MAYFLOWER - Progress on the extensive cooperative program to improve conditions on and around Lake Conway has been made in the past year, officials of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission told the Lake Conway Citizens Committee in a recent meeting.

The meeting at the Camp Robinson Wildlife Demonstration Area clubhouse was the first in nearly a year for the group, formed in 2001 to help AGFC with a long-range management plan for the 54-year-old lake.

The committee members were in agreement with the mostly positive report, although they raised questions on several issues, including the major factor of sediment and siltation in the lake.

Much work remains to be done, fisheries biologist Carl Perrin told the group. And Mike Armstrong, assistant fisheries chief for AGFC, said the problem of siltation filling in the lake from water runoff, is a major issue beyond the scope of the committee or the Game and Fish Commission.

Armstrong said, "There is no county zoning. You have no sediment pools, no silt fences with construction projects. The solution to this is up in the watershed, not on the lake."

Mushrooming growth of Conway and Faulkner County was mentioned as one underlying cause for some of the lake's problems. Committee member Smitty Burgess said, "The watershed (for Lake Conway) has become concrete."

Fisheries biologist Tom Bly added, "The DEQ (Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality) enforces storm runoff from constriction. They issue storm water discharge permits. If somebody sees a big blob running toward the lake from construction, they can call DEQ on their hotline."

Jim Butler commented, "Last year, the lake was better than it has been in a long, long time." Judy Manley of Mayflower said, "The water is much cleaner now."

Stable water levels were mentioned by several committee members as a major achievement under the new lake management plan. Armstrong said, "We are experimenting to see if we can leave the lake a little higher in winter, but this is still in a learning stage." The management plan calls for the lake to be at 263 feet above sea level most of the year but to be lowered to 262 for four and a half months, late fall to early spring, to handle rains.

Armstrong said, "The new plan doesn't let us release water to Bell Slough Wildlife Management Area (flooding for wintering waterfowl) when the lake is more than a foot low. We were headed to a problem last fall. The lake was low. But rains came in the fall and took care of it."

Committee member Ken Olver told the AGFC staffers, "Thank you for marking the boat lanes." Perrin said, "We are maybe 60 percent finished with marking the boat trails. We'll try to get a lot more of it done this year."

Perrin said spraying of nuisance vegetation in selected areas had reduced but not eliminated the aquatic plants. More spraying is scheduled, he said.

Shoreline stabilization is being addressed, with some help from Stream Team activities. Perrin said, "We want to get away from concrete retaining walls (by lakeside property owners) and use more vegetation and trees."