Improved local planning for reservoir-oriented recreation opportunities

Water-based recreation is becoming an increasingly important aspect of water-resources management. However, there is a great deal of uncertainty about its local socio-economic impact. This uncertainty has played a key role in debates over the construction of reservoirs in Illinois. While much attention has been given to predicting expected impacts of reservoirs, there has been little investigation of the actual impacts, and very little attention has been given to evaluating the effectiveness of various approaches to dealing with those local impacts that do indeed result from water-resources-management projects. This study looks at the actual recreation-induced local impacts of Lake Shelbyville, a multipurpose reservoir constructed by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers in central Illinois. The reservoir began filling in 1969 and is a major recreation attraction (three million visitor days annually) in a predominately agricultural region. The study is exploratory. It identifies significant impacts and suggests how these impacts may be predicted and dealt with. Significant attention is given to impacts on local government costs and revenues as well as needed intergovernmental cooperation. It is clear that local impacts were significantly different from what was expected and that local residents and recreationists using the lake could benefit from improvements in local planning and intergovernmental cooperation.U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological SurveyOpe