Engineers set Jan. 31 cutoff to get permits

Eight weeks left to submit requests for Beaver Lake

Property owners around Beaver Lake have about eight weeks to submit permit requests to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for new projects or maintenance on federally owned lands before a temporary window when new permits won't be issued.

The Beaver Lake Project Office typically receives about 20 requests for new boat docks and 100 requests for boat dock modifications each year, said Sean Harper, operations manager at Beaver Lake. The office handles about 30 to 40 requests annually for property owners wanting to mow vegetation or to create walkways that lead to the water's edge, he said.

The office is preparing to temporarily suspend new shoreline use permit requests during a revision of the Beaver Lake master plan, Harper said. The suspension will begin Feb. 1 and continue through spring 2016. Permits last for five years.

New shoreline use permit requests must be received or postmarked by Jan. 31 at the Beaver Lake office. They are required for activities on public lands surrounding the lake such as mowing grass, cutting or trimming trees, disposing of trash or sewage, building structures or boat facilities, or removing rock.

A permit for mowing, for example, allows a homeowner with property bordering Corps lands to mow up to 100 feet onto government property from his home, said Laurie Driver, a spokesman for the district. The permits allow homeowners to keep grass on government property cut both for safety and aesthetic reasons.

While the Corps will mow some grassy areas in parks or picnic areas, the Corps generally allows vegetation in other areas to grow naturally, Driver said.

"We consider that a buffer for animals and to help ecosystems," she said.

Residents with current permits will be able to continue to mow, and residents will be able to renew existing permits if they expire during the moratorium, Driver said. The moratorium affects requests for new permits during the update of the Beaver Lake master plan.

The Corps of Engineers Little Rock District is updating master plans for Table Rock Lake, Bull Shoals Lake and Beaver Lake, said Driver. The effort started with Table Rock Lake in December 2012.

The revisions require the moratorium on new shoreline use permit requests, Driver said.

"If you want to document what current conditions are, if they're constantly changing, that makes the process more difficult," she said.

The master plan for Beaver Lake was developed in the 1970s and has not been updated since then, said Dana Coburn, project manager for the Little Rock District's Planning and Environmental Division. The plan guides the uses and development of land and water around the lake.

Northwest Arkansas has experienced an explosion of growth since the 1970s, Coburn said. A key part of the master plan revision will involve looking at the classification of land around the lake and determining whether those classifications should change, she said.

"We are asking for help from the public," Coburn said. "What do they perceive that needs to happen at this lake?"

The Corps classifies lands in four primary categories: project operations for the dam, spillway and lake management offices; high-density recreation areas used as parks or for other recreational activities; environmentally sensitive areas for scientific, ecological, cultural or aesthetic features; and multiple resource management lands, a broad category that includes areas for hiking trails, habitat for fish and wildlife, for preserving the forest and inactive recreation areas.

Water surfaces are classified as restricted for project operations or safety, as no-wake zones, as fish and wildlife sanctuaries to protect fish and wildlife during periods of migration, nesting or spawning, and as open recreation.

The Beaver Lake office plans to conduct public meetings in March, Coburn said.

Revising the master plan is expected to take 18 months, Driver said. The process includes developing a baseline for current uses of the lake, followed by public workshops to explain how the process works and to receive input from the public.

"We try to get as many people interested and wanting to participate," Driver said.

Duty rangers can assist with shoreline use permit requests. The Beaver Lake Project Office phone number is (479) 636-1210, and the address is 2260 N. Second St. in Rogers with a ZIP code of 72756.

NW News on 12/04/2014

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