High Rock Lake
Encyclopedia
High Rock Lake is the northernmost of the Uwharrie Lakes and the second largest lake in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

 behind Lake Norman
Lake Norman
Lake Norman, created between 1959 and 1964 as part of the construction of the Cowans Ford Dam by Duke Energy, is the largest manmade body of fresh water located in North Carolina.-General Information:...

. Its water surface covers 15180 acres (61 km²) and there are 365 miles (587 km) of shoreline. It begins at the confluence of the Yadkin River
Yadkin River
The Yadkin River is one of the longest rivers in North Carolina, flowing . It rises in the northwestern portion of the state near the Blue Ridge Parkway's Thunder Hill Overlook. Several parts of the river are impounded by dams for water, power, and flood control. The river becomes the Pee Dee...

 and the South Yadkin River. The lake's name is derived from neighboring "High Rock Mountain", the tallest mountain in the Uwharrie Mountains
Uwharrie Mountains
The Uwharrie Mountains are a mountain range in North Carolina. The range lies in the counties of Randolph, Montgomery, Stanly, and Davidson, although its foothills stretch into Cabarrus, Anson, Union counties and terminate in the hills of Person. Formed approximately 500 million years ago by...

. The lake
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...

 serves as a boundary between Davidson
Davidson County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 149,331 people, 58,156 households, and 42,512 families residing in the county. The population density was 267 people per square mile . There were 62,432 housing units at an average density of 113 per square mile...

 and Rowan
Rowan County, North Carolina
-Demographics and economics:As of the census of 2010, there were 138,428 people, 53,140 households, and 37,058 families residing in the county. The population density was 270.7 people per square mile . There were 60,211 housing units at an average density of 117.7 per square mile...

 counties and is a reservoir for hydroelectric power generation. High Rock Lake is currently managed and operated by the Alcoa
Alcoa
Alcoa Inc. is the world's third largest producer of aluminum, behind Rio Tinto Alcan and Rusal. From its operational headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Alcoa conducts operations in 31 countries...

 company.

The lake is spanned by two bridges at the northern end of the lake: the I-85/US 52 bridge and the older US 29/US 70/NC 150 bridge. The NC 8 causeway crosses the Abbotts Creek tributary
Tributary
A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 of the lake, as does a bridge at Holloway Church Road farther north of Abbotts Creek. Railroad tracks and their causeways also cross the southeastern portion of the lake at the Hwy 8 causeway and over Flat Swamp Creek. Numerous communities align the lake's banks including Lexington
Lexington, North Carolina
Lexington is the county seat of Davidson County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 19,953. It is located in central North Carolina, twenty miles south of Winston-Salem. Major highways include I-85, U.S. Route 29, U.S. Route 70, U.S. Route 52 ...

, Salisbury
Salisbury, North Carolina
Salisbury is a city in Rowan County in North Carolina, a state of the United States of America. The population was 33,663 in the 2010 Census . It is the county seat of Rowan County...

, Southmont
Southmont, North Carolina
Southmont is an unincorporated community in Davidson County, North Carolina. It is located along North Carolina State Highway 8 on the northern shores of High Rock Lake. There is an organized effort underway to Incorporate Southmont as The Village of Southmont....

, Linwood
Linwood, North Carolina
Linwood is a small unincorporated community just south of Lexington in Davidson County, North Carolina, United States. The area contains operations of several important companies in Davidson County, including Keply Hardwood, Legget-Platt, PPG Industries, and Kimberly Clark...

, High Rock, and Spencer
Spencer, North Carolina
Spencer is a town in Rowan County, North Carolina, United States, incorporated in 1905. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 3,355.-History:...

.

Angling

High Rock Lake has been considered one of the best fishing lakes of North Carolina for a long time. It has been the host of Bassmaster Tournaments, including the Bassmaster Classic
Bassmaster Classic
The Bassmaster Classic is a competition in professional bass fishing. It was first held in 1971 on Lake Mead, Nevada. Originally it was a fall event , but it switched to the summer in 1984 and then to the late winter in 2006...

 in 1994, 1995, 1997 and 2007 and is the site of frequent other angling competitions. The lake has ample channel
Channel catfish
Channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a "channel cat". In the United States they are the most fished catfish species with approximately 8...

