Vinita – When the Grand River Dam established its Ecosystems Management Department in the spring of 2004, a whole new focus was brought to GRDA lake issues.

 Executive Officer Kevin Easley in May 2004, "and this new department will help us do just that."

of shoreline under  its control (and most of that area utilized by the public) GRDA’s lake management efforts are far-reaching and diverse. In its first year, the GRDA Ecosystems Management Department has coordinated efforts with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and Oklahoma Water Resources Board to initiate a habitat enhancement program around the shores of Grand Lake; it has undertaken an aggressive project to build an up-to-date database of all structures around the shores of Grand and Hudson lakes, and is working to ensure the compliance of all these structures.

However, it may be GRDA’s efforts to remove abandoned and dilapidated docks from the lakes that has best characterized its new focus on lake issues. Since early in the summer of 2004, the ecosystems department has been identifying such structures on Grand Lake and has followed through with the burdensome and often costly efforts to remove the docks

"It’s not an easy process to get these docks off the water," said Dr. Darrell Townsend, Ph.D., GRDA’s ecosystems superintendent. "They have to be towed to a site where they can be pulled on land, sometimes stored, and then taken apart or moved to another location."

Depending on the dock’s location, size and state of disrepair, removal can cost between $1,500 and $3,000, said Townsend, adding that GRDA has already removed four docks at a total cost of $7,500. Money collected from dock permits, water users and other lake-related fees helps cover the costs of these dock removals. However, it is a necessary expense and one that GRDA must pay in order to meet is new standards for lake management, said Easley.

"Dock removal can be expensive undertaking for us, but when a dock has been abandoned or is dilapidated beyond repair, everyone would agree that it needs to be removed from the lake," said Easley. "When we can’t locate the dock owner, GRDA has to do its part to ensure the safety of all other lake users."

Dock removals are just one of many expenses GRDA has when it comes to lake operations added Easley. In fact, in 2003, GRDA spent nearly $1.3 million on lake management operations, while only collecting roughly $330 thousand in revenues from lake users. And while a May 2004 rate increase in lake-related permits will help close the gap, GRDA’s lake expenses continue to outdistance revenues by a significant amount.