IRON COUNTY, Mo. (News First) – Council Bluff Lake in Iron County still lacks a boat dock in the area where most boats are put into the water. Becky Ewing is a ranger in the Mark Twain National Forest. The U.S. Forest Service is in charge of maintaining the Council Bluff Recreation Area. She says that part of the lake has been without a boat dock for about a year now.
“We were celebrating the removal of the old wooden dock boat, like I think they call it, wild boar hollow boat dock. We removed the old wooden one that had been there for a long time and we were able to input a really nice metal structure. It had a ramp so people who had mobility issues, wheelchairs, or just you know walking with a cane or something, they could get down there and you know just sit, fish, and help boaters launch really nice. Well someone burnt it,” Ewing tells us.
We asked Ewing if authorities ever arrested the vandal or vandals.
“To date, we’ve had no arrests. It’s just a rural area and, you know, nobody saw anything. But just today, I found out that the project to replace the burnt portion is in the contracting hands. I would expect we’re going to be hearing that they awarded a contract to replace that burnt part. We were lucky again. People in our region, they felt horrible. This boat dock was awesome. And so they scraped together leftover monies from all kinds of Great American Outdoors Act projects and got enough for us to be able to replace that one piece,” she states.
Ewing believes by the time spring fishing season gets here. The new boat dock should be in place and ready for use. Also, with such nice weather here in late October, campers may want to take advantage. That’s because Council Bluff Recreation Area is still open but will close for the season soon. They plan on closing the area to visitors next Monday, the 28th. Council Bluff, the largest lake in the Mark Twain National Forest, is about midways in the East End, Banner, and Belgrade Triangle. For reservations, go to recreation.gov.
