The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission this month outlined its plans for renovating infrastructure and greentree reservoirs at the Dave Donaldson Black River Wildlife Management Area.
The proposed renovations have been under consideration since 2024, and March’s meeting, the first on the subject in more than a year, included a presentation on updated plans designed with public feedback on earlier approaches in mind.
“It’s not going to be cheap, but these renovations are required if we’re going to continue to have the same duck-hunting opportunities in both the short and the long term,” Luke Naylor, AGFC chief of wildlife management, said ahead of the meeting, which was held March 5 at Black River Technical College.
According to the AGFC’s meeting presentation, the objectives of the renovation project are to manage the WMA’s GTRs for waterfowl habitat and hunting opportunity, move water through the GTRs during growing season floods, drain the GTRs more quickly and ensure the GTRs are maintained for years to come.
To achieve these goals, the AGFC proposes to manage the GTRs by:
– renovating levees and water control structures to maintain full pool elevations
– maintain the Little River Dam structure
– maintain operability of on-site siphons
– and install structures in some of the WMA’s slough plugs.
The AGFC will submit permit applications for the project this spring, and once those are completed, will bid the project out and select contractors, likely in 2027. Construction is expected to begin in 2028, specifically at the Winchester Waterfowl Rest Area, Reyno Canal, and Upper and Lower Island GTRs. Construction is anticipated to continue through 2035, though the AGFC does not expect to fully close the WMA at any point during the renovation.
Throughout the project, the AGFC will work on forest management as hydrology improvements allow, a step that began in 2025.
The full project proposal is available for viewing here.
“The renovation of Arkansas’s greentree reservoirs is probably the most critical component of habitat management on public land this agency has undertaken in the last 40 years,” said AGFC Director Doug Schoenrock. “We’ve all enjoyed incredible duck hunting throughout the existence of our GTRs, and we have to think in terms that put the habitat and the wildlife first for the long term if we are to ensure those same opportunities to our children and grandchildren.”
