U.S. Army Corps of Engineers resume collection fees at day-use recreation areas

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Savannah will resume the collection of fees at its day-use recreation areas beginning today, Thursday, October 1.

Fee collections were suspended earlier this year when recreation areas were closed due to COVID-19 precautions.

Fees will initially be collected only at locations with automated fee collection machines installed.

Additional automated fee machines will be phased in at all fee collection sites over the next several months.

America The Beautiful and Corps Annual passes will be accepted.

Additionally, those annual passes purchased between April 2019 – April 2020 have been granted a seven-month extension to the current expiration date at Corps-operated parks.

In April, the Corps of Engineers began the gradual reopening of its lake and river projects in April.

Hartwell Lake offers 15 Corps-managed recreation areas for people who want to spend the day at the lake.

Because camping is not allowed within these areas, they are commonly referred to as “day- use” areas.

Most of the day-use areas have amenities such as swim beaches, picnic tables, playgrounds, boat launching ramps, courtesy docks, restrooms, and picnic shelters and are handicapped accessible.

The Corps also manages 29 “access” areas on Hartwell Lake. Access areas are smaller recreation areas that typically have a boat launching ramp only, however, some may have restrooms and picnic tables.

To discover a Corp-operated recreation site nearest you, you can go online to www.corpslakes.us, or www.recreation.gov.