Lookout Shoals Lake is the second smallest lake within the Catawba-Wateree system, located downstream of Lake Hickory west of Statesville in Alexander, Catawba, and Iredell counties, North Carolina. Lookout Shoals Lake has a surface area of about 1,305 acres and 33.1 shoreline miles at full pond elevation of 838 feet msl. Table 4.4-1 summarizes the shoreline classification for Lookout Shoals Lake, based on the SMP maps.

There are 2 developed Duke Power-owned public recreation access on Lookout Shoals Lake. There are no state or county park facilities located along the lake, and Figure 4.4-1 shows the public recreation access locations. There are 2 commercial residential marinas on Lookout Shoals Lake and no public commercial non-residential marinas. The following sections describe the Duke-owned public access area facilities at Lookout Shoals Lake.

Existing Duke-Owned Public Access Areas

The developed Duke-owned public access areas provide about 39 acres and about 2,492 feet of shoreline frontage of public access at Lookout Shoals Lake. Combined, the developed access areas have 3 public boat ramps, 4 loading piers, and about 74 vehicle/trailer parking spaces. Table 4.4-2 summarizes the facilities at these public access areas.

Click Here to View Full Figure 4.4-1 Lookout Shoals Lake Public Recreation Access Areas

In the 1994 SMP Duke Power proposed to improve the Lookout Shoals access area (replace 2 ramps with 2 new boat ramps, pave the site and light the parking area) and Sharon access area (replace the ramp with a new ramp, pave the site and light the parking area). The Lookout Shoals access area improvements will be completed in 2001 and the Sharon improvements will be completed in early 2002, in order not to have both sites closed at the same time, which will meet all of the 1994 SMP commitments. In addition, Duke Power has added 23 acres of land to the Lookout Shoals site.

*  Vehicle/Trailer parking area.

Existing Commercial and Private Recreation Access

There are, currently, no public marinas on Lookout Shoals Lake. Private access to Lookout Shoals Lake is through private marinas and private piers along the Lookout Shoals Lake shoreline. Table 4.4-3 summarizes the number and type of public and private commercial non-residential and commercial residential marina facilities. Table 4.4-4 summarizes the estimated number of private piers.

Site-Specific Descriptions of Existing Duke-owned Public Access Areas at
Lookout Shoals Lake

The following section provides a description of each Duke-owned public access area at Lookout Shoals Lake, including a photograph, site characterisitics, site recreation facilities, and key recreation activities.

Lookout Shoals Access Area

The Lookout Shoals access area is located in the lower portion of Lookout Shoals Lake along the western shoreline, upstream of the Lookout Shoals Dam. Table 4.4-5 summarizes key site characteristics for the Lookout Shoals access area.

Sharon Access Area

The Sharon access area is located in the lower portion of Lookout Shoals Lake along the eastern shoreline, upstream from the Lookout Shoals Dam. Table 4.4-6 summarizes key site characteristics for the Sharon access area.

Recreation Use

Visitation at the public access areas on Lookout Shoals Lake was derived based on estimates of the traffic entering the Duke-owned public access areas. Total estimated visitation during the 1999 study period for Lookout Shoals Lake at these sites was about 48,780 visits. Figure 4.4-4 shows the distribution of the visitation for each month at Lookout Shoals Lake for the Duke-owned public access areas during the 1999 study period. A visit is considered a vehicle or vehicle/trailer entering the site for any part of a day.

Table 4.4-7 provides a summary of the estimated recreation visitation based on the traffic counter data for the sampled sites during the 1999 study period. Based on survey data input, the estimated ratio for annual visits to the project area for Survey B respondents (respondents that use both public and private access areas) as compared to Survey C respondents (respondents at the public access areas) was about a ratio of 1.3 to 1. The estimated overall recreational visitation for Lookout Shoals Lake for the 1999 study period totaled 63,605 visits.

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Spot counts were conducted at two sites for Lookout Shoals Lake, Lookout Shoals and Sharon Access areas. Table 4.4-8 lists the number of sample days per month for the spot count data collection.

