We have been watching with the hope that our new Colonel is truly a lake advocate. In the past when our lakes started down there was no attempt to protect recreation until the lakes dropped 4ft. Monday, although the lakes are within a foot of full pool, the Corps is dropping release rates from Lake Thurmond to very near the minimum demonstrated to be acceptable downstream (3800cfs vs 3600cfs). This is a much appreciated change from past practices where release rates remained unchanged until the lakes dropped 4' and even then release rates from Lake Thurmond were only dropped to 4200cfs.
Up to now we suspected the Corps might be changing to protecting recreation with better level control but there was no way to know for sure because the lakes are always held at a near constant level during spawning season. As I understand it spawning season is over yet we continue to see an effort to hold our lake levels as high as possible.
I personally would like to thank the Corps hoping this is a true read of their intentions. The sky is the limit as to what this can mean for the growth of this area in a couple of years once the public impression of our lakes improves.
