By Rachel Bevill-Cottrell Special to Best of Siloam Springs

The Siloam Springs Kayak Park was established in 2014 at Fishers Ford in Siloam Springs . Originally funded by the Walton Foundation , the park was intended to be a gateway into watersports activities for the Siloam Springs community .

The two engineered , Class I and Class II rapids were anticipated to primarily attract kayakers . However , because of its location in Northwest Arkansas , the beautiful surrounding scenery and unparalleled swimming holes , the community began to utilize the park for more than just kayaking . This spot of communal recreation has become a popular oasis for the last decade , almost to a fault . What was intended to be a park capable of hosting a few hundred visitors turned into thousands of excited park-goers overflowing the parking lot and lining nearby roads .

Travis Chaney , the director of Siloam

Springs Parks and Recreation , speaking on the intended size of the park and the actual visitor foot traffic said , “ In fact , it had become so popular that it was getting ‘ loved to death .’ In 2022 , we had over 6,000 people at the park on the Fourth of July alone . There are only 100 parking spaces and that number is deliberate . The park was not designed to accommodate 6,000 people in a day .”

When first constructed , the Kayak Park hosted thick vegetation under the trees along the bank of the stream , but due to heavy foot traffic most of the vegetation was flattened and destroyed . While parkgoers weren ’ t intentionally damaging the vegetation , the unprecedented amount of visitors was causing almost irrevocable damage .

“ Without ground level vegetation , there was nothing to hold the soil in place , and the regular floods we get on the Illinois River were washing all of that soil away . Erosion was threatening to destabilize the banks , topple the trees and change the character of the park ,” Chaney said .

Seeking ways to restore and stabilize the vegetation and the riverbanks , the city sought grants from the Illinois River Watershed Partnership ( IRWP ) and the Walton Family Foundation . These grants provided funding to revegetate the land and preserve the riverbanks .

Continuing the revitalization project , Chaney said that “ the city ’ s partnership with the IRWP set limited weekend and summer capacity regulations to manage visitor capacity in order to protect the recent investments into the park ’ s infrastructure and improve visitor experience .”

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