Barrier to wildlife area irks town

Felsenthal access road under repair, Game and Fish says

Felsenthal residents have taken several complaints to town officials concerning access to the Beryl Anthony Wildlife Management Area.

Complaints include a road closure, the shutting down of all-terrain vehicle trails, logging work and lack of handicap accessibility.

"The people of this town have more than a vested interest in how it's managed and how it is taken care of," said Mayor Linda Newbury.

The Beryl Anthony Wildlife Management Area is a 6,500-acre tract that was sold to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to be used as a public hunting and fishing ground in 1975. It lies adjacent to Felsenthal in Union County.

Felsenthal Public Works Supervisor Mikey Parker said that in the four years since a road was completed that linked First Street to the lakes in the area, it has been open to the public less than four months. Most of the time the gate is closed, he said.

"The lake access is what most people want," City Councilman Ryan Eads said.

According to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission website, the road is supposed to be closed part of the time, during the rainy season when water and lake levels are high. However, residents say the road is closed during the summer.

Keith Stephens of the Game and Fish Commission said in an email that the road was open during the winter and early spring, "a time of year when typically it is flooded and closed anyway." Stephens said because the road did not flood, the commission kept it open as long as possible, but traffic caused damage that made the road unsafe for vehicles. He said storms caused trees to fall in the road.

"The road was closed in order to remove the fallen trees and repair the road to make it safe for the public to pass. The road actually flooded for a brief period while it was closed. In order to get vehicles and tractors in to remove the trees, the road had to dry out enough to not cause further damage. We continue to experience great amounts of rain in August and will need it to dry out further before heavy equipment can get on the road to repair it."

When the road was completed, residents said they were under the impression that all of the all-terrain vehicle trails would be left as they were. But not long after the roads were open, residents said all of the ATV trails were closed. The trails had been used since the land was opened to the public, and several residents said they were upset at their closure.

Stephens said the commission had always planned to close those trails once the access road was completed to prevent all-terrain vehicles from damaging the wildlife management area, and it had discussed it publicly with the Felsenthal City Council. He added that the trail issue also was discussed with anyone who called the commission about the road.

Janice Greer said she and Ronnie Greer used to maintain two trails and would drive off their property to clear debris that was on the trail so a four-wheeler could be driven on it.

With both the trails and the road being closed, Janice Greer said she and others are concerned about a lack of handicap-accessible areas from the Felsenthal side of the management area.

She said she has a handicap-mobility sticker from the Game and Fish Commission but "can't use anything on the west side of the river," Janice Greer said.

Stephens said the road is closed now for everyone's safety and that the commission "is working as fast as possible, given the wet conditions, to get the road repaired for public access."

While the road has been closed, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has had a select logging harvest where acommission biologist chooses trees to be removed.

"The logging operations have not impeded the ability to manage the Clear Lake road in any way," Stephens said. "As per a request from the mayor, log trucks avoided traveling through the town of Felsenthal and created a new haul route through private property. The log trucks have only had to cross the gravel road and have not driven down it. There are future logging operations planned to cut trees on the sides of the gravel road in order to allow sunlight to reach the ground and help dry the road out sooner."

Representatives of the town will hold a public meeting with representatives from the Game and Fish Commission. The meeting will be set after both groups decide on a time and date.

State Desk on 08/18/2017

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