Arkansas Game and Fish Commission goes airborne to improve Nimrod Lake’s fish habitat

Little Rock, Arkansas – With a high-octane strategy, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) is making an effort to stimulate growth within the fish and waterfowl habitat at Nimrod Lake.

“We performed two seeding flights in late June and early July,” Jason Jackson, Wetland Program Coordinator for the AGFC, said. “The soil on the lakebed has other seeds in the seed bank that will sprout as well, but we’re hoping to maximize the benefit of vegetation with fast-growing millet that provides a lot of energy of wildlife once it forms seeds heads.”

During Nimrod Lake’s timely summer drawdown, hundreds of pounds of millet seed were dumped along its mudflats by specially equipped agricultural airplanes.

This year, an attempt was made to boost the system’s production for fish as well as for wintering waterfowl and other species.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the AGFC have been working together to put Nimrod Lake in a drawdown since the middle of May.

According to AGFC, the USACE is using the drawdown to fix channel markers, boat launch ramps, and swim beaches.

The uncovered lakebed may therefore provide a source of terrestrial vegetation potential.
More vegetation will result from millet seeding entering the fishery and cover developing for baitfish and young-of-the-year sportfish, according to Frank Leone, regional fisheries supervisor for the AGFC.

The planting can act as fertilizer while it breaks down, giving a variety of insects and other bottom-of-the-food-chain species access to resources.