General Information
On January 27, 2009, northern Arkansas was impacted by a significant ice storm event. Thousands of miles of access roads were blocked, hundreds of miles of utility lines were pulled down, family homes and businesses were left cold and dark. The ice storm damage was less severe and directly related to elevation levels across most of the Ozark Mountains. Typical damage to forested areas included significant crown loss and downed trees along the steeper slopes. As the storm approached northeast Arkansas, it intensified and encountered a colder air mass increasing the amounts of ice accumulation. Timber damage became more severe with many stems being stripped of limbs, main stems snapped into or simply uprooted to the ground. The limbs left hanging in the damaged trees created widespread safety hazards. Roads were blocked with dense debris.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission had fourteen wildlife management areas impacted by the ice storm to one degree or another. Even before some of the local personnel had regained power in their homes, staff members were already assessing the damage and beginning the process of working with FEMA to determine how they might assist financially with the massive clean-up effort. This process was long and made difficult by the fact the properties managed by the Commission do not fit the typical disaster response methods. Even the task of trying to estimate the volume of debris to be removed proved too difficult to do accurately. The process by which debris would be handled had to be developed with the understanding the existing system of roads, trails and levees were never designed to stand up under the amount of hauling necessary to remove the downed debris from the management areas.
In the end, agency staff was able to design a system of debris removal which would, as best as could be done, protect the infrastructure from excessive damage and promote a quick, efficient removal of the debris affecting maintained, public-use areas. The process to re-establish the bulk of the public access to each of these areas is well underway. If you are a user of any of these management areas, you must be prepared to encounter significant levels of debris throughout these areas as soon as you leave one of the cleared access areas. The general forest area will not be cleared of debris. The impacts of the ice storm will be felt for four or more years. The Commission asks each and every sportsman to use extra caution while hunting on these areas. Be very observant of overhead dangers. Be mindful of submerged debris while operating a boat. Be on the guard for debris that may move or drift during an overflow event.
This web page has been designed to keep you, our customers, informed as the process to clear the debris from our management areas continues. The staff will attempt to update the specific information for each management area on a weekly basis. Using the map above, click on the management area you would like to find out more about. You will be taken to a page dedicated to that specific area. For those areas which feature waterfowl hunting, the staff will provide information on the status of flood-up procedures as soon as they can begin predicting the start of those activities. The staff will do their very best to balance the need to clean-up this debris and provide for waterfowl hunting opportunities.
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Timeline for FEMA
Ice Storm Clean-up Activities
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Initial coordination meeting between AGFC, FEMA and ADEM conducted on Feb. 25, 2009.
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Second coordination meeting to discuss potential clean-up methods and debris assessments conducted Mar. 11, 2009.
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Meeting with U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to coordinate start of debris Assessments conducted Mar. 19, 2009.
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Meeting to review U.S. ACOE debris assessments, provide final eligible infrastructure lists and propose initial debris removal methods conducted Mar. 22, 2009.
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Initial FEMA Project Worksheets completed Apr.l 15, 2009; initial COE debris estimates included
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Meeting to discuss issues of debris assessment procedures and debris volume estimates conducted Apr. 22, 2009; AGFC signed-off on Project Worksheets but did not sign debris estimates provided by USACOE.
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Process begins to develop contracts, bid schedules and all other associated documents necessary to begin clean-up work; AGFC requested change to debris removal process for Dave Donaldson Black River, Big Lake and St. Francis Sunken Lands WMA from a haul and burn method to a chop and mulch method in May 2009.
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AGFC receives approval from USACOE on chop and mulch method of debris disposal on June 10, 2009; no approval from ADEQ.
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AGFC conducts initial meeting with James Lee Witt and Associates seeking additional guidance on debris removal monitoring on June 26, 2009.
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AGFC receives approval from ADEQ on chop and mulch method of debris disposal on July 28, 2009.
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AGFC makes written request to ADEM for clean-up period extension on Aug. 3, 2009.
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