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Courtesy of Barron Cooley

While Lake Hartwell water levels are at record lows, the Corps of Engineers is offering to partner with local groups to upgrade boating access areas.

In a time when both water levels and government budgets are at an all-time low, the Army Corps of Engineers-Lake Hartwell Project is looking to partner with local groups to extend and upgrade boat ramps around Lake Hartwell. Due to a severe drought that is about to enter its third year, Lake Hartwell water levels exceeded the lowest recorded level back in October when the pool dipped below 642 feet at mean sea level. The reservoir’s normal pool is 660 ft, leaving the lake over 20 feet low at the present time. The lower water levels have left all of the boating access ramps maintained by the Corps high and dry. The Corps is currently maintaining extensions to five of its public ramps to allow public access to the lake.

“Ordinarily we would be making the best of this record-low water level by updating our public access areas,” said Kenneth Bedenbaugh, Facilities Manager for the Lake Hartwell Project. “Unfortunately our budget is also at an all-time low, and we don’t have the money to do all we would like to do to maintain these areas.”

According to sources, the United States Army Corps of Engineers falls within the Federal Budget for the Department of Defense. The DOD’s first priority is maintaining the war in Iraq which means the Corps of Engineers falls further down the list for budgeting.

In light of the circumstances at both lakes Hartwell and Thurmond, a sister reservoir further down the Savannah River, the Corps is offering to partner with local lake use clubs or homeowner’s organizations to overhaul Corps ramps that are of particular importance to that group. Adding extensions or additional lanes to the access areas will not make them usable with the lake pools at their current level, but will increase the number of usable ramps in the future.

“It doesn’t make sense to put a lot of time and resources into extending ramps to the current water level,” Bedenbaugh said. “We haven’t seen this level since the lake was built and hopefully won’t see them at this level again for many, many years once this drought is over.”

According to statistics, Hartwell is one of the top 10 most visited Corps reservoirs in the country.

“These boat ramps were designed and built in 1956 when the lake was first created,” said Gerald Foster, owner of The Fishing Hole in Clemson, who has been fishing the lake since it was impounded. “Back then this area was very rural, and no one had any idea how much the area would grow or how popular Hartwell would become.”

Bedenbaugh reported that he and members of his department have met with several groups to discuss partnerships where the Corps would provide the equipment and labor necessary to make the upgrades to the access areas while the partnering group would contribute to the cost of or donation of building materials — primarily concrete — to remodel the ramps.

“We are very close to beginning a project with a homeowner’s group in the 18 mile Creek area,” Bedenbaugh said. “We have also had several meetings with fishing clubs to discuss partnerships and have had a lot of interest in doing this.”

While each location presents its own set of requirements, Bedenbaugh estimated the cost of materials for upgrading an existing ramp to be around $15,000.

Groups or associations who are interested in partnering with the Corps to update a local ramp can contact Kenneth Bedenbaugh at the United States Army Corps of Engineers Lake Hartwell Project in Hartwell, Ga. at 706-856-0300 or toll free at 1-888-893-0678.

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