By Robert Barron, Staff Writer
ENID —
JET — About 100 people filled Jet Community Building Tuesday evening to work toward a common goal of saving Great Salt Plains Lake refuge and park.
Tuesday’s meeting was called following a July 20 meeting conducted by the Army Corps of Engineers in Cherokee. That meeting was called to get feedback from the public regarding Great Salt Plains Lake, so the Corps of Engineers could put together an initial appraisal of the conditions and operations of the lake and surrounding recreational areas.
The Corps of Engineers then will do a reconnaissance study, which could take up to a year to complete. The third step in the process is doing a feasibility study, lasting up to 36 months. When that time frame is over, the Corps will implement its plan for usage of the lake.
Comments from Tuesday’s meeting will be sent to the Corps, which will include them in its report.
The lake, which was built in 1941, is the largest water attraction in northwest Oklahoma, said Patti Wilber, a member of Great Salt Plains Lake Association, who was emcee for the meeting.
The areas of concern are the lake, dam, spillway, outlet works, surrounding land to the top of the flood control pool and Corps of Engineers land, including land leased to the state for the park, she said. The lake has prevented an estimated $239 million in flood damages since 1941 and continues to provide downstream flood protection, according to the Corps of Engineers.
Using a slide presentation, Wilber told the audience about the existing problems at the lake and discussed potential alternatives.
Storage capacity at the lake has decreased nearly 36,000 acre-feet between 1941 and 1978, and there are large sediment accumulations that reduce capacity of the conservation pool, reduce downstream flooding protection and increase frequency of time water is in the flood pool, Wilber said. The Corps’ 2010 fiscal year budget for project operations and maintenance is just more than $252,000.
Motorized boats no longer are used on the lake for fear of damage because of the shallowness of the lake, Wilber said.
Sediments, high salinity and water quality issues also preclude the lake from supporting productive fishery. Periodic fish kills in the lake, spillway basins and other areas occur. In 2006, a fish kill also killed the Arkansas River valley extending as far as Ponca City, said John Stahl, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. The department no longer actively manages the sport fishery, he said, and fishing visits have declined. Businesses supported by lake recreation also have failed.
Among the options for the lake’s future is doing nothing, which Wilber said will only allow the current problems to increase.
One alternative is to dredge the lake to increase pool depth. Doing that would remove some sediment from the lake and provide for a beneficial use of dredged materials, including increasing the size of the state park, refuge and surrounding areas, building islands, increasing shoreline height for wildlife management, building roads and enhancing agricultural lands.
However, the cost to dredge the lake would be in the millions, Wilber said.
Another alternative is Salt Plains could be operated strictly as a wildlife area. It would be solely for wildlife and non-aquatic recreation, she said. The state park would maintain leases, recreation would be changed to non-aquatic, she said, and flood control and fishing uses would no longer be part of the project.
The worst case is to decommission the lake, which could be done, Wilber said.
If that occurs, the spillway and outlet works would be removed and stabilized, project lands and structures would be disposed of and operations and maintenance of all project lands would be under jurisdiction of other agencies. The state park lease would not be maintained.
She said when the lake at Optima in the Panhandle was decommissioned everything was removed.
“That is a worst-case situation,” Wilber said.
Also speaking during the evening were Greg Birkenfield, Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, who said people come to the refuge from across the United States and around the world to observe bird species they have not seen before. The refuge is a critical habitat for whooping cranes. The bird watching is better at Salt Plains than at many places around the world, he said.
The group discussed forming a Friends of Great Salt Plains Lake organization and partnering with the national Friends of the Refuge, which would put them in position to receive grants.
One audience member stood and told the group, “It isn’t dead unless we let it die.”
To join the National Friends of the Refuge, contact plwilber@gmail.com.
