DECATUR — Arkansas Game and Fish fisheries officials have been working on a project to create a GPS map of Crystal Lake and improve fish habitat.

Ron Moore and John Stein, fisheries biologists for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and conservation technician Jacob Shipman have been endeavoring to sink PVC pipe trees in Crystal Lake to provide a haven for fish and create GPS maps of the lake for fishermen.

As the early morning sun shown down on Crystal Lake Thursday, the three scientists were assembling the strange looking trees and loading them on a small boat to take them out on the lake.

“They attract fish and provide a haven for the smaller fish,” Moore explained.

The PVC pipe trees are fairly simple to build and cost about $15 each, according to Moore. They have larger pipe trunks with holes drilled in them to accommodate the smaller pipe branches, which are held in place by O rings. The whole assembly is anchored in a cement block to hold it upright at the bottom ofthe lake. The PVC trees will last for 10 to 15 years, much longer than a real tree, and will not snag fish hooks like real trees and brush would, Stein said.

“It’s a pretty efficient way of spending tax-payer money,” Moore said.

So far the team has put about 40 of the structures in Crystal Lake. They are planning on putting 40 to 60 of the PVC trees in each of the other four Game and Fish lakes they manage and mapping them as well, he explained.

Moore, Stein and Shipman work out of the fisheries’ Rogers office and manage more than 20 lakes - including four game and fish lakes - and several hundred miles of streams, including the War Eagle, Osage, Kings and Buffalo Rivers.

The scientists do fish population samples and judge the status of lakes and streams, deciding whether they need supplemental stocking or other management measures. They also create all the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission fishing recommendations, Moore said.

“Our job is to keep the fish population up and protected and to try to help people put a few more fish on their stringers,” he explained.

GPS mapping of the lake should be completed this fall. The best way to obtain a copy of the map is to call the Rogers office at 1-877-631-6005.

News, Pages 2 on 09/07/2011