Corps, locals differ on ideas to refill, refurbish St. Francis Lake

A northeast Arkansas lake created 200 years ago by a mammoth earthquake and once considered a popular fishing venue is now dying because of another act of nature.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

A map showing the location of St. Francis Lake.

St. Francis Lake, in Poinsett and Craighead counties in the sunken lands formed by the 1811-12 New Madrid earthquakes and fed by the St. Francis River, has been losing water since flooding washed out a section of levee four years ago.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has scheduled the lake for repairs this year.

But, the Corps' focus is on drainage, while local officials want some attention paid to raising the lake's water level to make it suitable for more recreational uses.

"It's one of the better-kept secrets in the country," said Neal Vickers, the secretary-treasurer of the St. Francis Lake Association. "We have a God-given resource. If we can control it better, we can put the northeast Arkansas area on the tourism map."

Years ago, the Corps installed an earthen levee on the lake's west side to help channel the river to fill the lake. In 2011, floodwaters breached the levee. The damage was not repaired, and the levee gap widened over time.

"It could have been fixed back then," said Poinsett County's County Judge Bobby Cantrell, who as a youngster boated and fished on St. Francis Lake. "You could have stepped across the gap. Now, it's 125 yards wide. The water kept cutting through it. The dam is useless now."

The lake's depth has dropped from about 16 feet at its deepest point to 8 to 9 feet.

"You can't run a boat in it," Cantrell said. "If you don't have water, you don't have ducks or fish."

When the lake was at its fullest, boaters could travel from Lake City in Craighead County to Marked Tree in Poinsett County, Vickers said.

Officials in Trumann and other towns near the lake are hoping the levee repairs will refill the lake so that it again attracts waterfowl and fish, and thus more visitors to the area.

"We see it as an enhancement," Trumann Mayor Barbara Lewallen said of the lake repairs. "We see this as economic development."

The Corps plans to install a spillway near the damaged area that will let floodwaters course down the river. Corps officials in Memphis did not immediately return a telephone message seeking additional information about the project.

"We're not at odds with the Corps," Vickers said. "We're happy they are fixing it. We would just like that they change their objective from drainage to include recreation."

At its fullest, St. Francis Lake is comparable in length to Norfork Lake, Vickers said. The lake also is similar to the shallow Reelfoot Lake, which was formed in northwest Tennessee by the 1811-12 earthquakes and is a haven of fishing resorts and lodges.

"If you have canoeing, fishing, nature trails and recreation, then you'll have other businesses showing up to support that," Lewallen said. "And if it brings people in, they will need food and gas and places to stay."

Vickers said the Corps should begin work on the spillway this year, and he envisions the lake soon being restored.

"Tourism means money, and that's what we have here," Vickers said. "Can you imagine what it will do for our area?

"We'll get our lake back," he said.

State Desk on 02/01/2015

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