Lake Sidney Lanier, Ga. – Members of the Lake Lanier Water Safety Task Force met today to discuss emergency services, rescue support, and patrol duties during the upcoming 4th of July weekend.
Sheriff's deputies, police officers, firefighters, Coast Guard auxiliary, USACE members, Department of Natural Resources, and emergency management services from Hall, Forsythe, and Gwinnett counties were present to sync operational plans and resources for the expected rise in visitation volume.
The holiday has historically brought high visitation and traffic with it to lake Lanier over the years; however, it is expected, due to recent trends, the parks will likely have even higher attendance during the day and well into the night. The likelihood of traffic on the water increasing is also high.
"People are coming out in higher numbers this year than normal after the pandemic," said Stephen Cahn, lead ranger of water safety. "Every weekend (this year), we are hitting the max capacity at most locations and shutting down the parks."
Cahn delivered a detailed presentation on current trends and common issues across the Corps-owned parks over the past year.
The top areas of concern were the lack of adults using life jackets, intoxication, parking/traffic, and the unusually high amount of waste left behind on campgrounds.
"We just want everyone to have a safe and joyful experience in our parks," said Cahn. "We're going to be all hands-on deck this weekend to help that happen."
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