The Arkansas Game & Fish Commission will start draining Lake Keith in Cave Springs next month to prepare for development of a 31-acre watershed sanctuary around the lake.
The commission is working with the Illinois River Watershed Partnership to create a regional office with recreational facilities, piers and outdoor classrooms.
AT A GLANCE
Conservation Area
The planned conservation area around Lake Keith in Cave Springs will include educational kiosks, an outdoor classroom, a fishing pier, fisheries management and wildlife trails.
The commission initially planned to begin preparing the 6-acre lake on Wednesday, with draining starting a few days later, according to a news release. The date was moved back after several commissioners wanted to see the full lake at a meeting in Springdale set for Sept. 26, said Keith Stephens, assistant chief of communications for the commission.
The lake will remain dry for about 15 months once it is drained to facilitate replacement of an inoperable water control structure. Other lake improvements planned include lake restoration, bank stabilization and fish habitat improvement. The lake will also have fishing piers and canoe launching facilities.
“They will renovate the sides of the lake and build some new streams around the old hatchery,” said Delia Haak, executive director of the partnership.
Water levels may rise downstream from the lake while it is being drained, but any increased water levels will be temporary, Stephens said. Crews will work to ensure fish make the transition smoothly while the lake is drained. Hatchery workers will use seine nets to remove any fish left after the lake is drained to a nearby creek, Haak said.
The partnership purchased the site last year in a cooperative effort with the Game & Fish to create a learning and recreational center. Haak said the group hopes to complete the outdoor facilities by June 30. The commission’s regional office and educational facility should be finished in 2015 or 2016, she said.
The groups envision the site as a destination for school children on field trips, families out fishing or residents taking a stroll on wildlife trails.
Larry Smith, mayor of Cave Springs, called the development a “game changer." Smith said the conservation area will draw more people to the city.
“It’s going to be a very nice building,” Smith said. “We got a lot of things in the works right now.”
Cave Springs received a grant last year for a new sewer system in the downtown area and is remodeling a city park.
A cave near Lake Keith is home to the largest known population of the rare and threatened Ozark Blind Cavefish, as well as a large colony of gray bats. The cave has been closed to the public since the 1980s.
Haak said the partnership chose Cave Springs because of its example as a “sensitive ecosystem.”