Corps’ flooding news good for land owners

My family has owned Beaver Lake property for nearly 50 years. In 1974, we purchased our lot with 150 feet of lake frontage near Point 12 just into War Eagle Creek. At that time, there were trees growing in water when the spring floods came. After a few years of flooding, the trees died. This scenario has repeated annually since 1974. Spring floods also lead to substantial erosion and more trees dying as soil around the roots washes away. The Lake turns brown and is filled with floating trees. Unless there is a change in water management, this will occur for years to come.

That change was announced in a Jan. 8 Democrat-Gazette article headlined “Corps plan aims to maintain lower Beaver Lake level.” Flip Putthoff wrote “Beaver Lake Interim Risk Reduction Measures (BLIRRM) increase the time the lake is at or near the top of the conservation pool at 1,120 feet above sea level. … Water will be released more quickly to reduce the time the lake is at or near 1,130 feet above sea level,” the top of the flood pool.

I used Corps of Engineers data from 2010 to 2020 to determine how big a challenge this might be. For those 11 years there was a 95% probability that lake level was between 1,128 and 1,122 feet above sea level in May and June when peak flooding occurs. Each year it took several months the reduce the lake level to 1,120 feet above sea level. BLIRRM should reduce the time it takes to reach 1,120 feet above sea level and make flooding, erosion and trees moving downstream things of the past. This is good news that should improve recreational use of the lake, maintain power generation and provide water to municipalities and industries.

It would be good news if the Corps reconsidered its plan to acquire privately held land that floods each year. This affects about 500 landowners whose property boundary next to the lake is less than the 1,130 feet below sea level as discussed in the Democrat-Gazette editorial, “Deep Concerns: Lakeside owners worry about Corps’ plan” (Aug. 22). Two reasons this land acquisition should be a moot point: One, less land will be flooded with BLIRRM making the 500 tracts of land much less important to lake management. And two, the 500 tracts that currently inundate are a minor acreage and a small volume of water compared to the entire lake. In our case, the acreage is only 0.23 acres and the volume of water when the lake level is 1,130 feet above sea level is only 1.36-acre-feet as compared to a typical value of 1.65-million-acre feet for the entire lake.

Rather than spending our tax dollars on unnecessary land acquisition, let us spend our tax dollars to improve lake infrastructure that can make a difference, and it would be good news for 500 landowners.

JOHN GILMOUR Fayetteville Emeritus professor, Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Science, University of Arkansas