What will happen to the Lower Illinois?
Paddlefish were just one of the fish species found dead in the Lower Illinois River on Oct. 7.
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation has been stocking trout-year round in the Lower Illinois River since 1965, but that may end permanently if something isn’t done to solve the water problems on the river.
“It’s hard to manage a trout fishery if you don’t have any water,” said Barry Bolton, chief of fisheries for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
State wildlife officials have already temporarily ceased stocking trout in the Lower Illinois River and there are no plans to resume in the near future.
Oklahoma is in danger of losing one of its two year-round trout fisheries. A town hall meeting has been scheduled Thursday night in Sallisaw by local elected officials to discuss the problem.
The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the Indian Capital Technology Center. Fisheries personnel from the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation are slated to make a short presentation of the issues and possible solutions.
The water woes on the Lower Illinois are convoluted. Without regular releases of water from Lake Tenkiller, the river gets low and oxygen levels drop to lethal levels.
In years past, the Lower Illinois River has received a small but steady stream of water from a leak in the Tenkiller Dam’s sluice gate, but that leak has been repaired, ending that lifeblood for the river.
The river gets water releases from Tenkiller Lake when the Southwestern Power Administration is generating hydroelectric power, but that fluctuates based on power demands.
Unlike on the Lower Mountain Fork River, the trout fishery in the Lower Illinois is not entitled to any of the water stored in Lake Tenkiller. It’s all allocated for hydropower or municipal and industrial water supply.
State wildlife officials are borrowing water that belongs to Sequoyah Fuels and used that to keep the stream and the trout fishery alive during the summer drought.
Now, the river is often very low with little flow and there was a fish kill due to low oxygen levels earlier this month. Without regular water releases from power generation, the river becomes nothing more than shallow pools separated by a few rocks.
“ODWC uses all of the water it has access to on a daily basis by requesting two hours of generation a day,” said Jim Burroughs, northeast fisheries chief for the agency. “That uses up our daily allotment of inflows. That release coupled with a release from (the Southwest Power Administration) at least every two or thee days keeps it from going dry. If (Southwest Power Administration) decides to not generate for many days, which it sometimes does, then the river has the potential to be nothing but a bunch of potholes.”
Six years ago, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation bought 320 acres of land around the Lower Illinois for a public hunting and fishing area called the Simp and Helen Watts Management Unit.
There is some archery deer hunting and small game hunting on the Lower Illinois Public Fishing and Hunting Area, but the main reason the wildlife department bought the land was for its access to the river and trout fishing.
The Wildlife Department hired engineers to develop plans to renovate that portion of the Lower Illinois River and make it much like Evening Hole on the Lower Mountain Fork, a swifter-moving trout stream with ideal trout habitat.
Those engineers drew up the plans but no habitat work was done and none is scheduled because of the water problems. Bolton said the department has turned down offers to buy additional land along the Lower Illinois River for the same reason.
“We have little interest in acquiring additional land until we can resolve water quality issues in the Lower Illinois River,” Bolton said.
Let’s hope all the money the Wildlife Department has already spent hasn’t been thrown down the river as well.
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Comments
I can’t believe that the State can’t demand the dam to generate power more often. However I don’t want to sound like a communist but for to long now the State has wasted so much taxpayer money on State Parks it is really ashame. I live in southest Oklahoma and travel to Gore at least 4 times a year to fish in the Lower Illinois and what an asset that is to our State. How much money does that bring into our State? Why are we as taxpayers not getting heard from? Are we not speaking loud enough? Are the people that we elect getting there pocket’s filled by lobbiest and they don’t care? It appears to me that the State Parks Department is the one that keeps getting cut when the budget gets cut. HELLO STATE GOVERNMENT TOURISM in this great State should be a MAJOR PRIORITY NOT SOMETHING PUT ON THE BACK BURNER!!!!!! States that premote major tourism aren’t or doesn’t appear to be financially straped simply because of the revenue that is generated I know personally of a state park that was closed in the early 80′s and the concrete pads that once had picnic tables now have trees growing though them the I am not a CPA but I do know that buildings that use to house bathrooms are now used as a tree storage because they are growing through the building. What was once a family gathering place is now a place for druggies to meet and sell there dope I know this because the local sheriff gets called there all the time for drug periphanellia being found there it is just a really sad that our State and we as taxpayers have allowed this to happen and we need to speak out and let it not happen again!!!!!
I’m confused–is it water quality or quantity that is the problem here? It is kind of hard to tell by the story.
I think someone needs to do an economic impact assessment of the water flowing from the lake. I work for the Army and before we do anything that costs money we do Cost Benefit Analyses. That’s what needs to happen here. Calculate the cost, develop the over-all benefit and show everyone that the loss is greater than the gain, then someone may listen.
oh….and, I understand that the USACE “owns” / controls the water and the rights are leased to someone else but “We the People..” own the Corps and we need to get the right people involved to force them to take action. By in large we have good representation at the national level (Senators & Reps) but if we don’t let them know our views and opinions then they won’t know they need to pull strings and fight for things that are important to Oklahomans. Email, write letters, make phone calls, get involved. Often we forget and they basically have never really believed that they work for us, the voters. I’ve emailed both Senators and my Tom Cole, everyone needs to do the same.
I am a property owner and have fished the Lower Illinois since before Tenkiller! There has always been a flow! We used our stimulus money to “fix’ something that did not need fixing as this life giving flow was central to Oklahoma’s great trout fishery! I now have seen all the fish dead as fish do not live on dry ground!
Oklahoma’s EPA requirement for dissolved oxygen is being violated as the oxygen is below the level for fish life! The Illinois wants it’s natural flow returned as it always has been in the past so all of us can once again enjoy our right to fish in a water that has fish! Turn the tap back on! EPA must laws must be enforced! The law surely would be enforced on any private individual! Write or call your legislator today
I grew up on lake Tenkiller and have fished the lake my whole life. Recently, I have taken up trout fishing. This spring I fished the Watts area and it was amazing. I caught 60 trout in about 5 hours. It would be an absolute travesty if the water issues do not get solved imediately. Where is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service?