Representatives of a group interested in improving access to Bone Creek Lake in northern Crawford County approached the Board of Commissioners on Friday with concerns about the roads leading in to the popular fishing spot.
Kevin Shaffer of Arma told commissioners he'd collected more than 100 signatures of people who would like to see paved access to Bone Creek. The condition of the existing gravel county roads leading into the park keeps many anglers away, Shaffer said.
“Fewer out-of-town anglers are willing to pull their boats down gravel roads, even three miles” from U.S. Hwy. 69, Shaffer said. “We used to have a lot (of out-of-state fishermen) coming in. They just refuse to do it any more.”
The concern is the loose gravel, damaging the boats as they travel from paved highway to the lake via county roads, Shaffer said. And, following a rain, some of the routes become muddy and difficult to travel.
Shaffer asked the board about designating a specific route to Bone Creek Lake and having it either paved or, at the very least, stabilizing the road surface through a process called “chip-and-seal,” where a tar-like substance is laid on the road and a small aggregate is applied. The aggregate becomes embedded in the tar-like seal, creating a hard, stable travel surface.
The chip-and-seal would definitely make the route more attractive to owners of expensive boats, which in turn would bring increased business and subsequent revenue to the county, Shaffer said.
“There's a lot of businesses that would benefit” from an influx of out-of-state fishermen, he said. “They come to Crawford County, stay in our motels, eat in our restaurants, shop in our sporting goods stores.”
The optimal — and the shortest — route to pave would probably be 680th Street from Hwy. 69, west and then north on 200th Street, a distance of about three miles, Shaffer said.
Commissioner Bob Kmiec said establishing paved access to Bone Creek Lake has been on the minds of the board for several years. The board requested an estimate of the cost for chip-and-seal as recently as two years ago, Kmiec said. The cost at the time was placed at about $11,000 per mile.
Asphalt paving of the road would probably cost in the neighborhood of $50,000 per mile, he said.
“If we could find a solution, I'm all for it,” Kmiec said. “I know we've been working on it for the past several years, trying to get it upgraded.”
Commissioner Tom Moody agreed. But, every time the board talks about improving access to Bone Creek, he said he gets calls from constituents in the southern end of the county, questioning the possible expenditures of their tax dollars to “pave a road so people can go fishing.
“I don't necessarily agree with them,” Moody said. “I'd like to think of something we can do.”
It all boils down to money. The county doesn't have the funds available to earmark for a road project in the Bone Creek area. By consensus, the commissioners decided to ask County Counselor Jim Emerson to look in to options for outside funding from either state or federal sources to improve the access.
“I think in the county, the repairs to this road would pay for itself,” Shaffer said. “There's not many roads in the county you can say that about.”
Another option would be charging anglers to fish at Bone Creek. When the lake was first constructed, there was a fee, Shaffer said. He estimated the fees brought in around $25,000 per year.
“Fishing at Bone Creek is now free and, frankly, we don't like it,” Shaffer said. “People I've talked to would have no problem with a fee.
“This is the number one catfish lake in the state. It draws people from everywhere. We're fortunate to have this in our back yard.”