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State of Arkansas
Subtitle: WHEREAS, fishing is a sport enjoyed nationally and locally for its mental, physical and nutritional benefits; and WHEREAS, many Arkansas residents, particularly those who reside in the area between Pine Bluff and Pendelton, are not allowed to fish on the banks of the Arkansas river and its “borrow pits”; and WHEREAS, some Arkansans depend on fishing to supplement their families nutritional needs; and WHEREAS, many of these same Arkansans are denied permits by people leasing lands on the river and are thereby denied equal access to the river; and WHEREAS, residents in other parts of Arkansas are not immune to the same unequal access; and WHEREAS, the Arkansas River is not a privately owned river for the benefit of a few,
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
EIGHTY-THIRD GENERAL That a study is requested to be made by the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission to determine: Why residents are denied fishing privileges on the banks and the barrow pits of the Arkansas River from Pine Bluff to Pendelton, Arkansas as well as other areas; the legality of that denial under Arkansas law and the rules and regulations of the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission
present the results of that study to the members of the Arkansas General
Assembly no later that December 2001; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is requested to formulate a plan to ensure
that all residents be provided equal opportunity to enjoy the natural
resource of Arkansas fish.
Levees were built as early as 1800 to divert small overflows. As levee
building began to be competitive with each landowner trying to divert water
to the next landowner. In 1874, Congress began a study to reclaim lands in
the Mississippi River Valley. Floods of 1882 severely tested the new
Mississippi River Commission. Floods of 1883 and 1884 broke through levees
and each year flood levels gauged higher than before, through to 1892. After
1882, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers became chiefly responsible for
developing a uniform and cohesive levee system. As more levees were built,
the water level rose as greater volumes of water were contained. In 1903,
breaks in the levees caused widespread devastation. The Corps also had to be
concerned about the city of Pine Bluff, where floods scoured away the bluffs
on which the town was built. 1912 and 1913 brought major floods again.
Convict labor reinforced weakened levees in 1913. The great flood of 1927
took 78 lives in Arkansas and ruined crops, caused great sicknesses and
contaminated water. After the flood, massive levee construction continued
making the St. Francis levee district the largest in the world. In 1937, a "superflood"
occurred. Eight million sandbags were brought in to shore up levees. This
flood caused President Franklin Roosevelt to concentrate flood control along
the St. Francis and White Rivers that included dams and pumping plants. In
1973 another major flood occurred that caused almost $200 million in damages,
$37 million in the Arkansas Delta alone. The Mississippi River and Tributaries Project
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