Lake Allatoona is an economic powerhouse
“It remains, definitely, the number one tourist draw,” Archer said. “Tourists pick up visitors guides and locals usually don’t. We don’t drop off a couple of hundred (brochures), we drop off a couple of cases every time.”
Archer’s office will be adding another venue to its inventory on Jan. 1, 2017 when the Convention and Visitors Bureau takes over Bartow Carver Park.
“Hiking and camping, those are the two big draws,” Archer said.
That translates to a bigger benefit to restaurants and convenience stores than hotels and motels, she added.
In fact, Fulton said the McKinney Campground was the number one campsite revenue producer across the entire country for the Corps of Engineers. They took in $560,000 in fees during fiscal year 2016, which ended Sept. 30.
Allatoona generated more than $1.4 million in user fees at its beaches and campgrounds in fiscal year 2015.
Recreational boating is a large revenue producer at the lake. Eight private marinas lease property from the Corps and in turn lease hundreds of boat slips to water enthusiasts annually.
“We have many lease areas,” Purvis said. “A prime example is Red Top Mountain State Park. That is Corps of Engineers property and we lease it to the state every year and, of course, they are the busiest state park in Georgia.”
The Allatoona Lake Project was awarded the 2016 Chief of Engineers Natural Resource Management Project of the Year. The award recognizes exceptional project management with emphasis on natural resources, recreation and environmental-compliance-management programs.
One of the programs that drew particular attention to the lake involved the creation of a Water Safety Task Force, which brought in various public safety agencies in communities around the lake. Fulton said having sheriff’s deputies and local EMTs ride in patrol boats with the Corps rangers has really helped stretch the effectiveness of patrols during busy periods at the lake.
An Osprey Platform Project with Georgia Power and Steel Materials, Inc. also drew the interest of the awards committee. The committee also looked at a project from the American Chestnut Restoration Project and Berry College, led in part by Professor Martin Cipollini. The lake has been involved in a longleaf pine restoration project with Cipollini and his Berry Students for almost 15 years.
Besides tourism and recreation of the lake, the powerhouse at the Allatoona Dam has typically produced more than 140,000 kilowatt-hours, valued at approximately $3.5 million. That, however, has not been a factor the past two and half years in the wake of the 2014 fire.
Purvis said the LakePoint Sporting Community in Emerson and the Avatron theme park — being built in Emerson —would probably be someplace else were it not for Lake Allatoona.
“After all, they do call it LakePoint,” said Melinda Lemmon, director of the Cartersville- Bartow County Economic Development office.
Purvis said both LakePoint and Avatron would bring hundreds of thousands of additional visitors to the area each year.
Purvis said a $700,000 capacity study is being included in a new master plan for utilization at the lake.
For more information, contact the Allatoona Lake Project Management Office at 678-7216700.
When Congress authorized the construction of Lake Allatoona more than half a century ago, politicians probably did not envision the impoundment would become the economic driver it is now for Bartow, Cobb and Cherokee counties.
Chris Purvis is the lead ranger for partnerships, volunteers and project security at Allatoona, and he estimated the lake has a cumulative $250 million impact on the communities that border the lake.
“We owe it a lot,” said Ellen Archer, director of the Cartersville-Bartow County Convention & Visitors Bureau. “We wouldn’t have AnheuserBusch without the lake.”
The lake provides drinking and industrial supply water for Cartersville, Bartow and Cobb counties. Jerry Fulton, project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the lake has had a stabilizing effect on water supply for the various users.
Even though the dam has not been producing power since a fire in the powerhouse in May 2014, the lake has released a steady supply of water into the Etowah River for the past two years through its sluice and spillway gates.
“We’re mimicking what we would be putting through the generators,” Fulton said. “Instead of the normal fluctuation of the river flow (with normal power production) you’re seeing a constant flow 24 hours a day.”
The flow in the Etowah, coupled with the flow from Carter’s Lake and the Oostanaula River provides more water coursing through Rome on a daily basis than the city of Atlanta sees daily. It’s a big factor when the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce tries to lure industry to Rome.
A Corps of Engineers Value to the Nation report in 2013 reads, “By providing opportunities for active recreation, Corps lakes help combat one of the most significant of the nation’s health problems, lack of physical activity. The money spent by visitors to Corps lakes on trip expenses adds to the local economies by supporting jobs and generating income. Visitor spending represents a sizable component of the economy in many communities around Corps lakes.”
Though several years old, the Value to the Nation report indicates over 6.1 million visitors to the lake were responsible for more than $186.4 million in visitor spending within 30 miles of the lake. The study estimated that activity at the lake was responsible for 1,296 jobs and $40.7 million in labor income.
Fulton said the Corps has 28 full-time employees at the lake. Volunteers are a big part of the financial equation at Allatoona. During Fiscal Year 2015, more than 51,000 volunteer hours saved taxpayers more than $1.1 million.
Archer said that from a tourism standpoint it’s difficult to quantify the actual impact of the lake in drawing visitors to the area.
“I’m sure that a lot of the visitors are from the three county area: Bartow, Cobb and Cherokee,” Archer said.
She said her office can tell that a lot of visitors to the lake come from outside the area due to the number of brochures picked up at the Red Top Mountain Visitors Center.