LITTLE ROCK — Though not expressed in the published proposal, recreational boaters on the Arkansas River might face limited access to the locks only in peak months.

This comes from Bob Belgavy and Laurie Driver of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who discussed the proposed policy with boaters and anglers Wednesday at the Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center in Little Rock. Belgavy is chief of the Corps’ operations division in the Little Rock District, and Driver is the district’s public information officer. It wasn’t a public hearing, but a workshop to explain the proposal, which means it will almost certainly become policy in some form Jan. 1.

The recreational proposal is a companion to another policy that prescribes closing all the locks on the McClellan-Kerr Navigation System in Arkansas and Oklahoma for four hours per day to perform maintenance necessary to keep the locks functioning, Belgavy said. Recreational boats, according to the policy, will have access to the locks just one hour a day.

Belgavy and Driver introduced some important components of the policy that the published proposal does not contain. For example, the one-hour window for recreational boaters will take effect when a “trigger point” of 60 lock swings occurs. “Swings” means opening and closing the lock doors. Murray Lock and Dam and David D. Terry Lock and Dam are the only two that consistently experience 60 swings in a month, so those are probably the only two locks that will be affected, Driver said.

So, if the gates open and close 60 times at Murray on Jan. 1-31, does that trigger the one-hour recreational window for the rest of the year?

No, Driver said. Most likely, the one-hour window will apply from June through August because those are consistently the months when the gates swing 60 or more times. The other locks would operate the same as always.

A graph that the Corps supplied listed all lockages for the dams up to 2011. For 2012, it listed all lockages up to May. In 2011, recreational lockages reached or exceeded 60 only in June (82) and July (91). In 2010, recreational lockages hit the “60 Trigger” in May (82), July (76) and August (60). The most recorded up to May 2012 were in May (52).

It is also noteworthy that recreational lockages on the Arkansas River have gradually declined at all the locks since 2009. That year, the number at Murray was 443. In 2012, it was 336. At Terry L&D, recreational lockages went from 212 in 2009 to 137 in 2012. At L&D No. 5, they have been stable, from 237 in 2009 to 240 in 2012.

Closing the locks for all but one hour per day will produce several outcomes. All recreational traffic, especially sport fishing traffic, will be forced to concentrate in the affected pools at certain times, which will increase fishing pressure on prime areas, and also increase competition among anglers for key areas. Or, it will disperse boat traffic and fishing pressure to other pools.

The policy allows for exceptions regarding major events, like a Bassmaster Classic or Bassmaster Elite Series tournament. However, such an exception seems to favor big corporate tournaments while discriminating against small local tournaments that occur on the river throughout the week during the summer.

A yachtsman who attended the meeting said the proposal will effectively eliminate pleasure cruising on the Arkansas River. He said a number of other yachtsmen cruise to Little Rock from the Gulf of Mexico and from other inland ports on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. He said that limiting access to the locks to one hour per day in peak times will discourage cruisers away from the Arkansas River.

Belgavy said the policy is not a money saver. The same number of personnel will still be on the clock, but the new policy will allow them to manage their time more effectively. Presently, he said, personnel must interrupt maintenance work to let boats and barges through the locks. The four-hour daily suspension will allow them to work uninterrupted, he added.

Emon Mahony, a member of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said this policy is likely the first of more limitations that the Corps will impose on recreational boaters. Belgavy said that he is not aware of any others.

However, this policy will eventually extend to other Corps navigation systems on the Tennessee, Ohio, Tombigbee and Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, just to name a few. Those are all major bass tournament waters.

Sports, Pages 27 on 11/11/2012