PRIDE of the Cumberland to aid with clean-up at Buck Creek

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“PRIDE of the Cumberland,” the vessel christened in 2005, with the purpose of removing wood and trash debris on the lake, is making its way to the Omega Park recreation area in southeastern Pulaski County effective immediately to begin the clean-up process.

September 1, 2010

By CHRIS HARRIS, CJ Staff Writer Commonwealth Journal The Commonwealth Journal Wed Sep 01, 2010, 07:00 AM EDT

Somerset —

Ask and ye shall receive: So sayeth the U.S. Corps of Engineers. On Monday, one concerned citizen of the Omega Park area spoke to the Commonwealth Journal about her displeasure with the current state of the Buck Creek Boat Dock. Tom Hale, Lake Cumberland Operations Manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which maintains the lake and Wolf Creek Dam, stated that the Corps was ready and willing to assist any area that needed help. On Tuesday, help is coming right down the river — or up, as the case may be. Hale said that the “PRIDE of the Cumberland,” the vessel christened in 2005, with the purpose of removing wood and trash debris on the lake, would be making its way to the Omega Park recreation area in southeastern Pulaski County effective immediately to begin the clean-up process. “We’re getting ready for it to go out,” said Hale on Tuesday, as maintenance was being performed on the boat to prepare it for its voyage from the Conley Bottom marina in Wayne County to the Buck Creek Boat Dock. Though the boat was expected to arrive Tuesday, Hale figured that the clean-up process wouldn’t actually begin in earnest until this morning. “The boat has to go about 68 miles,” said Hale, “and it’s not designed for speed.” On Monday, Rose Ann Lupton expressed dismay that the boat dock at the end of Omega Park road was still littered with wood, trash, and other items following a series of floods over the last year and a change in ownership of the boat dock. Lupton suggested that that Corps of Engineers hadn’t moved to do anything about the situation, but Hale said that if the Corps get a request to come and take action, they will. That’s exactly what happened in this case, he said on Tuesday. “That’s kind of the way we operate,” said Hale. “If a marina or a public area requests (the use of the PRIDE of the Cumberland), we try to bring it out and clean the area up.” Hale said that the location of the dock presents a challenge. Most marinas are built away from the main channel in a cove or creek, which buffers the effect of strong water flows. However in the Omega Park area, the water flow can be much more forceful, and the area becomes clogged with debris during flooding events, preventing boats from using the dock and creating a mess in the water. The Pride of the Cumberland consists of two 60-feet-long barges pushed by a 26-feet-long tow boat. One barge has a mechanical arm with attachments for skimming debris from the water, sawing logs and lifting heavy debris from the shore or water. The second barge holds a roll-off dumpster and a wood chipper. Hale said that the Corps hadn’t visited the Buck Creek Boat Dock area yet because “it’s one of those deals, a miscommunication or what have you.” He said Lupton’s complaint was the first the Corps had heard about the problem, but that it “kind of got us into action.” The PRIDE of the Cumberland hasn’t been used much lately, since there aren’t many other areas around the lake having similar problems right now. Another complication is high water levels. Hale says a lot of debris has been pushed up on the shorelines as the lake level raised up over 700 feet above sea level over the last few months, and is gradually going down. “A lot of the debris up on the shoreline, we can’t reach,” said Hale. “We basically have to cease operations until we can.” But it’s ready to go now at Omega Park. Hale estimated that the clean-up could take as long as a week, but “we’ll stay as long as necessary.”

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