Discussion on Siloam Spring Kayak Park

[paddledog]

I just returned from a meeting with Don Clark the Community Services Director
and Troy Kirkendall the Parks and rec manager for Siloam Springs.
We addressed some of the issues that have come up at the park this summer.
Two of the largest are the litter and the porta johns.
The porta johns service schedule has been doubled to two times a week, Tuesdays and Fridays.
One issue with the porta johns has been the dismantling of the locks.
The service company said they have repaired/replaced the locks on almost ten of the units.
If you see anyone messing with the door/locks please let the Siloam Springs police know.
There are some new signs up that the park visitors have been made aware of that state there
will be no more charcoal fires. Again, if you see this happening, let someone know and warnings or citations will be given.
Patrols will be heavier during peak times. Not just the police but also by some park officials.
Attendance was monitored this summer by a counter placed at the park entrance.
Visitor counts were in the 4-500 range most weekends with a peak of 628 one Sunday.
These numbers are probably higher if you figure on peak days some folks park on the road and walk in.
As for the trash issue, the NW chapter will be sponsoring a walk through clean up once a month for the three peak
months during the summer. These will be scheduled to offset the same style clean ups the city has promised during
the same time period. That gives us a solid clean up every two weeks. This along with stricter enforcement of the
no litter policy should help improve the litter problem. Other organizations are being contacted to
see what they can do to help. I know the IRWSP has at least one clean up there every year.
But as always, everyone can help every time they are out there by setting the example.

Everyone involved with the park is courteous and helpful, they are trying to make sense of something new.
I think some good lessons were learned this summer and will be followed up on next year.

A few side notes:
The city would like to coordinate an event with the ACC next year. They are looking at June 10th. Does this
interfere with anything the club has planned? This will be a daylong event
with the city providing hot dogs and burgers. They would like us to do our "learn to paddle" event along with
a few spectator events. Rescue rodeo or something else would be great. Hometown throwdown is a possibility.

The kids are back in school and the weather is starting to cool so lets go back out and play in "our" park.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any issues, good or bad, that you would like me to address with
the Siloam Springs officials.

[neverold]

I appreciate your contribution on the SSKP.