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| FishTails |
Boaters net extra hours on the Monongahela River
Locks open longer on holiday weekends
From The Dominion Post
Folks with boats will be able to spend certain summer holiday evenings boating up the Monongahela River to Fairmont.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District this week said it will keep the Hildebrand and Opekiska locks
in operation as late as 10 p.m. Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day weekends.
Greg Reel, shift leader at the Point Marion Lock and Dam, just across the state line in Pennsylvania, said boaters
complained last year's extended hours weren't announced enough in advance for them to plan.
So he's making sure the word gets out early this year. The extra hours are for Saturday-Monday of Memorial Day
and Labor Day weekends, and six days July 4th week.
"Hopefully we can get the message out to give folks a chance to enjoy the best part of the Monongahela River,"
Reel said.
Now, the Hildebrand and Opekiska locks, between Morgantown and Fairmont, close at 4 p.m. Local boaters say they
can't lock through after 3:30 p.m.
The special extended schedule opens those two locks at 8 a.m. and keeps them in operation another four to six hours
later during those three holidays.
These extended closing hours are:
Memorial Day weekend: May 26-27, 10 p.m.; May 28, 8 p.m.
July 4th week: July 3, 8 p.m.; July 4, 11 p.m.; July 5-7, 9 p.m.; July 8, 8 p.m.
Labor Day weekend: Sept. 1-2, 10 p.m.; Sept. 3, 8 p.m.
"A few folks said they're afraid to get caught upriver because of the 4 o'clock closing time," Reel said.
"People from Pittsburgh would like to make the trip, but they're concerned about being able to get back."
Bob Gall, who runs Riverside Marine at Maidsville, was excited to hear the news and plans to post the hours at
his shop. He's talked to a number of boaters who would like to make a leisurely round-trip cruise upriver in the
evening.
"Probably the most isolated and exotic part of the whole system is the last 25 miles," he said. "You're
clear of town until you get to Fairmont. A lot of people like to boat the Mon River for that."
Fairmont is the headwaters of the Monongahela, formed when West Run and Tygart rivers merge. It flows north to
Pittsburgh, where it merges with the Allegheny and the Youghiogheny to become the Ohio River.
Gall said he's talked to several Pittsburgh-based boaters who would like to be able to make a one-day run the length
of the Monongahela. Some will use his marina as a base to make the trip during the regular 8 a.m.-4 p.m. schedule.
While recreational use is not part of the Army Corps mandate for rivers, a locally-based group, the Upper Monongahela
Committee for Better Boating (MONCOM), has been pressing for changes in the law to add recreation.
MONCOM board members pushed for the extended hours to show there is a recreational need.
Board Member Wally Venable said the success of the extended hours depends on how well word gets out among the boating
community.
"Since it seems to be establishing a precedent, that's good news," he said. "People will begin to
realize the Corps is taking recreation into consideration. All we're asking is that a broader view of transportation
be taken."
One possible immediate beneficiary locally is the Albert Gallatin Regatta, held Memorial Day weekend in Point Marion.
Fairmont area boaters are more likely to use the river to attend this year once word gets out about the hours,
he said.
Don Strimbeck, another MONCON executive committee member, praised the Pittsburgh District office for its efforts
to "further our holiday boating enjoyment on the Upper Mon. This year's hours are even better, especially
for the July 4th weekend!
"I hope that boaters take full advantage of these expanded holiday weekend hours," he said, "so
that greatly increased boating and fishing recreation traffic through the locks will help in our quest to get Congress
to add boating and fishing and related recreations to the Corps' current waterways responsibilities for facilitating
river commerce, flood control and river flow maintenance."
The group is working with the state's congressional delegation, specifically U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd and Rep.
Alan Mollohan, to achieve this goal and, as a secondary objective, keep the Hildebrand and Opekiska locks on extended
hours year round. |
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