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DIERKS --The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will draw down Dierks Lake five to seven feet below normal in October so the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission can inspect and repair fish shelters and possibly add two to three new ones to improve habitat and fishing.
The Commission also will replace damaged or missing marker buoys so anglers can find the shelters once the lake is refilled. The Corps will inspect boat ramps and other structures.
The drawdown will begin Oct. 12. The level will continue to fall to between elevations 519 and 521 by Oct. 18. The Corps will hold the lake in this range as much as possible through February, though rain could cause the lake to fluctuate as it performs its flood reduction mission.
Corps officials urge boaters to slow down and use extra caution to avoid striking underwater obstacles that are normally deeply submerged when the lake is at more normal levels.
In another project at Dierks, the Corps is working downstream of the dam to build a handicap access ramp to the stilling basin. The drawdown will not affect this work.
Dierks Lake on the Saline River about five miles from the town of Dierks is one of four Corps lakes in the Little River Basin in Arkansas that reduce flooding. The 1,360-acre lake can swell to 2,970 acres when storing floodwater. It has prevented about $5.1 million in flood losses since it was built, the Corps said.
The project offers water sports, camping, hiking, sightseeing and hunting. Gamefish include bass, crappie, catfish and sunfish. The lake^s three Corps parks logged nearly 172,000 visits in 1998.
Uploaded: 10/9/1999
Uploaded: 10/9/1999