The White River - Arkansas Wildlife Federation

100% of all Contributions to the AWF stay in Arkansas! AWF Homepage About the AWF White River Current Issues Education Membership Just For Kids! Links	Act Now to save the White River The White River is threatened by the Lower White River Navigation Channel Improvement Project and the Grand Prairie Area Demonstration Project. The 722 mile White River starts deep in the Ozarks. The upper portion of the White is fast, cold and clear. There are several large Corps of Engineers impoundments on the upper portion and its tributaries. These dams were built in the past 50 years or so. The river runs through mountainous areas before plunging into the Delta region below Batesville. The Upper White is now internationally known for producing world-record trout. Trout were introduced decades ago when the cold-water releases killed most of the native fish populations for a distance below the dams. Hundreds of thousands of anglers go to these waters annually in search of massive brown trout and rainbows. The Lower White is slower moving, and can be described as a fantastic fishing and hunting paradise. This portion of the river is possibly the finest and last example of the massive floodplain that once dominated the Mississippi River region. There are endangered and threatened species, such as the interior least tern and pink mucket mussels. Ducks, bear, deer, turkey, neotropical songbirds, alligators and a host of other species make this area special. There are more than 100 species of fish. More mallards winter here than any place in the world. On the Lower reach of the river, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service owns approximately 112 miles of river bank. More than 280,000 acres of bottomlands in the Lower White River Basin have been acquired and protected by state and federal agencies. These public lands include the famous White River National Wildlife Refuge, the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge, and several other state and federal wildlife areas. In 1989, the Cache River-Lower White River floodplain joined seven other sites in the nation on the "List of Wetlands of International Importance." The hunting, fishing, and other tourism dollars generated by the White reach into the millions. City officials in Stuttgart, Arkansas, located on the Grand Prairie near the White, say a million dollars per day comes into their city every day of the duck season. Clarendon and Augusta, two cities located along the river, are also very dependent on the ecodollars the river brings. A navigation channel constructed about 30 years ago has helped decimate the population of freshwater mussels. Barge traffic on the river has always been very low, despite the optimistic projections of the Corps when the agency was touting the original navigation project. Unfortunately, the Corps continues dredging now to float the few barges that use the river, and the agency and other navigation interests are pushing a study that calls for a deeper channel. Prior to the original navigation project, the shelling industry was huge on the White, providing jobs for citizens up and down the river. The Lower White River Navigation Channel Improvement (Deepening) Project A 250-mile navigation channel is presently maintained on the Lower White. Basically, it provides for an 8-foot deep channel to Augusta, Arkansas, and about 4.5 feet to Newport. Since the original project was finished 30 years ago, barge interests and the Corps have been promoting the creation of a nine-foot deep channel, similar to other large navigable waterways. Even though barge traffic is minimal on the river, navigation interests wanted to spend millions more dollars to make the channel deeper. First, they promoted a plan to dredge the shallow areas. The public and politicians responded quickly and shot that idea down. It was even de-authorized by Congress in 1988. Then in 1996, the study was re-authorized to examine the potential for deepening the channel through the use of more than a hundred wing dikes scattered at more than 30 locations along the river. The study has received some funding from Congress, but it has often-times slowed because of intense opposition from Arkansans. The expanded navigation project is opposed by virtually every major conservation group and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Thousands of citizens have signed petitions calling for the de-authorization of this project. On four occasions in the winter and spring of 2001, Arkansas' state legislators failed to pass bills that would have provided money to construct the deeper channel. The dikes and some continued dredging would negatively impact wildlife refuges on the river, siltation would impact sloughs and oxbow lakes, and other hydrologic changes would occur. The ecologically important diversity of channel depth would disappear forever, taking spawning habitat with it. If there is reduced flooding of bottomland forests, important wetland habitats will undergo changes, thus impacting ducks, fish and other species that depend on them. As the environmental integrity of the region is changed, the dollars from hunters, anglers, and other visitors to the area will diminish. The Grand Prairie Area Demonstration (Irrigation) Project The shallow water aquifer (alluvial) of Arkansas' Grand Prairie has been decreasing for more than 70 years. Farmers and other citizens have been pumping from the underground supply faster than nature can replenish it. As rice acreage on the prairie grew, the demand for water to irrigate this crop grew. Now, 89 percent of all the pumping from the aquifer is for agriculture. Farmers have known for decades the aquifer was in trouble, but their acreages of crops needing irrigation water continued to grow. Now, it is estimated the aquifer will be depleted in about a dozen years. It's obvious something has to be done. Lead by the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission, the Corps of Engineers, farmers and others have promoted the construction of a massive pumping station on the Lower White River. A large pump would be placed near the river, sucking out more than a hundred billion gallons of water per year that would travel through hundreds of miles of ditches, pipes and canals to fewer than 900 farms on the Grand Prairie. The construction will take about 10 years and cost 319 million dollars. This project is only the first of several irrigation projects planned for the White River or its tributaries. The impact of this project will be to eventually lower the level of the White, causing a reduction in the water level of the river. A lower river means a loss of habitat for fish and other wildlife species. Many farmers on the Grand Prairie do not want this project because of its high cost and environmental impacts. Basically, the Corps will be re-designing the "plumbing" of the river. Despite assurances from project supporters that guidelines will be followed, there are no certainties because when droughts occur, there will be unbelievable political pressure to keep the pumps running to furnish badly needed water for crops. Wildlife will come out on the short end. Status of Navigation and Irrigation Projects In the summer of 2002, the draft study of the navigation channel deepening project will be completed, and it's expected the Corps will determine the channel can be made nine-feet deep without harmful impacts to the river. Congress recently appropriated 12 million dollars in construction money for the Grand Prairie Project, meaning that work on the pumping facility can start any time. While millions have already been spent on other aspects of the irrigation project over the past few of years, more appropriations will be necessary to complete the monolith. Conservationists support money for building reservoirs, tail-water-recovery systems and other projects that increase irrigation efficiency. We also support federal programs that allow financial incentives for landowners to voluntarily take land out of production. We adamantly oppose pumping river water for the irrigation project. Action Needed Citizens must contact their senators and representatives in Congress and tell them about the negative impact of these projects. We must urge them not to fund either of these projects. We should tell them the navigation project should again be de-authorized and the pumping of the White for irrigation must not be allowed. We should support sustainable farming practices on the Grand Prairie that would help farmers utilize the water they presently get in the most efficient ways. We must all support on-farm conservation measures and other irrigation tools to increase the efficiency of irrigation. We must expose the phantom economic data navigation supporters use to promote projects like the one on White River. For more information on how you can help, contact the Arkansas Wildlife Federation at (501)224-9200 or toll-free 1 (877) 945-2543, or by email at awf@aristotle.net Top of Page