|
Congressional legislation brings minimum flow to Arkansas’ world-famous trout fisheries |
 FLIPPIN
-Through the efforts of congressmen John Boozman and Marion Berry, as
well as former Arkansas Game and Fish Commission chairman Forrest L.
Wood, language in the Energy and Water Appropriations Act for FY06 will
move White River Minimum Flow toward implementation on the White and
North Fork rivers, pending completion of an environmental impact study
due for completion in July 2006.During a press conference today in Flippin, the group thanked all the Arkansas Game and Fish Commissioners and staff, especially those involved early in the process, for a team effort resulting in a major win for Arkansas. The bill, which passed the House Nov. 9 by a vote of 399-17, will modify the operation of the lakes to include water storage to improve tailwater trout fisheries on the White and North Fork rivers, and includes language to provide for construction of a fish hatchery at Beaver Dam. The White River minimum flow issue is an old one, dating back nearly half a century when trout were stocked in the White River below Bull Shoals Dam and the North Fork River below Norfork Dam as a replacement for the native warmwater fishery wiped out by the dam’s cold-water release system. Bull Shoals and the other dams of the White River system were built for flood control and power generation. Ensuing years have brought a recreational trout fishing industry to Arkansas that has grown to international renown, bringing with it millions of dollars to the Arkansas economy. When water flows are nonexistent, multiple problems arise - low food production (chiefly aquatic insects), habitat destruction, difficult small boat navigation and increased water temperatures. When there is no generation or flood release, only water that leaks through the dam reaches the river. What the trout fishery needs is an adequate minimum flow for temperature control, food production and angler access. Adequate minimum flow is the release of water through the dam when no hydropower is being generated and no floodwater is being evacuated. Minimum flow would maintain a small flow in the river (greater than what exists) from which power would be generated even if there were no demand for peak power. Adequate minimum flow releases are designed to sustain the tailwater fishery when low-flow conditions occur after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Southwestern Power Administration normally stop water releases. The improved trout habitat resulting from the adequate minimum flow releases will more closely resemble a natural trout stream and river flow conditions before the dams were built. Trout food producing areas also will be enhanced and expanded. While the physical effects on anglers fishing the rivers won’t be dramatic, adequate minimum flow will have a much more dramatic effect on a trout fishery already considered among the best in the world. Studies by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and trial runs implementing minimum flow unequivocally demonstrated the environmental improvements to the tailwater ecosystem and the trout fishery that could be achieved under very modest increases in minimum flow. After much study by the Corps of Engineers, minimum flow has been determined to be technically sound, environmentally acceptable and economically justified. According to Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Director Scott Henderson, Congress recognized the tremendous benefits to be derived environmentally and economically from improved river flows. “They were sensitive to avoiding significant impacts to other lake uses, including hydropower. We will continue to work with the Corps of Engineers and Southwestern Power Administration in the spirit of cooperation as we move forward on this important issue,” Henderson said. |
Click Here To Return To The Previous Page
