Member’s Report: 08/11/10

 (Updated 08/13/10 - See Below at end of original posting)

 

As many of you are probably aware, I’ve established a Grand Lake News website, www.grandlakenewsonline.com. The site will be dedicated to providing its free subscribers weekly updates on Grand Lake News, but will also be an outlet for serious topics not currently being covered by many of the area newspapers. The following is an opinion piece regarding the millet seeding program on Grand Lake. The piece will appear on our site and be distributed to all the area papers, including the Tulsa World. Also, one of our members provided me a copy of a letter he received in response to a SMP status inquiry from Senator Inhofe’s office.

 

Cheers from Grays Hollow

 

Dear Mr. XXXXXXXXXXX:

 

Thank you for taking the time to contact me about the GRDA Shoreline Management Plan.  As Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, I appreciate the opportunity to hear your concerns on this matter.  

 

The Grand Lake area has historically been a popular destination and is home to many Oklahomans.  Restraining Grand Lake's ability to promote new development and growth will certainly threaten the livelihood of those living and working in Northeast Oklahoma, as many jobs are tied directly or indirectly to the lake.  While it is important that we preserve the lake's ecosystems and ecological integrity, we must not obstruct Northeastern Oklahoma's ability to continue shoreline development, which includes residential, commercial, and agricultural segments. 

 

FERC's adoption of a GRDA Shoreline Management Plan that does not encumber growth and development is a necessity.  Thus, I will do my best to urge FERC to come to an amicable and compromising agreement with GRDA's plan.  

 

Thank you for your correspondence.  Please do not hesitate to contact me again if you have any further questions or concerns.

 

 

Who’s running the Asylum???

 

If you’re a veteran of Grand Lake, the Labor Day holiday doesn’t just signal the enjoyment of the last major holiday of the summer season. It also annually unveils one of our lake’s most talked about and discussed mysteries. Unless you’re oblivious to your surroundings, you probably are once again mystified as to why the lake will be at its lowest level of the year.

 

Since 1992, it has happened year-in and year-out to allow for the seeding of Japanese Millet in the mud flats to benefit migratory Ducks and Geese. What started out as a five year trial, lobbied for by people associated with wildlife conservation, during the Grand River Dam Authority’s re-licensing in 1990, became a permanent part of the license in conjunction with an amended rule curve change in 1997. At best, a very poorly conceived plan was made worse by making it permanent without any independent analysis of its results.

 

The track record of a program, which the wildlife people claim is to provide nourishment to migratory water foul, while others believe it’s just a way of concentrating these birds for slaughter by hunters, is a disaster. Due to Oklahoma’s unpredictable weather, the seeding effort has mostly resulted in failure. Either it was the oppressive Oklahoma heat wiping out the intended result, or sometime during the sixty-day period the lake is maintained at the 741’ level for germination, a rising lake level from heavy fall rains would be the culprit.

 

Some informed sources tell us it’s outdated mid-eighties philosophy and there are better ways out there to address the well being of the migratory birds. Some have even told us the wildlife department is split on the issue. Grand Lake doesn’t even reside on a defined migratory flyway, but it’s annually one of the top fishing lakes in the nation as demonstrated by the number of bass fishing competitions year after year.

 

The rub within the wildlife community is that while the program benefits the water fowl, it’s detrimental to the current year’s spawned fish fry. The newly hatched crop of fish hide from predators in the plant growth along the shoreline of Grand Lake, but when the lake is rapidly dropped for millet seeding, a by-product is the destruction of some important fish fry habitat.

 

So what makes the ducks more important than Grand Lake’s other stakeholders? Isn’t it time to bring some common sense into the equation? If the humans on this lake have no status as stakeholders, let’s join up with the fish to put a merciful death to a bad idea and find a better way to benefit the ducks. But, as absurd as it may sound, things appear to have taken a turn for the worse.

 

If the whispers being heard around Grand Lake are correct, a riff between wildlife representatives and GRDA officials regarding how the seeding would be paid for has resulted in an impasse. But all indications are the authority will follow the lake elevation rule curve and drop the lake to an elevation of 741’ just as though the seeding were being carried out. How ridiculous is that?

