Helicopters drop gravel for Lake Conway habitat project, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission

CONWAY, Ark. – The skies over Lake Conway will have a special sight next Monday through Wednesday.

Officials with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said helicopters will be dropping over 600,000 pounds of gravel on various points in the lake to magnify spawning habitats. Officials said the habitat enhancement is part of the lake bed restoration project, beginning with its draining in September 2023.

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Fisheries Supervisor at the AGFC Mayflower Office Nick Feltz said the right conditions may mean an even larger gravel drop.

"We may get more gravel than that out on the lakebed if conditions are favorable," Feltz said. "We have close to 300 bags of gravel loaded and staged for the project, each of which has been filled with 3,000-pounds of gravel. Our goal is to place a minimum of 200 of those bags in the lakebed during the flights. If we get more, even better."

While the lake is still productive, officials said the soft, silty bottom that has developed over its lifetime has decreased the high-quality spawning habitat available for fish. Eggs laid in silty bottoms can sink into the muck and suffocate, so placing gravel beds offers fish prime hard-bottom habitat for building nests.

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Feltz explained that due to the softness of the lake bottom, hauling this much gravel by truck would have required building temporary roads and many locations would not have been possible to enhance.

Officials said AGFC staff would return to the spawning beds and spread the gravel by hand to create the beds.

Feltz said the gravel drop is just part of the plans for developing the lake.

"We also have around 180 to 200 pieces of concrete pipe that we plan to place for fish habitat," Feltz said, adding that concrete spawning discs are also part of the plans.

AGFC officials said Lake Conway was built in 1948 and was the largest lake ever constructed by a state wildlife agency. In the last few years, the gates and spillway structure had begun to see failures at an increased rate, and the entire structure had outlived its initial life expectancy, they said.

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AGFC.com