High Rock 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 ...

located on the

Yadkin River The Yadkin River is one of the longest rivers in North Carolina, flowing . It rises in the northwestern portion of the state near the Blue Ridge Parkway's Thunder Hill Overlook. Several parts of the river are impounded by dams for water, po ...

in central

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

in the counties of

Davidson Davidson may refer to: * Davidson (name) * Clan Davidson, a Highland Scottish clan * Davidson Media Group * Davidson Seamount, undersea mountain southwest of Monterey, California, USA * Tyler Davidson Fountain, monument in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA * ...

and

Rowan The rowans ( or ) or mountain-ashes are shrubs or trees in the genus ''Sorbus ''Sorbus'' is a genus of over 100 species of trees and shrubs in the rose family, Rosaceae. Species of ''Sorbus'' (''s.l.'') are commonly known as whitebeam, r ...

. Built in 1926-27 by the Tallassee Power Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the

Aluminum Company of America Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for Aluminum Company of America) is a Pittsburgh-based industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary ...

(Alcoa), the lake is the northernmost of a series of four

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

projects designed at the time to support the company’s Badin Works, a large aluminum smelting operation located 16 miles downstream in the community of

Badin Badin ( Sindhi and ur, ) is the main city and capital of Badin District in Sindh, Pakistan. It lies east of the Indus River. It is the 87th largest city in Pakistan. Badin is often called 'Sugar State' due to its production of sugar. Badin ...

. After the permanent closing of the Badin Works in 2007, Alcoa continued to operate its Yadkin hydroelectric facilities until selling them to Cube Hydro Carolinas in 2016. At the time of construction, High Rock was the largest reservoir in North Carolina and one of the largest in the United States. When full, its surface covers 15,180 acres (61 km²) with 360 miles (579 km) of shoreline and is 59 feet (18 m) deep at the dam. Normal pool elevation is 624 feet above sea level (655’ 1926 Alcoa datum). Upstream, the Yadkin River drains 4,341 square miles (10,290 km²) of the land area of North Carolina’s northwest piedmont. The dam was built in a small gorge formed where the river cuts through a major ridge of the

Uwharrie Mountains The Uwharrie Mountains ()
from the North Carolina Collection's website at the

Uwharrie Lakes downstream. This often resulted in extreme drawdown during summer months when normal river flow was low. The impoundment extends some nineteen miles upstream from the dam to the mouth of South Yadkin River near Salisbury. Major arms of the lake are formed by numerous creeks including Flat Swamp, Abbotts, Buddle, Swearing, and North and South Potts in Davidson County; and Panther, Dutch Second, and Crane in Rowan County. The main trunk’s widest point exceeds one mile. Since its construction, surrounding communities including Lexington,

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

, Southmont, Spencer, and Denton, have enjoyed tremendous economic benefit through recreation driven by the lake. High Rock has proven to be one of the outstanding sites in the southeast for inland sailing, power boating, and fishing. In recent years, paddling has been added to the list with the designation of the Yadkin River State Canoe Trail which traverses the length of the lake, along with the trail's Daniel Boone Heritage section which terminates at the lake's York Hill Access.

Angling

High Rock Lake is considered one of the best fishing lakes of North Carolina. It has been the host of Bassmaster Tournaments, including the

Bassmaster Classic The Bassmaster Classic (known as the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic for sponsorship) is a tournament in the sport of professional bass fishing. It was first held in 1971 on Lake Mead, Nevada. Originally it was a fall event, (1971-1983 ...

in 1994, 1995, and 1998 and is the site of frequent other angling competitions. The lake has ample

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 ...

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

, 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 ''P ...

, plus

crappie Crappies () are two species of North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Pomoxis'' in the family Centrarchidae (sunfishes). Both species of crappies are popular game fish among recreational anglers. Etymology The genus name ''Pomoxis'' ...

and several different sunfish such as

bluegill The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or "copper nose" as is common in Texas, is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and ...

shellcracker The redear sunfish (''Lepomis microlophus''), also known as the shellcracker, Georgia bream, cherry gill, chinquapin, improved bream, rouge ear sunfish and sun perch) is a freshwater fish in the family Centrarchidae and is native to the southeast ...

and others.

Striper The striped bass (''Morone saxatilis''), also called the Atlantic striped bass, striper, linesider, rock, or rockfish, is an anadromous perciform fish of the family Moronidae found primarily along the Atlantic coast of North America. It has als ...

and their hybrids as well as

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 s ...

are also abundant. The lake is best known for its quantity and quality of

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...

