Striving to keep Rock Island recreation afloat
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Among those who responded was Greg Cotten, son of Marie Cotten, owner and operator of Cotten’s Marina in Rock Island, whose business is affected by the changing water levels and the actions of the dam operators, and William O. “Willo” Collins, a friend and fellow resident of the area.
Mrs. Cotten and Collins talked about working to get the word out to locals on the TVA study, generating interest and responses the two felt had a positive effect on the operation of the nearby facility in Rock Island.
“It has been bad,” Cotten said of past years. “Until this year. Now this is the first time we’ve had high water here in the summer months.”
Cotten’s son, Greg, who builds docks in the area, attended one of those meetings at Nashville’s Ellington Agricultural Center in April, one of 21 community meetings organized by the TVA, and worked to distribute copies of a newspaper survey to marina customers and nearby property owners encouraging them to respond to the study.
At issue for the Cottens was the water level in the reservoir above Rock Island Dam and the effect it had on fishing, boating and other recreational activities.
“What it was before was bad because we had all the low water,” said Mrs. Cotten.
The periods of sufficiently high water levels had been getting shorter and shorter over the years according to Collins and Cotten.
“It used to come up in April,” Collins said. “Then they changed it to May. Then they changed it to June, and then the last two or three years they wouldn’t bring it up until July, and then they’d suck the bottom out in October.”
Mrs. Cotten lauded the TVA-sponsored efforts to involve the public in the operations of the dams, noting the situation had improved markedly since the study.
“This summer they’ve done better. They’ve kept that water up,” she said. “There’s been a lot of comments, people talking about it.”
According to the TVA’s Reservoir Operations Study newsletter, 15,600 people living in the Tennessee Valley responded to the study employing a variety of methods including e-mail, fax, letters, petitions and telephone. An additional 3,600 citizens throughout the TVA power service area responded to a random telephone survey conducted by an independent research firm in March.
The TVA operates 49 dams in the TVA’s seven-state region, 29 for hydroelectric power, with 34 TVA dams in Tennessee.
The public comment period officially began Feb. 25 of this year and by the time it closed on Apr. 26, the TVA had a plethora of data on what residents valued most about the Tennessee river system.
What the TVA found was the people who responded and attended the workshops placed a high value on recreation, a healthy environment, and water quality.
The Reservoir Operations Study stated that residents wanted the TVA to increase recreational opportunities in a variety of ways such as holding reservoir water levels stable, extending summer reservoir water levels, filling reservoirs earlier to improve fish spawning and fishing opportunities and increasing the amount of water released from some dams for fishing and boating.
The study also showed the wide disparity in what the public viewed as the TVA’s main priorities, and the priorities of area residents.
Of those responding, 48 percent felt the TVA’s main priority was producing electricity, while only 11 percent of responders said that was their preferred priority. At the same time, 34 percent of residents listed providing recreation as their main priority, while only 1 percent felt that was TVA’s main priority.
Since the study, residents feel that things have improved and appreciate TVA’s efforts to involve the public in their operations.
Most admit balancing profit with pleasure is no easy task, but feel the outcome of the study have been both positive and timely, noting the positive effects at the Rock Island facility are already evident this year.
Marie Cotten, for one, is happy with the results.
“They’ve done a lot this year,” she said.