I’m still waiting for the lake at Optima wildlife Refuge at Hardesty, OKlahoma to get filled.
Built years ago it has never been wet enough to fish in. A real boondogle.
Wow.
Optima Dam was completed in 1978. The intended purpose of the refuge was to provide migration and wintering habitat for the shortgrass prairie population of Canada geese and the high plains population of mallards.
Source: US Fish and Wildlife Service
http://www.fws.gov/refuges/profiles/index.cfm?id=21661
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Optima Lake is a reservoir in Texas County, Oklahoma. The lake is located near the towns of Hardesty and Guymon in the Oklahoma Panhandle.
The earthen Optima Lake Dam (National ID # OK20510) was constructed in 1978 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, with a height of 120 feet, and a length at its crest of 16,875 feet.[1] Although designed to contain a maximum of 618,500 acre-feet, the lake has never reached more than 5 percent of its design capacity,[2] and now is effectively empty. Rapid declines in streamflow (related to large-scale pumping from the High Plains Aquifer) coincided with the completion of dam construction[2] to make this lake a dramatic example of unanticipated environmental impacts.[3]
The US Army Corps of Engineers states (emphasis added):
Visitors should be aware that the lake’s level can be very low. Depending on rainfall and evaporation rates, the lake may offer no water-based recreation and may not be suitable for swimming, fishing, boating or other activities.[4]
Lake camping facilities and buildings have been dismantled for public safety by the Corps of Engineers as of October 2012.
Source: Wikipedia