Game and Fish drops seeds from the sky on Arkansas lakes

Little Rock, Arkansas – Not merely for aesthetic purposes, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has been flying over Arkansas lakes lately.

Nimrod Lake, which is situated in the counties of Perry and Yell, is now partially drained, as it is every four years. Teams from the Game and Fish Commission have been flying over the lake lately.

AGFC has carried out this activity twice this summer: in late June and early July. They have also been scattering millet seeds onto the mud below while they fly above.

“We had to make two applications on there to get it where we feel like it’s done a better job that way,” said Jason Jackson, the AGFC Wetlands Program Coordinator.

It is hoped that the plants that sprout from the seeds that are scattered throughout the recently exposed portions of the lake will help the local fauna.

According to Mark Green of the Nimrod/Blue Mountain Project, ducks on the pond’s surface also obtain essential nutrients from these plants, and Jackson confirmed this. Mark Green described how fish graze on millet.

The system benefits the lake itself as well.

“It’ll clean up water quality in the lake and everything,” Green said. “With all the vegetation that filters through, the water quality will improve and everything.”

On Wednesday, the commission covered 600 acres around Southwest Arkansas’s Millwood Lake in the same manner. Although the system is well-liked by the officials, no more drops are scheduled for this year.

“It takes a lot to plan and get that lined up,” Jackson said. “We’ve got to get out in front, let the public know, make sure it’s right for fishery at that particular moment.”

Nimrod Lake refilling is dependent on rainfall and other factors, according to Green, but he hopes that it can occur by October so that the drop’s finished result may be observed.