ADDITIONAL OPERATIONAL CHANGES FOR LAKE SOMERVILLE PARKS
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) officials have announced additional park operational changes beginning this fall at Rocky Creek Park and Yegua Creek Park at Lake Somerville.
Starting October 1st, the gatehouse will be operated by a volunteer park host, and the operational hours of the gatehouse will be reduced. Automatic entrance gates will be used when volunteers are not present.
All remaining credit card sales at the gatehouse will cease, including the collection of all boat ramp fees for day users and the selling of Corps Annual Day Use Passes and America the Beautiful Passes.
A free public boat ramp will be made available outside the gatehouse entrance to Yegua Creek Park.
At this time, the Corps Annual Day Use Passes and America the Beautiful Passes will be sold at gatehouses until October 1st. Those passes will be honored until that date, at which time users wishing to utilize them for day use boat launching will no longer be able to launch within the campgrounds. However, they may launch at the free public boat ramp located outside the Yegua Creek Park entrance.
These announcements come after the USACE moved to camp use only for the two parks and not day use, beginning this past Monday.
Lake Manager Russell Meier explained that these changes were made by the USACE in a gradual effort to make the parks more sustainable and move them into a more automated system. With the change to volunteers, Meier said money from gated tenant contracts can now be used to improve park amenities. He said volunteers will mainly be checking users in and out without handling funds, adding that the volunteer system may shift into an automated one in the future.
Meier also said these changes should better separate campground and day users and move them in different directions, hopefully alleviating some frustration from campground users while still providing a form of day use boat access.
Questions regarding information on park operational changes can be directed to the Somerville Lake Office at 979-596-1622.