3:48 p.m. CAFO documentary to air Thursday at PSU

A 30-minute documentary on the construction of a 65,600-chicken CAFO near Roaring River State Park in Barry County, Mo., will be shown at 6:10 p.m. Thursday at Pittsburg State University.

The documentary, titled “Everyone Lives Downstream,’’ will be shown in Room 107 of Grubbs Hall.

The documentary was produced by T. Swezey and A. Monteleone, students of the documentary film program at PSU. The film is one of several that are being shown by students in the program.

Mark Depping, adviser to the program, said the students were going to create a documentary about the life of a park ranger. But the focus of the film changed as they learned more about the potential impact of the CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) on the park and the river, a popular tourist destination in Southwest Missouri.

Opponents of the CAFO have formed the Roaring River Parks Alliance to combat the operation of the CAFO and the construction of others in the river’s watershed.

The CAFO received construction and operating permits from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources as a no-discharge operation. The opponents are appealing the permits.

Concern about the CAFO and others near state parks and historic sites in Missouri led to the introduction of legislation that, if approved, would create CAFO buffer zones around state parks and historic sites.