CAVE SPRINGS — The state Game and Fish Commission will honor its commitment to complete about $880,000 worth of improvements to land owned by the Illinois River Watershed Project, despite discontinuing plans to build a regional enforcement and educational outreach headquarters in the area, representatives of both organizations said this week.
For nearly two years, the two organizations have been working toward establishing a jointly operated conservation-education center on a 32-acre portion of CaveSprings located near Loch Lono, the 6-acre lake that abuts Arkansas 112.
The Illinois River Watershed Partnership was formed in 2005, with a mission to provide conservation education to the regional population, with a special focus on issues relevant to the health of the watershed, which spansNorthwest Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. In February, the partnership purchased the former Lakeview Baptist Church in Cave Springs for $250,000 and is converting the former sanctuary to an interactive education outreach center.
According to documents provided by Game and FishCommission spokesman Nancy Ledbetter, partnership representatives first approached the commission in April 2012. Later, representatives of both parties signed an agreement that the partnership would purchase the 32-acre property for $880,000 using a matching grant of $440,000 fromthe Walton Family Foundation and $440,000 from other donors. The commission agreed to provide up to $880,000 in infrastructure improvements and educational programming over a 10-year period.
The agreement also included an option for the commission to construct a regional office on the property, with a one-year deadline to begin moving forward on the option.
Over the course of nearly two years, the commission repeatedly requested deadline extensions from the partnership, which were granted, said Sam Goade, president of the partnership’s board of directors. Goade said that when the commission asked for additional time earlier this year, it was the fourth such request.
Delia Haak, the partnership’s executive director, said that the two parties hadn’t been able to agree on who would have “final say” over any disputes involving the new regional office.
“I think both sides feel like they need to have final decision on certain things that go on,” Haak said. “Game and Fish felt like they needed to have final say on the land that they would be building on. They were going to be making a substantial investment, so we understood that.”
But because many of the grants the partnership has received, from sources including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Arkansas Natural Resources Council, have“mission-oriented” requirements, Haak said, the board of directors was also unwilling to relinquish “final say” authority over use of its property.
“In theory, you say, ‘we’re all going to share,’” Haak said. “But when you come down to it, there’s going to be a decision where you say, ‘you can do this’ or ‘you can’t do that.’”
At the Feb. 6 quarterly meeting of the partnership’s board of directors, members voted to not extend the then-current deadline of Feb. 28.
Both Haak and Jeff Crow, the commission’s deputy director, said there was no acrimony over the decision to discontinue the commission’s option for building a regional office on partnership land.
“It’s not that we’ve terminated our involvement with the watershed partnership,” Crow said. “We’re committed to finishing projects we’ve started.”
Crow said the commission and partnership are still working out some of the fine points of what their relationship will look like in the long term.
Commission personnel recently drained Loch Lono and are working to restore and reinforce the lake’s banks as well as the stream that flows into it. Haak said the commission also agreed to build a fishing pier, pavilion amphitheater and parking lot near the lake.
Haak said she hopes to have the lake refilled by late spring. Architectural designs for the more structures are scheduled to be complete by the end of June, Haak said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 03/20/2014