By Joe Mosby
Arkansas News Correspondent
LITTLE ROCK — The state Game and Fish Commission agreed today to become the lead agency for a multi-state study of problems with the nation’s aging man-made lakes.
The Reservoir Fish Habitat Partnership involves 38 states and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Under the agreement approved by state Game and Fish commissioners Thursday, the Arkansas agency will administer a grant of $296,000 to get the program up and running and will contract for a coordinator to administer it.
The program will be housed in facilities of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
The partnership was formed by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, the national organization of state agencies like Arkansas’ Game and Fish.
Seven objects of the partnership include:
—Reservoir classification and baseline assessment of fish habitat impairments.
—Preliminary survey and publication of the best practices for addressing fish habitat impairments.
—Coordination of strategies, actions and date sharing with the National Fish Habitat Action Plan and other fish habitat partnerships.
—Selection and support of projects in priority reservoir systems.
—Establishing the Friends of Reservoirs Foundation to sustain the partnership in the future.
—Hiring a coordinator to administer the partnership and to implement a strategic plan.
—Expanding the partnership through outreach and partnership infrastructure.
Arkansas has a long, extensive history of man-made lakes — reservoirs — and is a national leader in state-built recreational lakes.
From power supply lakes Catherine and Hamilton built in the 1920s, Arkansas went on to receive many flood control and power generation lakes in the late 1930s, the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s in addition to the state fishing lakes and to lakes that are a part of the Arkansas River navigation system.
Also today, the commission approved $26,000 to help increase donations to the Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry program.
Commissioners also accepted an offer of $80,000 for a water pipeline across Mike Freeze Wattensaw Wildlife Management Area in Prairie County. The pipeline is a project of the White River Regional Irrigation Water Distribution District.
The panel approved $28,500 to help with costs of connecting the Joe Hogan Fish Hatchery to the Lonoke sewer system, replacing septic tanks.
