Sept. 26, 2022
Randy Zellers Assistant Chief of Communications
BALD KNOB – A portion of road running beside Glaise Creek and Whirl Lake in the Henry Gray Hurricane Lake Wildlife Management Area will be closed effective Tuesday, Sept. 27, and will not reopen until completion of work on a new Glaise Creek water-control structure, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said.
The road closure will begin at the intersection of Glaise Creek Road/Honey Lake Road and Hurricane Lake Road (where Glaise Creek and Whirl Lake meet) and include a portion of road north of the intersection. This will be the only section closed but will be impassable until work is finished on the new structure. Areas accessed through Hurricane Lake Road north of this construction also will be inaccessible during the construction.
“We’re fixing to pour 1,500 cubic yards of concrete starting at the bottom of Glaise Creek,” Jason “Buck” Jackson, the AGFC’s wetlands program coordinator, said of the new water-control structure. “It’s 120 feet long, it’s a massive structure. It’s going to take some time to build it. Site conditions are perfect now to build it.”
Glaise Creek Road/Honey Lake Road runs along the south side of Glaise Creek before it reaches Whirl Lake. Hurricane Lake Road runs more north-south and is situated west of Whirl Lake, with Glaise Creek connecting two portions of Whirl Lake slightly east of the road.
The coordinates of the starting point for the closure are 35.20015, -91.43331.
The Glaise Creek Project is work undertaken in a partnership between AGFC and Ducks Unlimited to improve water management in Henry Gray Hurricane Lake WMA to save and restore the habitat. A contractor hired by DU has begun moving equipment to the site and plans to have machinery and manpower in place by Monday.
Last week, the agency’s commissioners approved a $1 million budget transfer within the AGFC’s existing budget to complete the construction and installation of the Glaise Creek water-control structure on the WMA to improve drainage and boost the capacity for sustainable bottomland hardwood forest management there.
The WMA has undergone substantial changes in infrastructure following the 2018 die-off of more than 1,000 acres of trees within the popular waterfowl hunting destination’s greentree reservoirs. This portion of the renovation is being funded partially by a $2.5 million federal grant awarded through DU and direct matching funds of up to $160,000 by DU. While cost estimates for the total project were initially estimated at $4.2 million, the lowest construction bid came in at $5.9 million and did not include installation of the water-control structure.