The gate at the Muddy Bayou Control Structure has been opened by less than a foot to begin reducing the level of Eagle Lake, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District spokesman said.

Corps spokesman Greg Raimondo said the Corps opened the gate by three-tenths of a foot Friday afternoon to start bringing the lake down to its normal level of 76.9 feet, adding the lake was down .02 of a foot Monday, from 81.1 feet to 81.08.

“It’s falling about .01 foot a day,” he said.

The lake has been at a high level because the Mississippi River’s level was too high to allow Steele Bayou to drain and prohibited the Corps from opening the Muddy Bayou gate that allows Muddy Bayou to flow into Steele Bayou.

The high lake level forced the Warren County Board of Supervisors to issue a no wake zone on the lake to reduce damage to piers along the shore affected by the high water.

The Mississippi’s level has dropped from 32.75 feet late Saturday to 32.11 Monday afternoon. It is predicted to fall to about 29.1 feet by Saturday. The drop in the river has caused a subsequent drop in Steele Bayou, which has fallen by 1/2-foot in the past 24 hours, Raimondo said.

But the lake’s level continues to be too high, and Corps officials are meeting Wednesday with the Board of Supervisors and officials with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks, Louisiana Wildlife & Fisheries and federal wildlife officials to discuss whether to open the Muddy Bayou gate more. The meeting, Raimondo said, was called by state wildlife officials.

One concern for state wildlife officials is the potential release of silver carp from Steele Bayou into Eagle Lake by opening the Muddy Bayou gate too much. The carp is an invasive species that would compete with native game fish in the lake like bass and crappie for food and could endanger them.

“We knew we were getting close (to opening the gate) before the meeting, so MDFP said go ahead and operate as we normally would until the meeting, and a decision would be made whether to open the gate even further.”

But even if the gate is opened wider, it will still be some time before the lake’s level is returned to normal.

Eagle Lake is an “oxbow lake,” a part of the Mississippi River cut off when the river changed its course at some point in the past.

“Whenever you think about these lakes, the lakes are V-shaped, so the higher the water goes, the wider it spreads out, and there’s more volume to get rid of,” Raimondo said. “If the lake were lower, it would drain faster.”