, blue
Blue catfish
The blue catfish, Ictalurus furcatus, is one of the largest species of North American catfish. Blue catfish are distributed primarily in the Mississippi River drainage including the Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and Arkansas rivers...

, and flathead
Flathead
Flathead may refer to:* Flat-head screwdriver, a screwdriver designed to turn slotted screws* Flat-head screw, a screw with a flat top, designed to be installed in a countersunk hole* Flathead engine, a valve configuration...

 catfish, plus crappie
Crappie
Crappie is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. The type species is P. annularis, the white crappie...

 and several different sunfish
Centrarchidae
The sunfishes are a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Perciformes. The type genus is Centrarchus . The family's 27 species includes many fishes familiar to North Americans, including the rock bass, largemouth bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, and crappies...

 such as bluegill
Bluegill
The Bluegill is a species of freshwater fish sometimes referred to as bream, brim, or copper nose. It is a member of the sunfish family Centrarchidae of the order Perciformes.-Range and distribution:...

, shellcracker and others. Striper
Striped bass
The striped bass is the state fish of Maryland, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and the state saltwater fish of New York, Virginia, and New Hampshire...

 and their hybrids
Hybrid striped bass
A hybrid striped bass, also known as a wiper or whiterock bass, is a hybrid between the striped bass and the white bass . It can be distinguished from the striped bass by broken rather than solid horizontal stripes on the body...

 as well as white bass
White bass
The white bass or sand bass The white bass or sand bass The white bass or sand bass (MoroneIt is the state fish of Oklahoma.- Range :White bass are distributed widely across the United States, particularly in the midwest. They are very abundant in Pennsylvania and the area around Lake Erie...

 are also abundant. The lake is best known for its quantity and quality of largemouth bass
Largemouth bass
The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...

, which attract anglers from all over the United States. This is likely due to the relatively shallow nature of the lake and the tremendous amount of habitat that favor the bass.

Residential restrictions

Much of High Rock Lake is lined with privately owned homes, representing all income levels. Prior to 2008, Alcoa had required that all new homes have 8 feet (2.4 m) of water when at full pond and have 200 feet (61 m) of lake frontage before a private pier permit is issued. Boat ramps and boathouses are no longer allowed to be built, although existing structures that are maintained are grandfathered
Grandfather clause
Grandfather clause is a legal term used to describe a situation in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations, while a new rule will apply to all future situations. It is often used as a verb: to grandfather means to grant such an exemption...

. Retaining walls at the high water mark
High water mark
High water mark may refer to:*Ordinary high water mark, a landscape marking such as floodwater staining left by the highest level of water...

 are only allowed in extreme cases, although existing structures can be maintained. Due to the frequent fluctuations in water level, all private piers are required to be of a floating style, allowing them to be usable even with lowered water levels. The new 50 year government contract that is expected to be signed in 2008 would allow greater flexibility to add roof structures over many existing piers and modifying pier sizes, as well as a few other changes that offer somewhat more flexibility to existing lake front home owners. The purpose of the restrictions are to improve water quality and habitat.

Access

There are several public ramps that can be accessed at no charge, and private ramps that can be accessed for a small fee. The lake has no restrictions on boat motor size and personal water craft
Personal water craft
A personal water craft , also called water scooter, is a recreational watercraft that the rider rides or stands on, rather than inside of, as in a boat....

 are legal for use. Unlike many municipal lakes, there are no restrictions to access or use and it is available for use 24 hours a day. There are a number of campgrounds that adjoin the lake, some offering year round space rentals that also provide access to guests.

Hydroelectric power

High Rock Lake is one of four Yadkin Project dams that produce hydrolelectric power for the surrounding communities. The entire Yadkin Project has a total generating capacity of nearly 215 megawatts of electricity when operating at peak capacity. While hydroelectric electricity is clean and renewable, the impact of drought has created environmental consequences on numerous occasions that have demonstrated why it is important to balance the need for inexpensive, clean power with the needs of the environment and the communities of the Yadkin/Pee Dee valley.

