Nine of the 20 parks on Lake Lanier that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers marked Wednesday for indefinite closure due to staff shortages will remain open, a spokesperson confirmed Thursday.
Only 11 parks on the lake will close, corps spokesperson Christopher Carranza said Thursday morning. An updated list of closures was still being finalized, he said.
U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Suwanee, announced the news late Wednesday on social media. His office did not have an updated list Thursday morning.
McCormick’s district includes much of Lake Lanier, which he said draws more than 10 million visitors a year, making it one of the most popular of the 464 lakes operated by the federal government.
Carranza said the federal hiring freeze and deferred resignation program instituted by President Donald Trump’s administration had caused staffing shortages that necessitated the park closures. Some Army Corps parks in Alabama and Mississippi were also slated to close.
“It just puts a constraint as far as manning goes,” Carranza said. “They have to strategically place people where they can.”
The Lake Lanier Convention and Visitors Bureau, also known as Discover Lake Lanier, stressed that the lake itself remains open.
“Most of the highly popular access points are not being closed,” President and CEO Stacey Dickson said. “Folks are not going to have difficulty accessing the lake this weekend or this summer.”
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