Island No. 4 among the Patterson Islands chain on Kentucky Lake isn’t exactly a destination for an “island getaway.” It is, however, the destination of a $5,000 donation from FLW Outdoors aimed at keeping the island from getting away.
The donation – given during the Wal-Mart FLW Tour’s recent event held on Kentucky and Barkley lakes – will contribute to the completion of an erosion-control project being conducted by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.
Paul Rister, a district fisheries biologist for the department, said stabilizing the Patterson Islands – island No. 4 in particular – has multiple benefits for Kentucky Lake: protecting valuable habitat for spawning bass and other sport-fish species, creating new habitat, and improving water quality. The Patterson chain helps protect a large wetland area and series of creek channels used as spawning areas for popular species of game fish including bass, crappies, sunfish and catfish.
“(Island No. 4) acts like a barrier reef,” Rister said. “A lot of barge traffic goes up and down the river – and some huge pleasure boats – and it takes the full brunt of that east wind.”
Keeping the islands stable to serve as a wetland barrier is a win-win situation for the countless anglers – tournament and recreational fishermen alike – who fish Kentucky Lake. Not only do the islands protect valuable wetlands and waterways to spawning areas, Rister said the riprap and planted trees being used for the project create additional habitat and “a refuge that the fry can go to once they’ve left the spawning nest.
“From the anglers’ perspective, the rock is providing habitat plus protecting the trees on the island, which can serve as secondary habitat when water levels are high.”
About 1,600 feet of No. 4 has been slated for protection measures, primarily through the use of riprap – a manmade slope of rocks placed along shorelines – to control erosion. A combination of federal and state funds, along with money from the Tennessee Valley Authority and past FLW Outdoors donations, has enabled Kentucky Fish and Wildlife personnel to lay riprap and plant rows of cypress trees along the majority of this stretch. The 2004 donation, made by FLW Outdoors through the FishAmerica Foundation, will contribute to completing the final 550 feet of the project.
“There used to be fewer islands, and now there are eight due to erosion,” Rister said, pointing out a key reason for the push to finish island No. 4.
Island No. 4 was pinpointed by the department as the most crucial among the Patterson chain in terms of protecting the fish-rich wetlands that lie behind them. The remaining 550 feet of shoreline is sandwiched between two sections already laden with riprap, leaving the island vulnerable to dissolution, so Rister said the donation from FLW Outdoors was timely in that it will help finalize fortification of the island as a whole.
“Last year we were hoping to finish it up … but the money didn’t go as far as we’d planned,” he said. “We’ve got (FLW Outdoors’ donation) money, and it’s an incentive to get it done.”
Rister added that increased fuel costs were partly to blame for the project coming in over budget. However, even with fuel prices high again in 2004, he said combined funds of about $35,000 should be enough for the department to finish the project.
“If we don’t do anything else out there, I hope we finish that last little hole,” he said. “Our hopes would be to move to the next island in the future.”
According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it could take as much as $1.4 million to protect all of the Patterson Islands from erosion. However, Rister said he believes it can be done for significantly less. As long as there are funding sources available in the future, he said the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources will continue the project with other islands in the chain.
In 2000, FLW Outdoors announced its partnership with FishAmerica and has since directly donated more than $200,000 – and helped to generate more than $1 million – for local conservation projects. FLW Outdoors will donate $5,000 for each of the seven FLW Tour events in 2004 as well as for some of the other tournaments taking place among its six tournament circuits. The FishAmerica Foundation is the conservation arm of the American Sportfishing Association.
Anyone interested in making a donation to help combat erosion of the Patterson Islands can contact Paul Rister via e-mail at prister@mchsi.com.