The 2001-2002 drought

Record low streamflow
Streamflow
Streamflow, or channel runoff, is the flow of water in streams, rivers, and other channels, and is a major element of the water cycle. It is one component of the runoff of water from the land to waterbodies, the other component being surface runoff...

s caused by unusually dry weather
Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...

 resulted in extremely low water levels at High Rock Lake during the Southeastern United States
Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, colloquially referred to as the Southeast, is the eastern portion of the Southern United States. It is one of the most populous regions in the United States of America....

 Drought of 2002. These dry weather patterns began in 1998 and persisted until 2002. The final year of the drought
Drought
A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...

 was the worst for the lake. With water levels well below full pond
Full pond
Full pond is an American phrase used to describe the water level of a lake, reservoir or other body of fresh water when the level is just below the spillway, or is otherwise at a maximum, sustainable and safe level....

, fish began to die due to overcrowding and a lack of water oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...

 content, filling the air with rancid smells. Tourism in the area dropped and residents along the lake began to complain. When water levels plummeted to six feet above the "run of river" state (24 feet below normal), federal and state agencies closed the High Rock dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...

, forcing reservoirs like Badin Lake
Badin Lake
Badin Lake is one of a series of lakes created by the damming of the Yadkin-Pee Dee River in the Uwharrie Lakes Region of the United States. It was created in 1917 by the Aluminum Company of America. It is contained by Narrows Dam at the town of Badin, North Carolina. Sitting within a valley, the...

 and Lake Tillery
Lake Tillery
Lake Tillery is a reservoir between Badin Lake and Blewett Falls Lake in the Uwharrie Lakes Region of North Carolina. It is entirely within Stanly County and Montgomery County, NC. The lake was created by impounding the Pee Dee River, which is created by the confluence of the Yadkin River and the...

 (who were at full pond status) to pick up the slack to maintain flows on the lower Yadkin/Pee Dee River
Pee Dee River
The Pee Dee River, also known as the Great Pee Dee River, is a river in North Carolina and South Carolina. It originates in the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina, where its upper course above the mouth of the Uwharrie River is known as the Yadkin River. It is extensively dammed for flood...

. This allowed High Rock Lake to return to a level of 17 feet (5.2 m) below full pond before going down again. In the fall of 2002, the drought eased up and the Yadkin Valley experienced one of the wettest 15 months on record. By the end of 2003, water table
Water table
The water table is the level at which the submarine pressure is far from atmospheric pressure. It may be conveniently visualized as the 'surface' of the subsurface materials that are saturated with groundwater in a given vicinity. However, saturated conditions may extend above the water table as...

s in the area were back to normal levels.

The 2007–2008 drought

Until Hurricane Fay passed through the area in late August 2008, most of North Carolina was experiencing drought levels that ranged from Severe to Exceptional (the highest level), with rainfall averages below yearly average for the entire state, including the entire Yadkin-Pee Dee watershed. Alcoa is keeping water levels at slightly higher than historical levels for the same time of year for this reason, and possibly because their contract with the US government expired in April 2008 and is being renegotiated while Alcoa operates under a renewable one-year license. While the hurricane brought tremendous amounts of rain in a short period, filling all area lakes, it did little to replenish ground water levels, which create much of the runoff that continuously feeds streams and lakes statewide. Thirty days after receiving up to 10 inches (254 mm) of rain, most of the state still remained in mild to moderate drought status, with exceptional drought conditions (the highest level) persisting in the southwestern section of the state.

Because the 2002 drought was severe enough to not allow the launching of boats for fishing (or any other purpose), the number of fish that were killed off may have been proportional to the number that would have been caught and kept. The current number of fish in the lake appears to be close to normal. This is further demonstrated by the success of the May 2007 Bass Master's Tournament, and that there are no additional restrictions placed on the lake for fish size, excepting the longstanding restriction for crappie
Crappie
Crappie is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. The type species is P. annularis, the white crappie...

, which have a minimum size restriction of 8 inches (203.2 mm). Many of the images of fish kill
Fish kill
The term fish kill, known also as fish die-off and as fish mortality, is a localized die-off of fish populations which may also be associated with more generalised mortality of aquatic life...

s show the primary victim fishes as carp
Carp
Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...

, which are not highly prized in the area and have since made a come back in numbers.

