Council Grove Lake is a

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

on the

Neosho River The Neosho River is a tributary of the Arkansas River in eastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma in the United States. Its tributaries also drain portions of Missouri and Arkansas. The river is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National ...

in east-central

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

. Built and managed by the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

, it is used for flood control, recreation, and water supply.

History

The

Flood Control Act of 1950 Title II of Public Law 516-81st Congress, which per Section 216 thereof may be cited as The Flood Control Act of 1950, was a law passed by the United States Congress authorizing flood control projects around the country. The Act was prompted in p ...

authorized the building of Council Grove Dam and Lake, named after the nearby community of

Council Grove, Kansas Council Grove is a city and county seat in Morris County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,140. It was named after an agreement between American settlers and the Osage Nation allowing settlers' wa ...

. The effects of the

Great Flood of 1951 In mid-July 1951, heavy rains led to a great rise of water in the Kansas River, Missouri River, and other surrounding areas of the Central United States. Flooding occurred in the Kansas, Neosho, Marais Des Cygnes, and Verdigris river basins. ...

further demonstrated the need for the project, and the Tulsa District of the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

began construction in June 1960. The reservoir was completed at a total cost of $11.5 million and became operational for flood control on October 9, 1964.

Geography

Council Grove Lake is located at (38.6997978, -96.5195795) at an elevation of . It lies in the

Flint Hills The Flint Hills, historically known as Bluestem Pastures or Blue Stem Hills, are a region in eastern Kansas and north-central Oklahoma named for the abundant residual flint eroded from the bedrock that lies near or at the surface. It consists of ...

in east-central

. The entirety of the reservoir lies within Morris County. The reservoir is impounded at its southeastern end by Council Grove Dam. The dam is located at (38.6805627, -96.5044475) at an elevation of . The reservoir consists of two

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

: a western arm whose primary inflow is the

from the northwest and an eastern arm whose primary inflow is Munkers Creek from the northeast. The Neosho River is the reservoir's outflow to the southeast. Smaller tributaries of the western arm are Slough Creek from the north and Canning Creek from the southwest; other tributaries of the eastern arm include Short Creek from the north and Richey Creek from the east. U.S. Route 56 runs generally east-west roughly south of the reservoir. Kansas Highway 177 runs generally north-south along the reservoir's eastern shore. Lake Road, a paved county road, runs along the southwest shore. The reservoir's namesake, the city of Council Grove, lies approximately southeast of the dam.

Hydrography

The surface area, surface elevation, and water volume of the reservoir fluctuate based on inflow and local climatic conditions. In terms of capacity, the Corps of Engineers vertically divides the reservoir into a set of pools based on volume and water level, and the reservoir is considered full when filled to the capacity of its conservation pool. When full, Council Grove Lake has a surface area of , a surface elevation of , and a volume of . When filled to maximum capacity, it has a surface elevation of and a volume of . The streambed underlying the reservoir has an elevation of .

Infrastructure

Council Grove Dam is a rolled earth-fill embankment dam that stands above the streambed and long. At its crest, the dam has an elevation of . An uncontrolled, wide

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure th ...

is located at the southwest end of the dam. It has a maximum flow capacity of . Additional outlet works include a wide conduit and a wide low-flow outlet. At the top of the flood control pool, these outlet works have a flow capacity of . The Neosho River channel below the dam has a capacity of .

Management

The Tulsa District of the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

manages Council Grove Dam and Reservoir for the purposes of flood control, recreation, water quality control, and water supply. The Corps oversees recreational activities both on the reservoir surface and in the parks on its shore. The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWP) manages approximately of land around the reservoir's northern ends as the Council Grove Wildlife Area.

Parks and recreation

The Corps of Engineers manages eight parks at the reservoir: Canning Creek Cove, Santa Fe Trail, Marina Cove, and Neosho Park on the southwest shore and Custer Park, Kit Carson Cove, Richey Cove, and Kansa View on the eastern shore. All eight parks include campgrounds, and all but Kansa View host boat ramps. Canning Creek Cove, Neosho Park, and Richey Cove have hiking trails. Council Grove Lake's one swimming beach is at Richey Cove. Council Grove Lake is open for sport-fishing. Hunting is allowed, with restrictions in some areas, on the public land around the reservoir.

Wildlife

Fish species resident in the lake include

black bass Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

channel Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...

and

flathead catfish The flathead catfish (''Pylodictis olivaris''), also called by several common names including mudcat or shovelhead cat, is a large species of North American freshwater catfish in the family Ictaluridae. It is the only species of the genus '' ...

, crappie,

saugeye The sauger (''Sander canadensis'') is a freshwater perciform fish of the family Percidae that resembles its close relative, the walleye. The species is a member of the largest vertebrate order, the Perciformes.Jaeger, Matthew. 2004. Montana's Fi ...

white bass The white bass, silver bass, or sand bass (''Morone chrysops'') is a freshwater fish of the temperate bass family Moronidae. commonly around 12-15 inches long. The species' main color is silver-white to pale green. Its back is dark, with white ...

, and wiper. One invasive species, the

zebra mussel The zebra mussel (''Dreissena polymorpha'') is a small freshwater mussel. The species originates from the lakes of southern Russia and Ukraine, but has been accidentally introduced to numerous other areas and has become an invasive species in ma ...

, is also present. Game animals living on land around the reservoir include

dove Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy. Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...

, rabbits, squirrels,

turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

s, and

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

References

External links

;Official
Council Grove Lake
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Council Grove Lake Recreation Areas
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Council Grove Wildlife Area
Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism ;Maps * Morris County Maps
CurrentHistoric
KDOT {{authority control Dams in Kansas Reservoirs in Kansas United States Army Corps of Engineers dams Buildings and structures in Morris County, Kansas Earth-filled dams Dams completed in 1964 Bodies of water of Morris County, Kansas

History

Geography

Hydrography

Infrastructure

Management

Parks and recreation

Wildlife

See also

References

External links