GRDA Update

June 30, 2020

Grand River Dam Authority Police Department

EMERGENCY 911 GRDA Police 918-256-0911

Air Show Expands Duck Creek Celebration

The Duck Creek Fireworks Show has been a staple on Grand Lake as one of the largest fireworks displays in the state every Independence Day. The added flyovers of the War Birds has been a great attraction to the celebration for many years, but the festivities will reach a whole new level this year with the addition of an air show over Duck Creek on July 4. For months organizers have been working with GRDA Police to finalize the show that will make the 80 ^th anniversary of Grand Lake one to remember.

In order to ensure the safety of everyone that wants to view the air show, the FAA has allowed officials to hold the show over the Duck Creek channel by establishing an air box, or safety zone (photo below), over which the aerobatics will be performed. This will result in the temporary closure of an area over Duck Creek during the air show on July 4, as well as on July 3 when pilots will be conducting practice runs for the show. Spectators will receive a close-up view of the aircraft as they perform maneuvers as low as 500 feet above the lake.

Because of the air show, officials will also be implementing a Temporary Flight Restriction for all aircraft including drones or unmanned aircraft in the Duck Creek area during the aerial displays on July 3 and 4. The TFR will be in place on Friday and Saturday from 6:15 till 8:00 PM over the Duck Creek arm of Grand Lake. Drone users are reminded to adhere to the restrictions of drone use during the periods of flight restriction or they will face penalties from the FAA and GRDA Police.

GRDA personnel will begin placing navigation controls in the Duck Creek channel on Thursday, July 2 and officers will be present in the Duck Creek area to enforce navigation controls throughout the day on July 3 and 4. Boaters are reminded that the entire Duck Creek arm will be a No Wake zone beginning at 12 AM on July 4 and will remain in effect till 12 AM on July 5 ^th . All vessels will be required to operate at idle speed and adhere to the No Wake regulation in Duck Creek for the entire 24 hour period on July 4 ^th .

Click on the below link to view a video of GRDA Police Chief Brian Edwards as he explains the details of what boaters can expect on the lake for the July 4 celebration in Duck Creek.

Click to View Duck Creek Fireworks Video

Supporting Our Communities

GRDA provides monetary support for many events in the lakes region, including $13,000.00 to local communities for annual Independence Day fireworks celebrations. GRDA Police will also provide police services to area events to ensure that everyone enjoys a safe Independence Day holiday weekend!

National Life Jacket Wear Rate Observational Study Released

The Coast Guard's Boating Safety Division recently released the results of the 2019 Life Jacket Observation Study. The purpose of the study is to determine the level of life jacket wear of recreational boaters throughout the U.S. The study was conducted by JSI Research and Training Institute in cooperation with the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary.

Potential trends and indicators relating to recreational boaters and life jacket wear are revealed in the informative study. Because so many drownings could be prevented if every boater wore a life jacket, it is critical that boating safety advocates understand the circumstances and patterns in which life jackets are used in order to tailor messages and safety education programs accordingly.

This report provides data and analysis on the 2019 National Life Jacket Wear Rate Observation Study with comparison information from the previous twenty years’ of studies (1999-2018). Tracking changes in life jacket wear rates over time provides important statistics for those individuals and groups responsible for educating the public about boating safety, improving boating safety programs, and for legislative efforts targeting safety improvements for recreational boating.

Weighting each state’s data to correspond to the 2006 state ratios, the adult wear rate for open motorboats in 2019 is 6.5% and it represents a generally improving trend since 2006. Since 2006 the wear rates for open motorboats have shown a relative increase by 44% since 2006, going from 4.5% to 6.5%.

The average life jacket wear rate for all boats and boaters combined for 2019 was 24.0%. This is a relative increase of 13% since the beginning of the study. The 2019 average wear rate (excluding PWCs) was 19.5%, which represents a relative increase of 27% nationally since 1999.

Wear rates and boat size show an inverse relationship nationally: wear rates decrease as the size of the boat increases. This is true for all three general types of boats. In 2019 for powerboats under 16 feet in length, wear rates are at 13.7%, but drop steadily to 1.8% for boats over 26 feet in length. In 2019 for sailboats under 16 feet in length, wear rates are 77.0% but drop to 8.4% for those over 26 feet in length. In 2019 for paddlecraft under 16 feet in length, wear rates are 67.0%, whereas for paddlecraft greater than 16 feet wear rates are 33%. When comparing wear rates for each size category to rates seen in 2004, almost every length within the general boat types show marked increases over those 16 years of the study. However, because there is also a trend during that period to a greater proportion of boaters using bigger boats (with their lower wear rates), the relative increases of wear rates for all sizes combined are less than observed for the individual size categories within the general boat types.

OKLAHOMA DATA:

Adult paddlecraft wear rates stand out, as they are dramatically lower than the national rates across all twelve years (although observations are primarily from one site on the Illinois River). Adult powerboat wear rates are about at the national average. Teen powerboat wear rates are higher than the national average across the 12 years. However, youth paddlecraft wear rates are noticeably lower than the national rates.

The entire report can be viewed at: https://uscgboating.org/statistics/national-life-jacket-wear-rate-study.php

GRDA

Services

Under the Executive Order of the Governor, we continue to implement the Open Up and Recover Safely plan. GRDA maintains necessary services to the public under restrictions under Phase 3 of the plan implemented on June 1.

All GRDA facilities will remain closed to the public, including the Eco Center in Langley. We have implemented the process of returning staff to facilities, including Eco, but all public meetings and events will remain restricted with strict access control implemented at all GRDA facilities. The Pensacola Dam will not be open for public tours.

You can continue to do business with GRDA personnel on line and by phone. Many of our administrative personnel continue to be assigned to work at home or off-site and can be contacted by email and phone.

