Corps Of Engineers "take Line"

[Billfo]

Is the Corps of Engineers "Take Line" determined by flood elevation ? The last 936 flood we had the water came up very close to my "T-post" that marks the "take Line" . So seeing THAT scarey water level- CAN the water get any higher than 936 ?

Pic posted is of my backyard when the water was at 936. The T-Post is not shown in this picture.

Thanks for your inputs.

[motoman]

I didn't see a pic bill......not sure if it didn't come through?

[ges]

Bill- I went through this a couple of years ago here's how it worked out on my property . 1. we have a OLD property marker nearest to the water this is obslete now. 2. we have a Take LIne and we do have a corp pin there also at 929.00 ft anything lower than this take line is corp property . 3. then the 936 ft line BETWEEN the 936 line and the take line is my property BUT about all I can do is mow it or put something there that is NOT permenent. SO I have three amaginary lines through my property . April of 2011 the lake got to 935.47 It was unreal and I was sure glad we had nothing below that line. I have heard many bridges are built at the 936' mark don't know that for sure But I do remember folks on here said the water was slapping the 13 bridge.Hope this helps Took me months to get all this straight

[CMF]

Billfo....Been here either full time or part-time since 1963. (I was 13 yrs old in '63)....All I can tell you is that the corp line doesn't have ANYTHING to do with elevation....I have corp markers (monuments) that border my property that are 60 to 80 feet above the water at normal pool......I have neighbors with corp line monuments higher than that above the water at normal pool (915')..........I also know friends that have corp lines (monuments that went under water) in 2008 and 2011....or 2010, whenever the last flood was.....Us old timers have learned that the newbies you'd be dealing with at the corp., have no idea what the real answers are, even if they ACT like they are king-chit.......Don't ask them to come out and answer questions, you'll probably be cited for some obscure carppolla that nobody ever heard of......They are government. The scariest thing you'll ever hear is: I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.......RUNNNN.............................

[Billfo]

Thanks for the replies. Pic was probably too large. I forgot to mention a few things.. I have one of those mushroom corp markers pounded in down by the water ( loosely) & it is marked somethig like 915.

2 yrs ago, I got a veg permit from the corp & a Ranger came out. I heard bad things about them, but the guy that came out was very nice & helpful. we went thru the entire take area & he showed me what I can cut down & what I can not. I have a huge area that was cleared long before I bought the property & he made mention of it- but did not accuse me of clearing it.

He enlightened me on the different snakes i will probably encounter (that was helpful). I did not ask him why or how the take lines are determined- probably should have. I have been working on & off (or until I see a snake) on clearing some of the small weed trees before they get bigger than the 2" at chest level. He brought up a good point about clearing- if cleared too much I can see the water- but everyone on the water can see my house..

I do get the errosion issues & the beauty of the lake & all that- thats what we bought a home there. BUT down the creek from us someone cleared their lot with a bulldozer & built a huge huge beautiful complex of a home..I guess he has a very limited takeline or a very unlimited checkbook..

By the way, we have NEVER meet more nice people than we have in the Table Rock & Berryville areas.

[Billfo]

[Phil Lilley]

The water will never (never say never, I know) go above the levels we saw in 2011. Simple reason is - electric motors.

The electric motors that control the flood gates are just above the 936 ft. mark on the TR lake side of the dam, potentially exposed to water. If the lake level ever got so high that wave action would get these motors wet and cause them to malfunction, the Corp would lose all control of the lake. Therefore, they will NEVER let the lake get that high. They would essentially open the gates all the way before the level reached 936+ ft.

That's what I was told in the spring of 2011.

[Billfo]

• 
  

  
  The water will never (never say never, I know) go above the levels we saw in 2011. Simple reason is - electric motors.
  
  The electric motors that control the flood gates are just above the 936 ft. mark on the TR lake side of the dam, potentially exposed to water. If the lake level ever got so high that wave action would get these motors wet and cause them to malfunction, the Corp would lose all control of the lake. Therefore, they will NEVER let the lake get that high. They would essentially open the gates all the way before the level reached 936+ ft.
  
  That's what I was told in the spring of 2011.
  

• That is good to know.. My neighbors downhill had water about 6 feet friom their home...I was pretty safe. Caught one spinnerbait fish in what was my dry backyard
  

[skeeter]

Trying to make sense of COE "take" lines is impossible. As someone else posted, THEY( COE ) have no idea how those lines are/were determined. A clear example is directly across the water from us where massive homes have been built along an almost bluff-like shoreline right down to about the 930' line. There was a fancy lake-side gazebo (since moved) built there that you could lierally fish from for a number of years.

Conversely, we looked at a piece of property 15 years ago for a possible home site on the other side of the creek mouth/arm from the aforementioned homes on top of a 30' high, absolutely vertical bluff. While prowling thru the overgrown land we came upon one of thos brass or bronze COE markers placed 150' BACK from the top edge of the bluff. I wrote down the numbers, called the Corps and they verified it was placed correctly and that no, due to some change in zoning for the area due to proximity to a COE campground, no vegetative modification permit would be possible. Figure that one out, and when you do, call the Corps and explain it to them too because they have no freakin' clue.

Several buddies told us about homes they saw that were actually flooded back In Little Indian in 2011. How did that happen ? Another LOA survey mistake ?

That's what struck many of us in the area as being so asinine and a total waste of time about the advertized COE Table Rock Lake Management meetings. When the arm of the Government in control of an area cannot explain to the Citizenry the reasons for their regulations and restrictions in a logical, sensible manner, they absolutely make it impossible for any planning or input from the public. Several who attended the Reeds Spring meeting came back disgusted and confirming the "asinine and waste of time" opinion and said the Corps had hired (at additional expense) some outside Company to "facilitate" the laughable "meeting". They really didn't anticipate such large crowds to attend these meetings and had to move the scheduled Dewey Short Visitor's Center meeting over to the Chateau on the Lake.

Many of us are of the opinion that the COE is another out of control Government moneyhole just like the totally out of control EPA.

[Bill Babler]

We were told at a lake meeting about 10 years ago by the corp of engineers that the lines were determined 5 years prior to the flooding of the lake. Geoligist surveyors and architechs determined thru elevation and volume measurments where to put not only the take line, but how high to build the dam.

It was pointed out that this was at the time, early 1950's not an exact science. But still very accurate. And I believe that did a very good job, considering the sheer volume of knowledge it would take to do this with the tools they had in the 50's.

Lets just have them take all the friggin private docks off the lake and not alter anything from 950 down. Seems to me that would solve a lot of problems. That would be alot less government buracy and expense. You wannna a dock or to build on the water go to Lake of the Ozarks. For cripes sakes they are trying to keep this from being that,and folks are fighting them tooth and nail. Then the people that are fighting are also the ones that don't want the boat waves messing up their docks and the big boats creating havvoc. Pretty hard to have it both ways.

My wife and I own 40 acres of lake front and view land and we keep it as it was when the lake flooded. So I do have a dog in the fight. We use no fertilizers or chemicals and our privey faculities are arieal evaporation leach fields. I think with all that they got goin on, the COE is doing a pretty good job.