Most of you have problably seen this article. If you have not seen it, this article appeared in the November/December 2006 issue of American Angler.
Dirty Business
Anglers in the South have precious few really fine trout rivers to call their own, so there was an understandable
uproar last spring when the Norfork Tailwater in Arkansas-one of the very best-suddenly began to run
filthy. "Norfork looked like chocolate milk," said local guide, John Wilson. "Sludge was flowing clear to
the White River (four miles away). It's choking the bugs: it's bad"
It didn't take long for fisherman to identify the cause of the trouble; Homeport Construction's "Overlook
Estates" development. "Overlooked Mistakes," as many anglers are now calling it, is a 100-acre
would-be housing complex built literally on the slopes of the Norfork Dam. According to papers filed with
the court, last winter, Homeport Constructions's Benny Doyal began using a bulldozer to strip the land of
almost all vegetation, while doing nothing to prevent the inevitable runoff into the blue-ribbon trout stream
(and completely ignoring Arkansas's permitting process).
Thanks almost entirely to fly fishermen's pleas, phone calls, petitions and volunteered legal services, the Arkansas
Department of Envronmental Quality was soon convinced to drop the hammer: they issured an emergency order
forcing Doyal to install erosion controls, to the tune of $160,000. While never robust, those controls held until
they were tested by a severe thunderstorm in August, and they completely washed away. Now Trout Unlimited is
seeking to intervene in the lawsuit and force Homeport to install working erosion controls and more important, begin
cleaning the river.
"The problem is," said a source close to the case, "we don't yet know how to clean the river." Calls and letters have
gone out to leading trout biologists around the country, but no one has yet come up with a solution to removing the
four inches to two feet of sludge covering much of the bottom. To volunteer, contact the Arkansas Council of Trout
Unlimited at www.geocities.com/arktu. -Z.M
Hopefully, this article will help draw some additional national attention and resources (especially a plan to help clean the river) to the plight of the Norfork. I was pleased they did not soft sell Benny Doyal's involvement. I would have preferred that they hit him harder regarding his lack of erosion control. They made it sound somewhat generous that he spent $160K when it will eventually take millions in tax payer dollars and an untold amount of time to hopefully undue the work of this greedy man.
Dirty Business
Anglers in the South have precious few really fine trout rivers to call their own, so there was an understandable
uproar last spring when the Norfork Tailwater in Arkansas-one of the very best-suddenly began to run
filthy. "Norfork looked like chocolate milk," said local guide, John Wilson. "Sludge was flowing clear to
the White River (four miles away). It's choking the bugs: it's bad"
It didn't take long for fisherman to identify the cause of the trouble; Homeport Construction's "Overlook
Estates" development. "Overlooked Mistakes," as many anglers are now calling it, is a 100-acre
would-be housing complex built literally on the slopes of the Norfork Dam. According to papers filed with
the court, last winter, Homeport Constructions's Benny Doyal began using a bulldozer to strip the land of
almost all vegetation, while doing nothing to prevent the inevitable runoff into the blue-ribbon trout stream
(and completely ignoring Arkansas's permitting process).
Thanks almost entirely to fly fishermen's pleas, phone calls, petitions and volunteered legal services, the Arkansas
Department of Envronmental Quality was soon convinced to drop the hammer: they issured an emergency order
forcing Doyal to install erosion controls, to the tune of $160,000. While never robust, those controls held until
they were tested by a severe thunderstorm in August, and they completely washed away. Now Trout Unlimited is
seeking to intervene in the lawsuit and force Homeport to install working erosion controls and more important, begin
cleaning the river.
"The problem is," said a source close to the case, "we don't yet know how to clean the river." Calls and letters have
gone out to leading trout biologists around the country, but no one has yet come up with a solution to removing the
four inches to two feet of sludge covering much of the bottom. To volunteer, contact the Arkansas Council of Trout
Unlimited at www.geocities.com/arktu. -Z.M
Hopefully, this article will help draw some additional national attention and resources (especially a plan to help clean the river) to the plight of the Norfork. I was pleased they did not soft sell Benny Doyal's involvement. I would have preferred that they hit him harder regarding his lack of erosion control. They made it sound somewhat generous that he spent $160K when it will eventually take millions in tax payer dollars and an untold amount of time to hopefully undue the work of this greedy man.
