Siphon installation planned at Big Lake; public input sought

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is seeking public comments for the Compatibility Determination (CD) of a siphon installation. Persons interested in commenting on the CD for this action may visit the refuge office or refuge website (https://www.fws.gov/refuge/big_lake/) to view the CD. Persons may call Big Lake NWR at (870) 564-2429 to voice their comments during normal business hours of 8:00 am to 4:30 pm Monday- Friday, email their comments to steven_rimer@fws.gov, or mail comments from Jan. 20 through Feb. 2.

An adjacent landowner to the Refuge would install a siphon on the south end of the Refuge that allows water to be moved from Ditch 81 to private property.

Only excess water that would be discharged downstream off-refuge would be extracted from Ditch 81 and piped to adjacent private land to provide wetland habitat.

By allowing the adjacent landowner to siphon excess surface water from the refuge drainage ditch to provide waterfowl and wildlife habitat on adjacent lands, extraction of groundwater from the aquifer underlying the refuge and use of fossil fuels will be prevented, additional wildlife habitat will be created, and water conservation measures will be demonstrated.