The total number of surveys received for each survey is listed in Table 4.4-9. Survey D was conducted of marina operators, therefore numbers of surveys sent and received were low. Figure 4.4-5 shows the distribution of recreation activity type for Survey A, Survey B, and Survey C categories. Figure 4.4-6 shows the distribution of recreation activity type combining data from Surveys A, B, and C; spot counts; and tailrace counts. Based on the combined data sources, the primary recreation activity for Lookout Shoals Lake during the 1999 study period was bank/pier fishing. For Lookout Shoals Lake, respondents indicated for Survey A about 25 percent, for Survey B about 33 percent, and for Survey C, 0 percent indicated they recreated on the islands. The combined responses to Surveys A, B, and C indicated about 9 percent overall recreated on the islands of Lookout Shoals Lake.

For Lookout Shoals Lake, the average party size (average number of recreators in each party) for respondents to Survey A was 2.5 people, Survey B was 4.0 people, and for Survey C was 2.4 people. The average party size for all three groups (A, B, and C) was 2.7. The average number of visits per year was 155 (n=3, 1 individual responded 365 days) for Survey B, 18.2 for Survey C, and 41.0 for combined Survey B and C respondents. The average length of stay was 11 hours (Survey B), 4.5 hours (Survey C), and 5.6 hours (combined Survey B and C). For Survey A about 1.7 percent and for Survey B about 0.8 percent of the respondents indicated they had land abutting Lookout Shoals Lake.

Table 4.4-10 summarizes the perceived crowding ratings for Lookout Shoals Lake for each survey type, including a combined rating for Survey A, B, and C responses. Recreators on Lookout Shoals Lake (Surveys A, B, and C) indicated weekday crowding was low-range (on a scale of 1 to 5), and weekend crowding was mid-range. There were no Survey D responses to the crowding ratings on Lookout Shoals Lake. The lake rescue and management groups were asked for crowding ratings only for the higher use lakes within the Catawba-Wateree system, including James, Hickory, Norman , Wylie and Wateree.

*Weighted Average.

Boating Use

Figure 4.4-7 shows the distribution of boating activity type for Lookout Shoals Lake based on Surveys A, B, and C individually when comparing the percentage of each boating activity type to the overall boating use. The average boating party size for Survey A was 2.5; for Survey B was 4.0; for Survey C was 2.4; and for combined responses for Surveys A, B, and C was 2.7. The average number of hours boating for Survey A was 4.9 hours; for Survey B was 5.7 hours; for Survey C was 4.5 hours; and for combined responses for Surveys A, B, and C was 4.8 hours.

Of the individuals surveyed who primarily recreated on Lookout Shoals Lake, 100 percent of the Survey A respondents (n=4) and 100 percent of Survey B respondents (n=3) owned boats. About 73 percent of the Survey C respondents (n=11) owned boats; and, for the combined responses for Surveys A, B, and C, about 82 (n=18) percent of the respondents owned boats.

Table 4.4-11 summarizes the distribution of boat ownership by type of boat for Lookout Shoals Lake. Motor boats comprised about 53 percent of the boat ownership, compared to other boat categories, followed by jet skis at about 26 percent. The ownership of motor boat types was about 38 percent for small motor boats (ranging 20 feet or less in size) and about 15 percent for medium motor boats (ranging between 21 to 40 feet in size).

Figure 4.4-8 shows the period of the day the respondents indicated they primarily boated for Surveys A, B, and C. For Survey A about 1.3 percent indicated they primarily launched boats at Lookout Shoals Lake. For Survey B about 0.6 percent; for Survey C about 0.7 percent; and for the combined responses for Surveys A, B, and C, about 0.8 percent of the respondents launched boats at Lookout Shoals Lake compared to the other lakes within the Catawba-Wateree system.

The overall boat carrying capacity is assessed based on the peak boating use estimates obtained during the aerial flyovers in the 1999 study period. The available boating acreage was adjusted from the base boats per acreage estimate (see Table 4.4-12) by the following factors (Warren and Rea, 1989):