Lake Ouachita Camp Ground Schedule for 2008

March 1st , 2008 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced all campgrounds at lakes Ouachita, Greeson and DeGray will open with modified services.

The announcement is a result of meetings between the Corps' Vicksburg District and federal, state and local interests.

Modified services will include less frequent trash pick up, janitorial services, and grass mowing.

The plan provides an opportunity for campers and visitors to have a direct impact on the future of the campgrounds by volunteering to supplement the modified services.

Those interested in volunteering can go to www.mvk.usace.army.mil 
 and click on Hot Topics: Arkansas Lakes Campgrounds
 or email LakeOuachita@usace.army.mil.

 More information about state and local volunteer programs will be published in the near future.

Interested persons can provide written comments and questions concerning the campgrounds to:

Brenda Meeks, Project Manager
Ouachita Project Management Office
PO Box 370
Mountain Pine, Arkansas 71956

Campers interested in visiting these campgrounds may make reservations now through the National Recreation Reservation System (NRRS) website www.recreation.gov.

The Corps will monitor campgrounds to determine the success of the modified services and volunteerism. The monitoring will assess the quality of service vs. the quantity of open campgrounds.

 Public safety remains a top priority.

The Vicksburg District had cut back on campground schedules due to flat budgets and increasing costs for operation and maintenance of facilities.

The missions of the Vicksburg District at Ouachita, Greeson and DeGray are to provide flood control, hydropower generation, recreation, environmental stewardship and water supply.

The Corps has also made cutbacks in an attempt to stretch funding to fulfill current missions to the maximum amount possible. Leasing is being considered to sustain future campground availability.

The partnering effort came as a result of concerns expressed by local businesses and congressional, state and local officials.

Those included Senator Blanche Lincoln, Senator Mark Pryor, Congressman Mike Ross, Governor Mike Beebe, the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, concessions on the lakes, Lake Ouachita Citizens Focus Committee and the Arkansas Hospitality Association.

To comment on the Lake Ouachita campground issue please
 email at CEMVK-PA@usace.army.mil.

Some things you should know about the Corps of Engineers mission
in Arkansas at Arkansas Lakes

 A combination of increasing cost and an extensive and growing list of critical backlog maintenance items has forced the Vicksburg District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to cut back on some campgrounds schedules. We are making changes across all missions in our properties in order to provide the highest level of service within existing funding Below are some things you might not know about the COE in Arkansas.

 
THE CAMPGROUNDS ARE OPEN, just on a different schedule
.
Lake Ouachita, Blakely Mountain Dam and surrounding facilities are more than 50 years old.
As with any aging structure they must be maintained. There is now a growing list of critical and non-critical maintenance items that must be resolved within the next few years.
Some of those require action now; some can be deferred for a short time.

Recreation is only one of the several missions at these lakes.
Others include

• Hydropower

• Water Supply

• Flood control

• Environmental.

A failure in hydropower would affect tens of thousands of Arkansas residents immediately and dramatically.
One of the maintenance items is repair to hydropower generating equipment.

That repair alone will cost 3 million dollars.
If we wait for failure, it will be even more expensive to repair.

We seek a balanced approach to fulfill all of these missions to the greatest extent possible.
We are deferring some less critical maintenance to shift money to recreation, but we are seeking a balanced approach to the overall mission.

The changes have not only been in closing campgrounds.

For example we have decided not to hire 24 seasonal rangers as part of cost saving, deferring some maintenance is also a way of saving money.

 All missions are sharing the burden.
 
The problem is not isolated to Arkansas.
Other Corps districts are considering closing campgrounds and taking other actions to manage their budgets.

While other campgrounds are fully operational, it takes congressional level action to move funds across state lines.
The final FY 08 Budget was 19.9 million dollars.A small increase over last year’s budget.

However, the priority shift to focus on critical maintenance means that work items involving maintenance received a greater share of the budget this year than last, thus reducing the total amount available for recreation.
 
Looking to the future there are many options open to prevent this problem from reoccurring.
Among those options is the possibility of leasing the campgrounds to concessions.

 

To comment on the Lake Ouachita campground issue
Send an email the Corps
 CEMVK-PA@usace.army.mil.

Lake Ouachita
High Water
Jan, 2007

Lake Ouachita Live
 Release Black Bass Boat

Suspension bridge over Lake
Ouachita is in the planning.

Brady Mountain Resort
 and Marina Lake Ouachita

 Lake Ouachita Creel Survey