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Corps partners with environmental agency, protects wildlife management area

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Oct. 26, 1999 ¾ The Memphis District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in partnership with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Simmon’s Field (water level) Control Structure at 10 a.m. on Nov. 2. The structure is located on the south side of the Big Lake State Wildlife Management Area in Mississippi County, Ark., approximately 15 miles southwest of Blytheville.

Under an environmental restoration funding authority, the Corps was able to partner with the Game and Fish Commission to build a new water level control structure that replaces an aging control structure at imminent risk of failure due to deterioration.

The $1.3 million water control structure is key to the restoration of fish and wildlife habitat in the area. The structure helps to control water levels on 4,500 acres of the wildlife management area’s shrub swamp, forested swamp, and bottomland hardwoods for waterfowl. It also retains summer water in area channels and pools that are critical fishery habitat.

For more information about the project and the ribbon cutting ceremony, please call Larry Sharpe at 901-544-3476.

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