, which attract anglers from all over the United States. This is likely due to the relatively shallow nature of the lake and the tremendous amount of habitat that favor the bass.

Residential restrictions

Much of High Rock Lake is lined with privately owned homes, representing all income levels. Prior to 2008, Alcoa had required that all new homes have of water when at full pond and have of lake frontage before a private pier permit is issued. Boat ramps and boathouses are no longer allowed to be built, although existing structures that are maintained are

grandfathered A grandfather clause, also known as grandfather policy, grandfathering, or grandfathered in, is a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to all future cases. Those exempt from t ...

Retaining walls Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting soil laterally so that it can be retained at different levels on the two sides. Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it would not naturally keep to ...

at the

high water mark A high water mark is a point that represents the maximum rise of a body of water over land. Such a mark is often the result of a flood, but high water marks may reflect an all-time high, an annual high (highest level to which water rose that ...

are only allowed in extreme cases, although existing structures can be maintained. Private piers are required to be of a floating style, allowing them to be usable even with lowered water levels. The new 38 year FERC License allows greater flexibility to add roof structures over many existing piers and modifying pier sizes, as well as a few other changes that offer somewhat more flexibility to existing lake front home owners.

Access

There are several public ramps that can be accessed at no charge, and private ramps that can be accessed for a small fee. The lake has no restrictions on boat motor size and

personal water craft A personal watercraft (PWC), also called water scooter or jet ski, is a recreational watercraft that a rider sits or stands on, not within, as in a boat. PWCs have two style categories, first and most popular being a runabout or "sit down" whe ...

are legal for use. There are no restrictions to access or use and it is available for use 24 hours a day. There are a number of campgrounds that adjoin the lake, some offering year round space rentals that also provide access to guests.

Hydroelectric power

High Rock Lake was formed as one of four Yadkin Project hydroelectric dams built by ALCOA for the purpose of producing the electricity needed for the smelting of aluminum during a time when electricity was still scarce in many rural areas of North Carolina. As public utilities developed, the power generated by the project eventually became integrated into the power grid and used to offset the power consumed by the aluminum smelter. The entire Yadkin Project has a total generating capacity of nearly 215 megawatts of electricity when operating at peak capacity. Because High Rock is the most upstream lake in the series, it was used not only to generate power, but also to regulate water levels in the project's lakes downstream. This management policy often resulted in extreme draw-downs during periods of low inflow. The period after World War II saw explosive growth in recreational use of High Rock as the company sold off vast tracts of the land it owned above the lake's high water mark. This set the stage for conflict over the company's management of the lake's water as the new owners often found themselves staring at vast areas of dry lake bed in front of their lake front property during the dry summer months. Eventually, agreements were reached that resulted in more stable summer lake levels. While hydroelectric electricity may produce less green house gas emissions than fossil fuel power plants, the Yadkin Project dams also have a history of environmental impacts, with low dissolved oxygen in the tailraces of multiple dams and water quality violations for turbidity, ph and chlorophyll-a on High Rock Lake. and fish consumption advisories for PCBs on Badin Lake. As of 2020, these problems are being mitigated through the modernizing of turbine equipment to provide for aeration of the water passing through the powerhouse facilities.

Drought and environmental impact

2001-2002 drought

Record low

streamflow Streamflow, or channel runoff, is the flow of water in streams and other channels, and is a major element of the water cycle. It is one component of the movement of water from the land to waterbodies, the other component being surface runoff. Water ...

s caused by unusually dry

weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the ...

resulted in extremely low water levels at High Rock Lake during the

Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...

Drought of 2002.US Drought Monitor - June 11, 2002
/ref> These dry weather patterns began in 1998 and persisted until 2002. The final year of the

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

was the worst for the lake. With water levels well below full pond, fish began to die due to overcrowding and a lack of water

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...

content, filling the air with rancid smells. Tourism in the area dropped and residents along the lake began to complain. When water levels plummeted to six feet above the "run of river" state (24 feet below normal), federal and state agencies closed the High Rock

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

, forcing

reservoirs 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 control ...

Badin Lake Badin Lake is one of a series of lakes created by the damming of the Yadkin- Pee Dee River in the Uwharrie Lakes Region of the United States. The Badin Lake Dam was built in 1917 to support local aluminum smelting plant, Alcoa, and the associa ...

and

Lake Tillery Lake Tillery is a reservoir between Falls Reservoir and Blewett Falls Lake in the Uwharrie Lakes Region of North Carolina. It is entirely within Stanly County and Montgomery County, NC. The lake was created by impounding the Pee Dee River, which ...

