Here we are again. April of 2021 and the ACE Website showing a lake elevation of 369 Feet. For some perspective: My boat draws 4 1/2 feet of water and my trailer adds a bit over 1 foot to that, so that I consider needing about 6 feet of water at the toe of the ramp at Richardson. By experience, I know that I can get away with an elevation of 370 feet to launch and recover, but 371 is preferable. At 371 I also have adequate depth to get over to my slip and reside there comfortably. At 371 there are some regions within the lake that I can normally go, but will hit bottom such as the south West arm, West side.
For those of you new to the lake or not aware of prior discussion with the Army Corps who manages the lake, here are a few tidbits:
*The Corps operates the lake levels by a predetermined profile and plan approved by congress (in about 1946) and cannot legally depart from that plan with prior congressional approval of a new plan.
* The water that fills Fernridge comes solely from rainwater and waterways fed by the surround hills, including the east slopes of the coast range.
*The primary purpose of the reservoir is for flood control of downstream town and farms.
Secondary purposes include upstream farm irrigation, wildlife and native species conservation, and somewhere near the bottom of the list is recreational boating.
The moral of the story is that grousing to or about the ACE is futile and non-productive. They are following the rules set out for them by congress. Do they make errors in judgement? Maybe. But, they don’t really have a crystal ball to foresee the next week or month of weather and if they err on the side of too much water, they could endanger their primary objective of protecting downstream populations. This they will NOT do.
Considering that we have Climate Change to deal with now, it would seem prudent for their plan of operation to be reviewed scientifically. When I first began sailing here, every year was the same: 371 feet by April 1, and max fill by April 30 with much water to spare. The last 5 to 10 years have not been so predictable.
I am not even preparing my boat for launch at this point. I will continue to monitor the situation and wait for additional rain even though our chances of that diminish greatly from here on out. Sorry to be a downer, but we must face facts and the facts are not very promising. We can only hope for an anomaly that will consist of several inches of rain in one storm.
I hope to see you on the water, if not in April, then in May.