PRAIRIE CREEK — With Beaver Lake shimmering blue in the background, officials with the Beaver Lake Foundation and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers signed the legal document that allows the foundation to begin assisting the corps with projects around the lake.

The corps and the Beaver Lake Foundation have been communicating for 18 months to draft the agreement that was signed on Tuesday at a Prairie Creek park picnic shelter, said Kerry Jensen, foundation president. Jensen also is president of Main Street Rogers.

It allows the foundation to accept financial donations and provide manpower to complete projects at Beaver Lake the corps can’t fund. Until now, there was no avenue for the public to donate money directly to the corps for specific projects at Beaver Lake. Now those donations can be made through the foundation.

The foundation’s first project will be a life-jacket loaner program at the swim beaches in corps parks on the lake.

“It’s a good entry-level project,” Jensen said. Tours of Beaver Dam are planned that will raise money for the foundation by charging a fee for the tours. The foundation may one day take over operation of one or more parks at Beaver Lake, but that is “down the road,” Jensen said.

Sean Harper, the corps’ operations manager at Beaver Lake, said one life-jacket loaner program is in operation at the Beaver Dam day-use-area swim beach. A wooden kiosk holds about a dozen life jackets that are mainly worn by children whose parents bring them to swim in the summer.

“They take a life jacket, go swimming and put it back,” Harper said. There’s been no problem with theft of the life jackets, he added. Loaner stations planned by the Beaver Lake Foundation will be similar, Jensen said.

Anyone who wants to get involved with the foundation as a volunteer, or make a donation, should contact Jensen at 479-586-5024.

One benefit of the foundation operating a park is revenue raised through camping or other fees can be turned back to that particular park, said Col. Glen Masset, commander of the corps’ Little Rock District.

Fees collected at parks operated by the corps go into the general U.S. Treasury, Masset said.

A similar foundation is in place at Table Rock Lake, Masset said. Six parks at Table Rock, downstream from Beaver Lake, are operated by the Table Rock foundation, he said. Those parks were on a list to be closed, but remain open thanks to that lake’s foundation.

If the Beaver Lake foundation requests a park to operate, the foundation is required to write a business plan and present it to the corps for review, Masset said.

Another advantage is that vendors such as a food truck or kayak rental could do business at parks operated by the foundation. This isn’t allowed at parks operated by the corps.

Masset said he can remember a day when the corps had “all the money it needed.” Now it is doing “less with less,” he said.

Harper noted a successful volunteer program is already in place at the Beaver Lake office. Volunteers mow in the park, maintain trails and do other chores. Harper said the Beaver Lake Foundation could increase the volunteer pool.

A copy of the document signed on Tuesday will be available for public inspection at the corps’ Beaver Lake website and Facebook page and the Little Rock District website in about a week. A copy will also be available at the Beaver Lake office, 2260 N. Second St. in Rogers.