(who were at full pond status) to pick up the slack to maintain flows on the lower Yadkin/

Pee Dee River The Pee Dee River, also known as the Great Pee Dee River, is a river in the Carolinas of the United States. It originates in the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina, where its upper course, above the mouth of the Uwharrie River The Uwharri ...

. This allowed High Rock Lake to return to a level of below full pond before going down again. In the fall of 2002, the drought eased up and the Yadkin Valley experienced one of the wettest 15 months on record. By the end of 2003,

water table The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated. T ...

s in the area were back to normal levels.

2007–2008 drought

Until

Hurricane Fay Hurricane Fay was the first hurricane to make landfall on Bermuda since Emily in 1987. The sixth named storm and fifth hurricane of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season, Fay evolved from a broad disturbance several hundred miles northeast of the ...

passed through the area in late August 2008, most of North Carolina was experiencing drought levels that ranged from Severe to Exceptional (the highest level), with rainfall averages below yearly average for the entire state, including the entire Yadkin-Pee Dee watershed. Alcoa was keeping water levels at slightly higher than historical levels for the same time of year for that reason, and possibly because their contract with the US government expired in April 2008 and was being renegotiated while Alcoa operated under a renewable one-year license. While the hurricane brought tremendous amounts of rain in a short period, filling all area lakes, it did little to replenish ground water levels, which create much of the runoff that continuously feeds streams and lakes statewide. Thirty days after receiving up to of rain, most of the state still remained in mild to moderate drought status, with exceptional drought conditions (the highest level) persisting in the southwestern section of the state. Because the 2002 drought was severe enough to not allow the launching of boats for fishing (or any other purpose), the number of fish that were killed off may have been proportional to the number that would have been caught and kept. The current number of fish in the lake appears to be close to normal. This is further demonstrated by the success of the May 2007 Bass Master's Tournament, and that there are no additional restrictions placed on the lake for fish size, excepting the longstanding restriction for

, which have a minimum size restriction of . Many of the images of

fish kill The term fish kill, known also as fish die-off, refers to a localized die-off of fish populations which may also be associated with more generalized mortality of aquatic life.University of Florida. Gainesville, FL (2005) ''Plant Management in Fl ...

s show the primary victim fishes as

carp Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...

, which are not highly prized in the area and have since made a comeback in numbers.

Drought management

During the 2007-2008 drought, Alcoa sought and obtained permission from the U.S. Government to reduce the output from High Rock Lake from to during the fall, which allowed it to maintain higher lake levels. The 2008 protocols allowed Alcoa to reduce the output at the dam to be equal to the amount of water entering the lake through various creeks and the Yadkin River. While this didn't allow the lake level to rise in dry periods, it prevented rapid decreases in the lake level and helped to maintain a steady waterflow for cities that used water from the river downstream, particularly in

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

which has no dams or reservoirs on the Yadkin/Pee Dee river. This had the additional environmental benefit to wildlife that depends on the lakes and river for habitat, as the river flows and lake levels fluctuate less dramatically. Additionally, Alcoa operated the lake using new guidelines that allow for parity in the lake levels of High Rock and Badin, farther downstream. Previously, Badin Lake had to be maintained at a level no lower than below full pond as long as High Rock could provide the water fast enough. New regulations expected to take effect in the new contract due in 2008 would make these temporary measures permanent, reducing the likelihood that High Rock would see lake levels that exceed below full pond again. As a result of the new procedures, High Rock has been kept at near-record highs during late 2007 and early 2008. This was accomplished although the total inflow of water is less than it was during the 2002 drought, demonstrating that the previous conditions were related to both a lack of rainfall and antiquated lake management rules that were agreed to in the 1958 contract.Winston-Salem Journal , Public Resource, Company Profits: Homeowners at High Rock raising questions about lake management
/ref>

References

External links

Cube Hydro CarolinasHigh Rock Lake AssociationPhotos of the dam's construction
{{authority control Protected areas of Davidson County, North Carolina Protected areas of Rowan County, North Carolina Reservoirs in North Carolina Droughts in the United States Dams in North Carolina Alcoa Power Generating dams Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin Bodies of water of Davidson County, North Carolina Bodies of water of Rowan County, North Carolina