Beaver Lake Right Now
Beaver Lake's water level has been falling over the past week. Watershed conditions are in extreme drought. Today's forecast calls for sunny.
- 7-day level change
- Down 0.34 feet
- Forecast high
- 86°F
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Overview
Beaver Lake is a roughly 28,300-acre reservoir on the White River in the Ozark Highlands of northwest Arkansas, spanning Benton, Carroll, Washington, and Madison counties. It was created when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed Beaver Dam in 1966, the uppermost federal multipurpose project on the White River. The lake is operated for flood risk management, hydroelectric power, public water supply, and recreation, and its cold-water releases support a noted trout fishery in the White River tailwater.
At conservation pool the lake has about 490 miles of irregular, bluff-lined shoreline and averages near 58 feet deep, with a maximum depth of about 216 feet near the dam. Long riverine arms, rocky points, and deep clear water give Beaver a classic Ozark character, and it is the first major storage reservoir on the White River system above Table Rock, Bull Shoals, and Norfork.
Beaver is a major recreation destination for northwest Arkansas, drawing boaters, anglers, and campers to Corps parks, marinas, and public ramps around the reservoir. It is known for largemouth and spotted bass, walleye, crappie, and catfish, with fisheries managed by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, while the White River below the dam is a premier trout fishery.
Water levels on Beaver Lake are managed by the Corps of Engineers under a seasonal conservation-pool target near 1,120.43 feet NGVD29 from October through April and about 1,121.43 feet in summer, with a flood-control pool extending to 1,130 feet. Because Beaver is operated as part of the upper White River system with Table Rock, Bull Shoals, and Norfork, elevations respond to basin rainfall, power generation, and system flood storage, so monitoring current lake levels is important for boating, fishing, and dock access.
Beaver Lake is a 28,299-acre reservoir on the White River managed by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.