White River minimum flow to aid trout
Seemingly simple problems can quickly and sometimes easily become major hassles.
Can you say federal government?
Our example today is the long quest for a minimum flow of water downstream from Bull Shoals and Norfork dams in north Arkansas. And why is this such a problem? Because trout die without oxygen-carrying water in flowing streams.
A quarter century effort to secure a minimum flow of fish-sustaining water on the White River neared completion Thursday with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s approval of a partnership on the issue with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
At first glance, it seems simple to provide this water – just turn on a trickle of water at Bull Shoals and Norfork dams when water is too to keep fish healthy.
In reality, however, it is a complex and hotly contested matter between more than one federal agency, state agencies and private citizens over who controls the water in the two lakes, which are key components of the White River system that lies mostly in Arkansas but partly in Missouri.
Downstream from the two dams is some of the nation’s finest trout fishing. Trout came in after the dams were built and resulting cold water releases wiped out the native fish – primarily bass, crappie, bream and catfish.
The federal government agreed to furnish trout as compensation for the lost fish. Trout took to the nutrient-rich water, and a multi-million industry sprang from it – float fishing for trout.
The problem was in periods of little rainfall, late summer and early fall, the White and its tributary North Fork, become nearly stagnant with little water coming through the two dams. Oxygen levels plummet, and fish suffer, sometimes resulting in extensive die-offs.
But the dams were built with congressional mandates of flood control and electricity generation. Norfork was completed in 1943, Bull Shoals in 1951. Fish and recreation were not mentioned in the acts creating the dams and the lakes.
Southwest Power Administration is a federal agency handling the electricity output and has maintain firm control of lake levels for decades. The agreement to maintain a minimum flow of water year-round came only after years of negotiation, debate, multiple meetings and congressional nudging.
Forrest Wood, a former member of the Game and Fish Commission, said Thursday, “We went to Washington, met with our people in Congress and laid in the floor and kicked and hollered about minimum flow.”
The lengthy and detailed agreement that was approved Thursday by the Game and Fish Commission commits the agency to meeting terms of Section 132 of the federal 2006 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act.
Modifications have been underway since 2009 on Norfork dam and lake. They will now begin on Bull Shoals dam and lake. These include a pipeline through Norfork dam, generator adaptations at Bull Shoals and adjustments to parks on the lakes and nearby county roads, since water will be at slightly higher levels part of the time.
In another matter, the commissioners accepted a grant of $115,000 from the Walton Family Foundation for replacing bottomland hardwoods and restoring wetlands on 4,000 privately owned acres in Chicot and Desha counties in southeast Arkansas.
Permission was given Edgar Colvin of Grant County to erect a monument, at his expense, at the AGFC’s Lee’s Ferry Access on the Saline River in Grant County. This was the site of a Civil War action with Confederates battling Union forces crossing the river in 1863.
