Ray Roberts Lake master plan being updated for first time since 2001

The cities of Denton and Dallas have contracted with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to update the master plan for Ray Roberts Lake to stay compliant with new federal laws regarding land classifications and resource management.

A master plan is a 25-year comprehensive land use management guide for recreational, natural and cultural resources. The master plan guides effective and cost-effective management, development and use of project lands. It helps the Corps of Engineers with its stewardship and sustainability of project resources following federal laws. The master plan does not address technical aspects of water quality, water supply, shoreline management or facility design details.

“We’re not currently operating United States Army Corps Engineers parks, [but] we have fairly large state parks at Ray Roberts,” said Clayton Church, spokesperson for the Fort Worth District of the Corps of Engineers. “The main point of view from the Army Corps is the flood risk management portion of the lake.”

Since the original master plan was formed in 1982, with a supplement published in 2001, the area around Ray Roberts Lake has changed significantly, including major utility and highway construction, urbanization and evolving recreational uses. The revision plans to address changes to regional land use, population, outdoor recreation trends and Corps of Engineers management policy.

Ray Roberts Lake and its dam’s original purposes were water supply, recreation, fish and wildlife, flood risk management and hydropower. However, the hydropower mission was not economically viable and was decommissioned in 2003 and later removed in 2014.

“Ray Roberts is primarily a water supply and flood risk management reservoir [that] functions in tandem with and [is] operated as a system with Lewisville Lake,” Church said. “So Lewisville and Ray Roberts, when we look at the operations of those two lakes, they’re kind of done together.”

The current purpose and scope of the updated master plan is to protect, conserve and sustain natural and cultural resources, especially environmentally sensitive resources, and provide outdoor recreation opportunities that complement overall project purposes for the benefit of present and future generations.

The master plan details special topics unique to Ray Roberts Lake and summarizes the changes in land classification from the previous master plan to the present one. In addition to the new master plan, an environmental assessment was developed to analyze alternative management scenarios for Ray Roberts. The environmental assessment detailed whether the 1983 plan needed revisions or could remain the same.

“The master plan provides stability,” lake master plan program lead Eric Irwin said, “with long-term goals and a consistent management strategy for project resources.”

Drafting the new master plan for Ray Roberts Lake is a six-step process starting with data collection; agency/public scoping; resource analysis; development of land classifications and resource objectives; agency/public review; and finalizing the master plan based on comments received and the adoption of the master plan revision. The master plan is currently in the agency/public review process of the finalization step.

The first public input meeting regarding the master plan was scheduled for spring 2020, but due to public health and safety concerns because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the input process changed from a face-to-face meeting to a virtual presentation. The presentation and public input period lasted 45 days, during which the corps received comments from one state agency and five members of the public.

Currently, a draft for the master plan is available on the Corps of Engineers website, where they encourage the community to comment with any questions or concerns regarding the updated plan. The website includes a comment form and instructions on how to submit comments after reading the master plan draft.

Comments will be accepted only in written format and can be submitted either through email at CESWF-PER-Ray-Roberts@usace.army.mil or through the mail. The current comment period ends on June 20.

“If there are inputs or things that they’re concerned with, or maybe something that we potentially missed that needs to be addressed and looked at, then certainly we want that input from individuals,” Church said. “We’ll take those inputs and review those and then see if there’s any other inputs before issuing the master plan revision, which will probably be later this calendar year.”