areas has increased ten percent a year during the last decade. attendance at the 333 Corps lakes exceeded 321 million.

In 1973

All

There are some 5400 developed recreation areas at Corps lakes. or part of 44 Corps lakes are managed by other federal agencies, and 700 recreation areas are managed by state or local public agencies. About 400 private concessionaires are operating on Corps-managed recreation areas plus a large number of sub-leases from state and local managed areas. There are over 300 quasi-public areas such as scout and community organization campgrounds.

The range of recreation facilities typically provided at Corps lakes is shown in Table 3-1. These figures indicate the general order of magnitude and character of outdoor recreation activity occurring at Corps lake recreation areas.

The Corps of Engineers program for developing recreation facilities started in fiscal year 1957. Since that time the Corps has initiated over $89 million in recreation facilities at 281 completed projects through fiscal year 1973.* It is estimated that non-federal investments in outdoor recreation facilities at Corps lakes have about equaled Corps investments.

1

The Corps capital investment for recreation development for FY 1973 was about $19 million. Operation and maintenance (O&M) costs run about the same as capital costs annually.

C. Social Impact of Recreation on the Corps

People visiting (Corps) recreation areas are seeking an enjoyable recreation experience. People on a recreation outing generally have a

*These funds were appropriated for the Corps program for "Recreation Facilities at Completed Projects," referred to as the "Code 710" program. These capital investments are designed to supplement recreation facilities built during initial reservoir project construction. Initial project recreation facilities generally are designed to serve recreation demands for three years following completion of the project.

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lesser propensity to intentionally commit crimes or demonstrate antisocial behavior. On the other hand, in a recreation area people are more vulnerable to opposing forces and buffer zones are less apparent. The value of recreation equipment is increasing and becoming more of a target for theft.

Many misdemeanors, vandalism, traffic violations and personal disturbances which interrupt recreation experience either go unreported, or are not of the kind that are reported in major statistics. However, witnessing the occurrence or the aftermath of antisocial behavior-reported or not--has an impact on the recreation visitor. This impact is amplified because of his increased sensitivity to the environment and social circumstances within which his or her recreation is pursued. Invariably, the impact is a negative one, detracting from the quality of the recreation experience, at times even to the extent of causing anxiety or fear.

While the visitor to a Corps area may be motivated toward a constructive recreation experience, other environmental influences may come into play. Densities build up, traffic increases, people get careless with litter, vegetation becomes trampled, alcohol extends a conversation into an argument, and the Corps ranger has a difficult situation with which to contend.

Inade

Many of the visitor protection problems continue with the unintentional assistance of the environment. The older recreation areas were not designed with a view toward visitor control and protection. quate development of recreation areas has resulted in difficulty and increased costs for management and providing law enforcement services. Such developmental deficiencies could be corrected and over the long run would prove to be cost-effective.

One such deficiency concerns the main access to most Corps reservoirs which relies on the roads that were crossing the river valleys before the reservoir was constructed. Some lakes, such as Lake Texoma in

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Texas, have many road access points around the shoreline.

Consequently,

the recreation areas that developed along these existing roads generally are difficult to control.

About two-thirds of the Corps lakes are within 50 miles of a Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area. Many, such as Old Hickory Lake and J. Percy Priest Lake around Nashville, Tennessee, are located within or near concentrated metropolitan areas. In the case of some lakes, like Old Hickory, there was little adjacent land taken in the project, and urban development has occurred right up to the edge of the lake. The panoply of urban problems have carried over in these situations.

Even at some of the rurally located lakes, urban-type growth stimulated around Corps lakes has resulted in increased law enforcement problems. For example, the off-season resident population around Lake of the Pines in Arkansas is around 13,000 people. This increases to about 150,000 people in the summer with the large amount of second-home development around the lake. This heavy population puts additional pressure on the local sheriff to extend law enforcement services.

Local sheriff and police departments often are reluctant to extend their services to Corps recreation areas within their jurisdiction that are heavily used by non-resident visitors. The tax revenues generated by second-home development attracted to the Corps lakes are viewed, in some cases, as generating less revenues than the cost of local services which they incur. State and local agencies have also been reluctant to assume management of Corps recreation areas where use fees are not adequate to cover O&M costs, including law enforcement. The Corps has recently been giving priority budget attention to upgrading existing recreation areas to be able to charge fees under the law and thereby become more economically self-sufficient.

An important point to be made is that in the minds of visitors coming to a Corps recreation area, security has, indeed, become an important It was revealed in one study on user fees of a Corps lake that

concern.

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