LBL and it's ramps are closed

[Quackrstackr]

Just a heads up for anyone that is thinking about coming to the area during the upcoming season.

At last report, they still had no idea exactly when they would be able to open it up but were hopefull to be open at least on a limited basis by April 1.

I would call ahead and check on road/ramp/facility status before heading that way. From what I have heard, it is going to be quite some time before everything will be back to normal operation.

[kycurhunter]

why?

[acgriggs]

From what I understand, the Forest Service does not have enough employees to get everything cleaned up quickly. I agree with Quackrstackr. I would call or check out their website before heading up that way. The phone number is 270-924-2000 and the website isLand Between The Lakes | HOME. according to the website all roads, trails, areas and facilities are closed until further notice. I did hear yesterday that the trace, the main road through LBL, is open. Thats all I know. Hope it helps

[Quackrstackr]

why?

Because the ice storm made most of the roads impassable and I can only imagine what most of the campgrounds/facilities look like. My wife's aunt went up the Trace after the storm (before they closed it) and said that the trees were falling behind the clearing crews faster than they could work to clear the ones ahead of them.

They were also concerned about the overall safety of the area with all of the still hanging limbs and half fallen trees.

[ricky]

GOLDEN POND, Ky. — Littered with fallen limbs and splintered trees, the Kentucky section of the Land Between the Lakes national recreation area won’t be hosting much recreation for some time.

The U.S. Forest Service-managed LBL, 170,000 acres that are more than 90 percent forested, took it on the chin during the Jan. 27 ice storm. Much of the public area — all of the northern half — has been closed ever since freezing rain accumulated on timber and brought wood crashing down, blocking roads, trails and facilities and filling the forest floor.

South of the Kentucky-Tennessee line, damage in the public area was much lighter. Several winter-season facilities there are open and the area in general remains open to small game hunting, for instance.

From the state line to the northern LBL extremity across the Kentucky Lake-Lake Barkley-linking canal from near Grand Rivers, the LBL interior is closed, period. Only the north-south state highway, The Trace, is open.

No roads on the northern end are open. All are littered with downed trees and limbs and are considered impassable. Visitors to the area at present are not permitted to even stop along the Trace and walk into the area.

“We have an official closure ongoing, and for visitors’ own safety they aren’t permitted to go into the area, not on the roads other than the Trace and not into the woods,” said LBL spokesman Kathryn Harper. “Anyone who goes onto the area is subject to being cited.”

LBL officials presently are weighing their options to provide the resources necessary to begin clearing and opening more than 400 miles of gravel forest roads in the area. With USFS staffers hard-pressed to keep up with regular maintenance, no one thinks that the regular LBL employees can clear roads and facilities on their own.

Popular campgrounds, facilities and roads that attract visitors especially in the months of spring and thereafter may get a slower start this year because of tangled access resulting from the ice storm. Many features popular with visitors simply are unusable until thorough cleanup can be done.

“The Canal Loop Trail, for instance, is just buried under trees,” Harper said. “Our staff person who went there could not even hike around on it to assess the damage in the area.”

Harper said managers will be working to set priorities toward the order of reopening roads, with special consideration given to remaining cemeteries in the LBL and roads that serve facilities that are to host events with significant economic influences on area communities.

“If someone is going to want to hold a funeral at a cemetery, they should let us know as soon as possible about the need to clear a road by calling Jamie Bennett at 270-924-2015.”

One high priority is the reopening of the North Information Station.

“We need that as a contact point for visitors so they can find out exactly what’s going to be open and what’s not,” Harper said. “We’re shooting for that station to be open by March 1.”

Harper said portions of the LBL will be reopened to foot traffic only in conjunction with the reopening of Forest Service roads. Facilities such as lakeside campgrounds only will open after the roads leading to them can be cleared and made safe for travel.

“Right now there are dangerous snags hanging over all the roads,” Harper said.

Even after roads are cleared and facilities are opened little by little, the legacy of the ice storm will linger in the woodlands.

“We’ve never had any kind of damage that was this uniform and this widespread,” Harper said. “There’s no way we’re ever going to be able to remove all the snags hanging in the woods.

“People are just going to have to be careful in the woods here for years to come,” she said. “They’re going to have to be aware of what’s overhead.”

LBL officials are posting a detailed list of facilities closed or open on the Web site Land Between The Lakes | HOME. It will be updated as storm damages are cleared.