There are significant benefits to having aquatic vegetation in reservoirs. For example, aquatic vegetation provides valuable shelter and foraging habitat for important sport and prey fish species and stabilizes shorelines and bottom sediment. With that in mind, biologists in central Arkansas began efforts to establish aquatic vegetation on Greers Ferry Lake in 2020. Biologists deployed twelve floating "Arkansas Cubes" (see picture) filled with Coontail or Variable Leaf Milfoil in Cove Creek, Higden Bay, and Nursery Pond Cove.
In 2021, biologists deployed the floating cubes in the same areas but only used Coontail, as the Milfoil did not fare well transitioning to the lake's warm water. At the end of the 2021 growing season, biologists snagged some Coontail growing outside of one of the cubes in Higden Bay when retrieving its anchor, which provided anecdotal evidence that some Coontail had become established in the area. This year, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission deployed eight Arkansas Cubes filled with Coontail in Higden Bay on July 29. They will monitor the cubes and replenish them with Coontail as needed until October when they will retrieve them for the season.