

The fire got started at a farmstead along the highway and directly south of the couple's new earth house and southwest of the probe truck. I don't know how the fire got started but it moved towards and partially burned the ground level portion of the barn. It was saved. The fire also moved across an open field towards the earth house and probe truck. The fIre crossed the property line and through a row of red cedars, just south of the earth house. The lady that lived there watered down the roof and sides of the house and every thing in the undisturbed mine areas that could be reached with a garden hose before the fire trucks arrived. The yard surrounding the house didn't have any established seeding because of the recent construction of the house and the dry conditions of last summer and fall,. The fire got across the road and spread out of control in the abandoned mine area next to the house before the. fire trucks arrived. That is where the fire was being attacked when I arrived on the scene. I know that she was frantic and moving fast because there was silty clay loam smeared on her face. She wasn't aware of her appearance until her husband pointed it out. I was able to drive out of the area by an alternate route rather than wait for the fire trucks to finish watering down the hot spots and leave.

I stopped back at the fire scene the next Monday to see if the call made to the absentee property owner which I couldn't get access by truck, had been returned. She told me that the people who lived where the grass fire started, video recorded the actions of the fire department personal. She revealed to me what she thought their reason was for doing this. I will let you conclude your own reason. I asked her if they make any effort to inquire about or express any regret for what they started. She said "No".

By Gary Lundgren.