GRDA Police will allow permitted public events on GRDA lakes and properties. All permitted events must adhere to guidelines published by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

GRDA Police will continue participation at public information and education events effective June 1.

The GRDA Police Department will continue to follow procedures established by state and federal authorities to protect you and our personnel by maintaining personal distances. This may require that officers conduct more of our investigations without personal contact, by phone and email. When officers do respond to a call for service, they may ask people to come outside; we will only enter your property if needed.

Our personnel may be wearing protective gear, such as masks, glasses and gloves. This is done to protect you and the officers from community spread. While community engagement is vital to us, it must take a different form when we are dealing with a contagious virus.

GRDA officers will be enforcing social distancing requirements. We ask that you adhere to protocols and guidelines published by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

Even though the OURS plan is allowing more public gatherings, this pandemic continues to affect us in this region, so we will limit unnecessary contacts and respond to calls for service by doing more contacts by phone and prioritizing our responses. This may include the reduction of contacts for minor violations.

We have created a webpage on our GRDA website for up-to-date information on the COVID-19 virus outbreak. You can find this information at https://www.grda.com/grda-covid-19-information-page/

We will continue to maintain contact with you through electronic communication to keep our social distances appropriate. Please continue to invoke the strategies needed to maintain appropriate distances from other people, practice good hygiene by frequently washing your hands, protect your personnel and the public.

Our goal is to continue to provide the service you expect, but we must protect our personnel so that we can provide the assistance you will need in the future. We will do whatever we can to get through these challenging times.

Water Rescue Training Provided to Claremore Responders

The dynamics of the duties of the officers that work for GRDA Police result in a vast amount of expertise among our personnel, and we have a deep commitment to sharing our knowledge with other emergency response agencies in the region. GRDA Police recently provided instruction to a number of responders in Claremore on boat operations and water rescues. The basic boat operator and water rescue training was provided to 35 police officers, 5 firefighters and 4 park rangers from the City of Claremore that work on Claremore Lake.

Because the City of Claremore is a GRDA electric customer city, GRDA Police also provided many of the responders with rescue throw bags that can be utilized when making water rescues.

In the photo above, GRDA Officer Jason Littlefield (left) presents the throw bags to Claremore firefighter Jason Philpot (center) and Claremore Park Ranger Ron Dooling (photo right) during their training course.

Do You Need Current Lake Information?

Go to the GRDA Storm Ops web page to get current data including lake levels, lake parameters, storage details, flow conditions and much more.

stormops.grda.tech/riveroperations

Did You Know?

Alcohol use is the leading known contributing factor in fatal boating accidents; where the primary cause was known, it was listed as the leading factor in 23% of deaths.

GRDA Buoy Guide

"Updates" on the Web

If you didn't receive our latest GRDA Update or you have a friend that wants to see our Updates, go to our website at https://www.grda.com/grda-police/ and click on the GRDA POLICE UPDATE for the latest version of our email release or to Join Our Email List.

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Boating Tips From

Americas Boating Club

Grand Lake

When choosing an area to anchor your boat, check the water depth to be sure that you have sufficient anchor line to secure the boat. Typically, a 5:1 ration of water depth plus freeboard is sufficient except in rough water or higher winds. For example, a water depth of 10 feet and freeboard of 5 feet would equal 75 feet of anchor line or rode.

Try to anchor in calmer protected coves or in the lee (downwind) from land or a breakwater. Check the chartbook for underwater obstacles and pass around the area to check for uncharted hazards. Do not anchor in channels, high traffic areas or near underwater cables.

Remember the boat will rotate on its anchor with wind and current changes, so make sure your swing circle will keep you clear of all obstructions including neighboring boats. Once the boat is anchored securely, take a bearing on two fix objects on land such as a tree or building. From time to time check the bearings to see if your position has changed which would indicate the anchor is not holding and will need to be reset.

Are you interested in joining a boating club on Grand Lake to have fun, plus the opportunity to take courses online or in the classroom to improve your boating skills and knowledge? Visit online americasboatingclub.org or usps.org/grandlake, on Facebook: America’s boating club-grand lake for more information.

NAV TIME

A Summary of Boating Laws, Navigation Regulations & Tips

That All Boat Operators Should Know

Flotation Device Required

All vessels shall carry a U.S. Coast Guard approved flotation device (life preserver) for each person on board. The operator of a vessel less than twenty-six (26) feet in length, while under way, shall require each passenger twelve (12) years of age or younger to wear a U.S. Coast Guard approved flotation device. Any person operating or manipulating, or who is a passenger on a personal watercraft, water skis, a sailboard, surfboard, wakeboard, parasail, paddleboard, kayak, or a similar device shall wear a U.S. Coast Guard approved flotation device.

Educator Workshops

GRDA is hosting two one-day workshops for teachers in the Grand Lake watershed on July 20 and July 22 at the Ecosystems and Education Center. The main audience for the workshops is fourth grade teachers; however, any teacher in one of the schools located within the Grand Lake watershed in Oklahoma is welcome to attend. Fourth grade teachers will receive a lesson plan specifically developed to cover issues found in the Grand Lake watershed and includes hands-on activities such as making a rainfall simulator and teaching students how actions on land affects the lake they live near.

Each school represented at the workshops will be eligible for a small grant from GRDA to implement some type of best management practice, such as building a rain garden or installing a rainwater harvesting system. Additional ideas include holding a school-wide water festival or community water education event. Grants can range from $500 to $5,000.

The workshops are free, but registration is required and limited to 20 people per workshop. GRDA will ensure all internal, state and CDC guidelines, such as ensuring adequate space for social distancing are met. A boxed lunch will be provided. To register visit, https://www.eventbrite.com/e/108480919350 .