by La Grange News
The prospect of low lake levels has forced the West Point Lake Coalition to cancel its annual poker run, the group?s lone fundraising effort.
?We had to make the decision in May, when the corps announced it was going in to drought operations,? said Dick Timmerberg, coalition director.
The corps operates West Point Lake.
?No one wanted to cancel it, since it?s our only fundraiser, but it costs us $2,500 to hold it,? he said. ?I asked our board, ?Who?s willing to gamble $2,500?? Reluctantly, it was the only way to go.?
The poker run has been held on the lake each Father?s Day weekend for 13 years.
?It?s unfortunate that this has occurred, but the Southeast is experiencing extremely dry conditions and the entire basin is in drought operations due to the lack of rain,? said Pat Robbins, spokesman for the corps? Mobile, Ala., district office, which manages the lake. ?While not yet as bad as a couple of years ago, the basin hydrology is setting record low inflows in many areas. Hopefully the weather will change and operations can get back to normal for everyone.?
Timmerberg said a projected lake level is anyone?s guess, but the lake could be at 628 feet above mean sea level or lower by the time the poker run would have rolled around, making the lake unsafe for the event. The corps released a drought update earlier this week saying the lake is near 630.9 feet now and expected to be 631.3 feet by the end of this month.
The event nets the coalition about $4,000 to $5,000 each year.
The coalition uses that money to help maintain lighted buoys in the lake?s main channel and three main feeder creeks: Yellow Jacket, Wehadkee and Maple. It also uses funds raised to maintain about 50 artificial fishing habitats around the lake and promote water safety.
Timmerberg said the coalition has paid $50,000 for the installation and maintenance of the buoy lights.
The coalition members are hoping the cancellation of the event puts more pressure on the corps to raise and maintain the lake level. West Point Lake is authorized by Congress to be used for recreation, sport fishing and wildlife development, yet recreation areas are impacted as soon as the lake drops to 632.5 feet.
?The coalition always has worked well and cooperated with the corps,? Timmerberg said. ?However, the lack of a satisfactory response to the discontent of this community and the inaction of the corps to take up any of the legitimate recommendations concerning lake levels requires us to do what believe is best for our lake.?
Coalition members are asking the public to ?like? the coalition?s page on Facebook and join the ?Keep West Point Lake Above 632.5? campaign. The public also is being asked to contact Col. Steven Roemhildt, the corps? commander in the Mobile office.
?Please keep communications civil but as emotional as you feel comfortable,? Timmerberg said.
Timmerberg, the coalition and other lake advocates would like to see the revised water control plan, which currently is being updated, include measures that would keep a higher lake level and allow for more recreation, sport fishing and wildlife development. Current rules, however, called the ?guide curve,? mean that the lake is drawn down at a faster rate than lakes in the Apilachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint basin.
?They just refuse to budge on the guide curve,? Timmerberg said.
The lake actually was at 634.5 feet above mean sea level on March 5, but was drawn down for flood control, he said. The current drought conditions could have been at least delayed if that water had been stored.
?They had that water and they let it go,? he said.
A draft of the water control plan is expected to be released in June 2013.
Roemhildt may be contacted at the following address:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District
Attn: Col. Steven Roemhildt
P.O. Box 2288
Mobile, Ala. 36628-0001
e-mail: Steven.J.Roemhildt.COL@usace.army.mil
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