Lake Sidney Lanier and Buford Dam Project Master Plan

MOBILE, Ala. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, released the updated Lake Sidney Lanier and Buford Dam Project Master Plan on March 18, 2022.

This revised master plan was a generational effort to provide planning for Lake Lanier for the next 30 years. The Master Plan focused on recreational use and natural resources management. It did not include water management actions. Those actions were completed with the Water Control Manual update in 2017. With the completion of the Master Plan update, Lake Lanier is poised to begin updates to implementation guidance documents such as the Operations Management Plan and the Shoreline Management Plan upon receiving funding.

Highlights of the Master Plan Process include:

• 8 public open houses, gathering input and comments from the public.
  • 2 in Dawson, Hall, Forsyth, and Gwinnett counties, respectively.
• 6 stakeholder meetings, receiving input and comments from stakeholders.
  • 2 for government, commercial, and special interest stakeholders, respectively.
• Transparency through the Lake Lanier public facing webpage, enabling public access to real-time progress. Frequent notices placed on the Lake Lanier website and in local news venues announcing updates and the Master Plan and Draft Environmental Assessment’s public comment periods.
• The Draft Environmental Assessment was posted for comment regarding the environmental impacts of the proposed updated master plan.
• The Master Plan’s public comment period was extended by an additional 30 days.

A master plan does not appropriate money to any improvements or developments, but effectively portrays where these projects could be authorized if funding or a strategic partnership were to become available for implementation. Master Plans do not change the technical operations of a lake as related to its primary missions of flood-risk management and hydropower. This revision is part of a larger, USACE-wide effort to bring master plans up to date across the country.

For additional information on the process to update the Lake Lanier Master Plan visit us on the web at https://go.usa.gov/xzffA

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With an area of operation across Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and northern Florida, and a vast military region that includes operations across Central and South America, the Mobile District’s award- winning teams of engineering, construction, regulatory and emergency management professionals are nationally recognized for their leadership in delivery of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ civil works and military programs missions to the Nation.

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