SOMERSET, Ky. (March 20, 2024) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District announces the release of the 2024 Lake Cumberland Shoreline Management Plan. This plan is a critical element to how the Corps manages more than 1,000 miles of shoreline created when Wolf Creek Dam impounded the waters of the Cumberland River, creating Lake Cumberland.
Major revisions of the 2024 Shoreline Management Plan include the following:
- Reintroduction of Limited Development Areas (LDAs) to allow Community Dock Associations to submit applications for consideration of expansion, modification, and/or reconfiguration of their community docks within the boundaries of the newly defined LDAs.
- Legacy individual dock permittees may request through application modest enlargements to their permitted docks to increase the size of existing slips solely to accommodate the increasing length and width of newer vessels. The maximum size of individual docks on Lake Cumberland is increased from 400 square feet to 500 square feet.
Even with these changes, the beauty and picturesque quality of Lake Cumberland will be minimally impacted. No new private docks are authorized. Limited Development Areas increase from 0 to 5.39 miles of shoreline (0.4%) and this increase only occurs in areas of existing community docks. Individual and community dock owners may contact the Corps of Engineers’ Lake Cumberland Resource Management office for more information concerning how to apply for a modification of their existing dock. Each request for modification must be evaluated by a park ranger to ensure the requested changes meet the conditions required in the 2024 Shoreline Management Plan.
“Conservation of the natural environmental conditions of Lake Cumberland while achieving a balance between existing permitted private uses and resource protection for public use is our primary management objective,” said Jonathan Friedman, resource manager. “This revision of the SMP strikes a balance between the Corps’, stakeholders’, residents’, and visitors’ interests in Lake Cumberland.”
The process of revising such an instrumental plan included multiple opportunities for public comment to ensure visitors and residents alike had an opportunity to review draft versions and provide insight to the management of the Lake Cumberland shoreline.
Two public information workshops were held to review and discuss the draft plan June 20, 2022, at Southern Middle School in Somerset, Kentucky, and June 21, 2022, at Russell County Auditorium and Natatorium Complex in Russell Springs, Kentucky.
A total of 109 people attended the workshops. This is in addition to the phone calls, emails, and written letters received by interested parties. There were a total of 490 questions and comments received and considered concerning the draft revision. NEPA compliance and an Environmental Assessment provided for an additional 30-day comment period for the public to provide their input on the potential environmental impacts of the proposed changes to the Plan. The Corps of Engineers published the Public Notice for reviewing the draft EA Oct. 25, 2023.
An electronic version of the SMP can be found at the Corps of Engineers Digital Library at https://usace.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16021coll7/id/25294/rec/11. For additional information, please contact the Lake Cumberland Resource Management Office at (606) 679-6337.
The public can obtain news, updates and information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District on the district’s website at https://www.lrd.usace.army.mil/About/Districts/Nashville-District/, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nashvillecorps and on X, formerly Twitter, at www.twitter.com/nashvillecorps. The public can also follow Lake Cumberland on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/lakecumberland.) Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest Nashville District employment and contracting opportunities at https://www.linkedin.com/company/u-s-army-corps-of-engineers-nashville-district.
Release no. 24-036