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The focus of this project will be on 3 lakes in northwest Arkansas. All lakes are located in or near one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the U.S. Population in NWA is expected to double from 500,000 to over 1 million people by 2035. Siloam Springs City Lake is located in the City of Siloam Springs, AR, Crystal Lake is located in Decatur, and Beaver Lake is located approximately 5 miles to the East of Rogers.

This project will improve fish habitat and fishing access at Siloam Springs City Lake, Crystal Lake and Beaver Lake. The Northwest Arkansas Fish Habitat Alliance will work with local high schools to place Mossback Fish Habitat in Siloam Springs City Lake and Crystal Lake. The Alliance will work with a local fishing club to add either cedar trees or Mossback Fish Habitat to Beaver Lake. The fishing access improvement will take place at Hickory Creek Park on Beaver Lake and plans are to construct a fish cleaning station at this heavily used lake access. Funds for this part of the project have been donated by Pradco Outdoor Brands via Bobby Garland Crappie Baits.

Fish Habitat will be improved in three lakes and all of the lakes are aging. The fish habitat that was once there is no longer available due to reservoir aging. Siloam Springs City Lake is 75 years old, Crystal Lake is 70 years old, and Beaver Lake is 60 years old.

Hickory Creek Park on Beaver Lake is the premier destination for fishing on Beaver Lake and it is a very popular destination for Largemouth Bass, crappie, catfish and Striped Bass Anglers. A new marina operator purchased the Hickory Creek Marina on Beaver Lake and they closed the fish cleaning station at the marina. A new fish cleaning station is needed to improve the fishing access at Beaver Lake.

Siloam Springs City, Crystal and Beaver lakes are located in one of the fastest growing population centers in the U.S. and the increase in population will increase fishing pressure on local lakes. All of the proposed lakes are aging and fish habitat is greatly needed in each lake.

Siloam Springs City Lake is 58 acres in size and has a good population of Largemouth Bass, crappie, Bluegill and Redear sunfish and catfish. The lake is 75 years old and habitat that was once there is now gone. The lake has many bank fishing areas and addition of fish habitat near these will greatly benefit anglers that fish from the shore.

Crystal Lake is a 59 acres and also has good populations of sportfish (Largemouth Bass, crappie, Bluegill and Redear sunfish and catfish). The lake is aging and has experienced a loss of fish habitat. The AGFC has a fishing dock on the lake and addition of Mossback Fish Habitat around the dock will greatly improve fishing for anglers that do not have a boat.

Beaver Lake is 28,500 acres and is 60 years old. Much of the habitat that was once available has degraded over time and improving fish habitat will greatly benefit the lake. Currently, AGFC has over 400 fish habitat sites in the lake that are mostly constructed of Eastern Red Cedar trees. The addition of Mossback Fish Habitat will increase habitat diversity and add structures that are easier to fish around. Anglers have less of a chance to get hung up on Mossback Fish Habitat as compared to cedar tree brush piles. The Mossback Fish Habitat sites will not need to be maintained or added to every 10 years, because artificial fish habitat will last much longer than cedar trees.

The addition of a state of the art fish cleaning station is needed to improve the fishing access at Hickory Creek Park on Beaver Lake. The fish cleaning station is needed due to the loss of one at the Hickory Creek Marina and this area of the lake is the prime fishing location for crappie, catfish and Largemouth Bass and Striped Bass anglers. We are including the fish cleaning station in this grant as a way to leverage more funding partners.

Funds from this project will purchase at least 50 Mossback structures that will be placed in 3 lakes in NWA, resulting in 10 new fish habitat sites on the lakes.

Funds from in-kind donations will construct a fish cleaning station with a pavilion to be installed at the Hickory Creek Park on Beaver Lake. In-kind funds that are part of this project will purchase another 60 Mossback structures that will be placed in 2 additional lakes adding 12 fish habitat sites.

The Alliance will work with high schools to construct and place Mossback Fish Habitat into at least 3 of the proposed lakes. This portion of the project will acquire in-kind labor from students and is a great benefit to the project. At least 100 students will be engaged and learn about reservoir fish habitat management during the project.

This project will significantly enhance the ecological health of Siloam Springs City Lake, Crystal Lake and Beaver Lake by restoring critical fish habitat. Reservoir aging has led to habitat loss, reducing shelter and spawning areas for fish. Fish habitat structures will replicate lost habitat, creating refuge areas for fish and supporting diverse aquatic life. These enhancements will benefit key sport fish species, such as largemouth bass and crappie, while also supporting prey species that sustain the aquatic food web.

Mossback Fish Habitat structures will be placed within casting distance to the shoreline at Siloam Springs City Lake and placed around the fishing dock at Crystal Lake to improve public access to habitat sites.

Placing fish habitat close to the shoreline will improve angler catch rates and angler satisfaction, because adding fish habitat will concentrate fish around the structures. Currently, there is very little fish habitat in close proximity to the bank fishing areas at Siloam Springs City Lake or around the dock at Crystal Lake.

• Largemouth Bass
• White Crappie
• Black Crappie
• Bluegill Sunfish
• Redear Sunfish
• Channel Catfish

• Limited littoral structure

• Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act

We will work with at least 2 schools (over 100 students engaged) to construct and place the Mossback Fish Habitat in 3 local lakes. We will place 50 Mossback structures and create 10 fish habitat sites with this project. The in-kind-work will incorporate additional schools and add 60 Mossback structures to 2 other local lakes in NWA. All fish habitat sites will have GPS coordinates and stored at www.agf.com. A fish cleaning station will be constructed to enhance fishing access at the Hickory Creek Park on Beaver Lake. Performance measures will include documentation of structures placed, GPS coordinates of structures, sign in sheets of student and volunteer participation and copies of all construction and or design documents related to the project.

AGFC staff will determine fish habitat use of these new sites with forward facing sonar and an Aquaview Camera at least 1 year after habitat placement. This will document the fish usage around new fish habitat structures at each lake.

With the help of the AGFC Social Science group, these projects will be promoted through the various AGFC social media outlets (two different Facebook pages that have over 200,000 followers). AGFC will take coordinates from each habitat site and share so that anglers can upload them directly to their sonar units. Information about the habitat sites is on our website (www.agfc.com) and we will continue to add to this resource.

Education will be a main component of this project and we will directly engage 100 students. Each student will get hands on experience constructing and placing fish habitat in each lake.

Results from the habitat project will be disseminated on social media after each goal of the project is completed. AGFC and AGFF social media accounts reach over 200,000 followers. There will be at least 5 social media posts over the project's duration. Results will also be included in annual fisheries reports on the lakes where fish habitat is improved (Siloam Springs City Lake, Crystal Lake and Beaver Lake). These annual reports are available to read at agfc.ar.gov.

Please limit your proposed budget amounts to the grant period. You are responsible for accounting for the Non-Federal match as part of grant completion.

Note: Based on 2022 Bureau of Labor Statistics, Biological Scientists in State government made an average of $33.23/hr. Volunteers are often valued at $29.95/hr.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and NWA Fish Habitat Alliance will be designing and implementing the project.