Drought management

During the 2007-2008 drought, Alcoa has sought and obtained permission from the U.S. Government to reduce the output from High Rock Lake from 1400 cuft/s to 900 cuft/s during the fall, allowing it to maintain higher lake levels. The 2008 protocols allow Alcoa to reduce the output at the dam to be equal to the amount of water entering the lake through various creeks and the Yadkin River. While this doesn't allow the lake level to rise in dry periods, it prevents rapid decreases in the lake level and helps to maintain a steady waterflow for cities that use water from the river downstream, particularly in South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

 which has no dams or reservoirs on the Yadkin/Pee Dee river. This has the additional environmental benefit to wildlife that depends on the lakes and river for habitat, as the river flows and lake levels fluxuate less dramatically.

Additionally, Alcoa has operated the lake using new guidelines that allow for parity in the lake levels of High Rock and Badin, farther downstream. Previously, Badin Lake had to be maintained at a level no lower than 2 foot (0.6096 m) below full pond as long as High Rock could provide the water fast enough. New regulations expected to take effect in the new contract due in 2008 would make these temporary measures permanent, reducing the likelihood that High Rock would see lake levels that exceed 20 feet (6.1 m) below full pond again. As a result of the new procedures, High Rock has been kept at near record level highs during late 2007 and early 2008. This has been accomplished although the total inflow of water is less than it was during the 2002 drought, demonstrating that the previous conditions were related to both a lack of rainfall and antiquated lake management rules that were agreed to in the 1958 contract.

Relicensing

The hydroelectric dam and control over the lake resources is licensed to Alcoa by FERC (U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission), traditionally by the issuance of 50-year licenses to operate. This license gives the operator the ability to control all water that goes through the dam or over the spillway, within the bounds of the contract and under the guidance of FERC. Additionally, it grants a degree of control over properties that adjoin the lake, including all homes and business that border the lake. All public and private docks, public areas, and even individual home sites are subject to the rules and approval of Alcoa. This license expired in April 2008 and has been under negotiation for renewal since 2001. This means they will be operating under an annual license until the new contracts are signed and the license is issued.

As of April 2008 this licensing process has stalled due to efforts by Stanly County and the City of Salisbury due to disputes about the new license, including Salisbury's demands that Alcoa pay to dredge areas near the city. This multi-million dollar project would seek to restore this section of the lake where the city takes in water. In some areas, sedimentation has grown to over 10 feet (3 m) deep, and the city, the county (and many private groups and individuals) have claimed that it is due to Alcoa's management of the dam, not allowing the free flow of water during times of maximum inflow, instead only reducing the lake levels during peak demand for electricity which nets a greater profit. During the drought of 2007/2008, Alcoa has been operating under the new contract, (under the supervision and with the permission of FERC) although they are not required to do so until (and if) the contract is renewed.

In June 2008, North Carolina legistlators began consideration of condemning all lakes on the Yadkin River so the state could take control of hydroelectric capacity, the justification being based on the fact that Alcoa now has virtually no employees in the area (unlike in the 1950s when the previous contract was signed) and no longer uses the electricity for aluminum production, instead selling the electricity for profit on the open market. Because the river and hydroelectric capacity are public assets, the question being raised is if a private company or the public (i.e.: the State) should have control over the project. Previous environmental damages caused by the management by Alcoa has also called into question the priorities of the project when it is operated solely for profit. Funding for a study to look at the issue is being considered in the 2008-2009 state budget.

As of December 2010, the licensing is currently under review after the N.C. Division of Water Quality revoked their water-quality certificate that the company needs to continue operating its power-generating dams along the river. The governor of North Carolina, Bev Perdue
Bev Perdue
Beverly Eaves "Bev" Perdue is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party currently serving as the 73rd Governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina. She is the first female governor of North Carolina....

, and other North Carolina politicians have made it a priority to recapture the Yadkin River water rights, an action that will require a vote in the United States Congress.

See also

  • Abbotts Creek
  • High Rock Lake Association
    High Rock Lake Association
    The High Rock Lake Association, Inc. is a non-profit group of businesses and individuals with the common goal of protecting the environment at High Rock Lake and the surrounding Yadkin Project area. It was founded in 1954...

  • Hydroelectricity
    Hydroelectricity
    Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...


External links

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