Citizens intent on restoring the fishing pond at War Memorial Park will hold a fundraising event from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday at Trios Restaurant at 8201 Cantrell Road.
Organizers, led by Steve Davison of Little Rock, hope to raise $350,000. That is the cost of the least expensive engineering option, according to a source that is involved with the initiative. The pond will be dredged to diverse depths for optimum fish habitat, to a maximum of 15 feet. The money will also cover the cost of installing fishing piers and planting trees for fish habitat.
Kathy Webb, city director for Ward 3 (which contains War Memorial Park), supports the project, as does Capi Peck, Ward 4 city director and owner of Trios, which will provide food for the event. There will also be a cash bar. Auction items include art work from George Dombeck and Pat Matthews, who is creating a painting for the auction that depicts how the pond will appear when restored.
“I’ve met with a lot of people over the last few years who have ideas about War Memorial, but when Steve reached out to me and wanted to do something and make a difference, it was the most compelling idea that I have heard in a number of years,” Webb said. “It’s about somebody wanting to bring the community together, and it was a very simple, ‘Yes, we can do this. Yes we’re going to do this.’ “
The pond, which is impounded from Coleman Creek, was created during the Mike Huckabee Administration to create a urban public fishing opportunity. The pond was very popular, but silt deposits made it too shallow to be a viable fishery. People still fish there, but there’s scarcely anything to catch.
The group of advocates numbers about 40. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is interested, as is the state attorney general’s office and multiple private entities that envision the restored pond being a valuable recreational asset.
There are two other engineering options, according to our source. The second, which is much more ambitious, will cost millions, according to our source. That solution would endure longer, but raising that much money in a reasonable time is a barrier. The group agreed that the first option is the most practical.
Game and Fish officials say a restored pond with sufficient depth could support a put-and-take trout fishery during the winter months. However, they are also concerned about the pond rapidly refilling with silt, which settles into the pond during floods. The more expensive engineering options would contain infrastructure to alleviate siltation.
“In our minds, there are stories that can’t be told because they haven’t been written because nobody can fish there right now,” our source said. “The reason the pond was built by Huckabee isn’t being fulfilled right now.”
Currently, there are only a few public fishing options in Little Rock. The Game and Fish Commission stocks a pond in Boyle Park with catfish for school events, and it stocks rainbow trout in Rock Creek in Boyle Park during the winter.
Public fishing is also available on the Arkansas River at Murray Park and on the north side of Murray Lock & Dam, and at Lake Maumelle along the Bufflehead Bay hiking trail when water is present. That’s about the extent of it.
A fishing pond at War Memorial Park would be a safe, highly visible fishing opportunity within walking distance from Hillcrest to roughly UALR, the Heights and much of Midtown.
Many years ago, there was a fishing pond on the Capitol grounds and also at MacArthur Park. They were extremely popular, as evidenced by photographs taken during that period.
Raising funds for such an ambitious goal is challenging, but if it’s possible, a more permanent solution would be a much wiser and much more sustainable investment. As a staffer for two wildlife management agencies in Missouri and Oklahoma, I lived and breathed federal aid for almost a decade. I strongly believe that a more permanent solution would be a prime candidate for a Federal Aid in Sportfish Restoration grant. Any amount that can be raised privately could serve as matching funds to that end.
For more information, visit warmemorialrestoration.org.
Bryan Hendricks has been the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette outdoors editor since 2005. He covers hunting, fishing, camping, and all other outdoor activities in The Natural State, as well as the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Bryan has won 30-plus awards for his work, including the Arkansas Press Association Freedom of Information Award, Service to Freedom of Information Award (Associated Press Managing Editors), Reporting on Freedom of Information Issues Award (Society of Professional Journalists), the John Robert Starr Award for Excellence in Journalism, and the Arkansas Wildlife Federation Conservation Communicator of the Year Award.