The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission put to use for the first time Thursday morning a new tool to help improve fish habitat on area lakes.

The 30-foot-long fish habitat barge, complete with a hydraulic dump bed, was donated to the G&FC by Tracker Marine and Bass Pro Shops. The Missouri Department of Conservation also received a similar barge.

Officials used the barge Thursday to sink Christmas trees in the Quarry Park recreation area to create new fish habitat areas.

With an ability to hold 20,000 pounds along with the hydraulic dump bed, the barge will enable the G&FC to move large trees around Bull Shoals Lake and Lake Norfork for sinking. THe G&FC also plans to use the barge for a number of projects where a lot of "muscle" is required.

"This (the fish habitat barge) will be a great asset for us," said G&FC fisheries biologist Mark Oliver. "It will really help with our habitat improvement project."

A focus of the fish habitat improvement project, said Oliver, is to create better bank fishing around the recreation areas on the lakes.

"There's not a lot of places where bank fishing is possible except the recreation areas," Oliver said. "We're going to focus our efforts on those areas. We want folks to be able to catch fish from the banks."

On Thursday, personnel with the G&FC, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and volunteers sank about 100 Christmas trees. Several years ago they sank about 400 trees.

"There is no doubt that sinking these trees, as well as the other trees we sink throughout the year, helps the fishing," Oliver said. "We hear it from fisherman all the time."

The Christmas Tree Project, coordinated by the Corps, has been ongoing for a number of years. Every year just after Christmas, RLH donates dumpsters where folks can drop off their trees. For the past several years, the dumpsters have been located at Harps in Mountain Home.

"It's really one of the best ways to dispose of these trees," Oliver said. "Fishermen can look under these Christmas trees year round."