 

I sent out the following letter to the authority and most of our elected officials last week asking why:

 

 

To our Legislative friends… both at the Federal & State level:

 

Those of us who work and play on Grand Lake remain mystified when the lake level is dropped to the dangerous elevation of 741’ each August prior to the Labor Day holiday. The lake is dropped annually to accommodate the ill-fated Japanese Millet seeding program, which has proven to be a failure year-in and year-out. Either the hot baking sun and associated lack of rain takes its toll or “The Crop” is decimated by flooding before this proposed waterfowl food can reach maturity. What has proved futile in the past is about to become borderline insane.

 

Due to differences over funding this program, between the Grand River Dam Authority and state and federal wildlife representatives, the millet seeding program has been abandoned for this year. But yet, the GRDA has no plans to deviate from the lake elevation curve mandating the lake be dropped in August to accommodate this seeding, which isn’t going to happen. Would it really be too much to ask for the GRDA management, or our elected officials, to at least petition the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to adjust the lake target levels for 2010?

 

Rusty Fleming

Executive Director

Grand Lakers United Enterprise

 

To date, the only response I’ve received came from Congressman Dan Boren’s field representative, Peggy McGehee. She asked if I had received any response from the GRDA? She also advised me that Boren’s State Director, Ben Robinson, was attempting to contact GRDA Chief Operating Officer Kevin Easley. The silence is deafening.

 

If you agree with the sentiments expressed in this column, I encourage you to contact your federal or state representatives to create a grass roots movement with respect to this issue.

 

See Ya’ Around the Pond

 

08/13/10 Update

 

To date, the only response I’ve received has come from Congressman Dan Boren’s office, who told us their state director would be contacting the GRDA. The following response, on the authority website, demonstrates it’s business as usual in Vinita, Oklahoma, at the GRDA headquarters building.

 

Grand Lake Stakeholders:

August 13, 2010

In response to recent public concerns regarding the elevation of Grand Lake, the Grand River Dam Authority wanted to take this opportunity to brief you on this issue.

The GRDA operation of Pensacola Dam not only provides low-cost, reliable electricity for thousands of Oklahomans but also helps provide the recreational opportunities of Grand Lake.

Yet in order to maintain this beneficial asset for the people of Oklahoma, GRDA must operate Pensacola Dam under the terms of a license issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Currently, GRDA operates the dam under a 30-year license issued by FERC in 1992.

In 1996, that license was amended to include a Grand Lake rule curve requirement. This rule curve outlines target elevations that GRDA must attempt to meet each day throughout the year.

These different elevations are intended to help facilitate boat traffic in the summer months, various wildlife habitat projects in the fall and fisheries and migratory waterfowl habitat in the winter and spring. While elevations are targets, the actual elevation of Grand Lake can fluctuate due to inflows into the Grand River system. The majority of the Grand River's watershed consists of uncontrolled runoff in Southeast Kansas and Southwest Missouri.

Per rule curve requirements, Grand Lake is drawn down in mid August to reach an August 31 elevation of 741 feet, where it is held until mid October.

FERC staff has indicated to GRDA that any variances from the rule curve could constitute a violation of the project license.

To continue to provide low-cost electricity and recreational opportunities that benefit Oklahoma, and to maintain compliance with federal requirements, GRDA must meet this rule curve.

GRDA remains sensitive to lake level issues, as well as the many competing interests associated with lake levels. Balancing those interests, while maintaining compliance with its operating license is the goal.

Would a simple letter, requesting a variance in the lake level during a year when no millet seeding is planned, really be too much to ask? And if we don’t have the intestinal fortitude to even pose such a question to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, is it any surprise the wildlife interests on Grand Lake, in spite of  what Oklahoma water law states, hold a higher priority than human beings? Isn’t it time some of those campaign promises to fight for what’s right and represent your constituents kick into gear? Ladies and gentlemen, the silence is deafening?

Rusty Fleming