Mountain Island Lake is located downstream of Lake Norman, northwest of Charlotte, in Lincoln, Mecklenburg, and Gaston counties, North Carolina. Mountain Island Lake has a surface area of about 3,281 acres and 79.9 shoreline miles at full pond elevation of 647.5 feet msl. Table 4.6-1 summarizes the shoreline classification for Mountain Island Lake, based on the SMP maps.

There are three developed Duke Power-owned public recreation access locations on Mountain Island Lake. In addition, there is 1 developed county nature preserve, 3 undeveloped county nature preserves, 1 proposed state educational forest, 1 city-owned conservation area, and 1 county-owned wildlife refuge along the Mountain Island Lake shoreline. Figure 4.6-1 denotes the location of the public recreation access locations. There are no public commercial non-residential and two commercial residential marinas on Mountain Island Lake. The following sections describe the Duke-owned public access area facilities at Mountain Island Lake.

The Mountain Island Tailrace Fishing Area has been recently leased to the City of Mount Holly for a city park. The City is planning to install 8 campsites, a restroom, an archery range, playground, picnic deck, canoe access and trails on the site.

Existing Duke-Owned Public Access Areas

The developed Duke-owned public access areas provide about 148 acres and about 7,328 feet of shoreline frontage of public access at Mountain Island Lake. Combined, the developed access areas have 6 public boat ramps, 3 loading piers, 2 fishing piers, and about 160 vehicle/trailer and 20 car parking spaces. Table 4.6-2 summarizes the facilities at the public access areas.

Click Here to View Full Figure 4.6-1 Mountain Island Lake Public Recreation Access Areas

State and County Public Recreation Facilities

There is one developed county park, Latta Plantation Nature Preserve, and one county wildlife area, Cowan's Ford Wildlife Refuge, along the Mountain Island shoreline. Both facilities are owned and operated by Mecklenburg County. There are three undeveloped recreation areas: Auten Nature Preserve and Rural Hill Nature Preserve in Mecklenburg County, and the proposed State Educational Forest in Lincoln and Gaston counties. The City of Gastonia owns a conservation area south of Highway 16 along the shoreline in Gaston county. The City of Mount Holly is in the process of developing the Mountain Island Tailrace Fishing Area (leased from Duke Power) as a city park. Table 3.6-4 summarizes the recreational facilities provided at the Latta Plantation Nature Preserve. The facilities at Cowan's Ford Wildlife Refuge include a wildlife viewing platform.

Existing Commercial and Private Recreation Access

There are no public commercial non-residential and two commercial residential marinas on Mountain Island Lake. Private access to Mountain Island Lake is through private marinas and private piers along the Mountain Island Lake shoreline. Table 4.6-4 summarizes the number of Commercial facilities. Table 4.6-5 provides the estimated number of private piers.

Site-Specific Description of Existing Duke-owned Public Access Areas at
Mountain Island Lake

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

Neck Road Access Area

The Neck Road access area is in the middle portion of Mountain Island Lake along the northern shoreline, in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Table 4.6-6 summarizes key site characteristics for the Neck Road access area.

Riverbend Access Area

The Riverbend access area is in the lower portion of Mountain Island Lake off Highway 16 in Gaston County, North Carolina. Table 4.6-7 summarizes key site characteristics for the Riverbend access area.

Mountain Island Tailrace Fishing Area

The Mountain Island Tailrace Fishing Area is in the lower portion of Mountain Island Lake off Highway 273 in Gaston County, North Carolina. Table 4.6-8 summarizes key site characteristics for the Mountain Island Tailrace Fishing Area.

Recreation Use

Visitation at the public access areas on Mountain Island 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 Mountain Island Lake at these sites was about 99,135 visits. Figure 4.6-5 shows the distribution of the visitation for each month at Mountain Island 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 4.6-9 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) 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 Mountain Island Lake for the 1999 study period totaled 125,750 visits.

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Spot counts were conducted at two sites for Mountain Island Lake, Mountain Island Fishing Area and Riverbend Access area. Table 4.6-10 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 4.6-11. Survey D was conducted of marina operators, therefore numbers of surveys sent and received were low. Figure 4.6-6 shows the distribution of recreation activity type for Survey A, Survey B, and Survey C categories. Figure 4.6-7 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 Mountain Island Lake during the 1999 study period was bank/pier fishing. For Mountain Island Lake, for Survey A about 29 percent; for Survey B about 30 percent; and for Survey C about 2 percent of the respondents indicated they recreated on the islands. For the combined responses to Surveys A, B, and C, 13 percent overall indicated they recreated on the islands.

For Mountain Island Lake, the average party size (average number of recreators in each party) for Survey A was 3.1; for Survey B was 2.9; and f or Survey C was 2.3. The average party size for all three groups (A, B, and C) was 2.6. The average number of visits per year for Survey B was 35.5; for Survey C was 28.6; and for combined Survey B and C respondents was 30.9. The average length of stay for respondents for Survey B was 5.5 hours; for Survey C was 4.6 hours; and for combined Survey B and C was 4.9 hours. For Survey A about 1.7 percent and for Survey B about 1.7 percent of the respondents indicated they had land abutting Mountain Island Lake.

Table 4.6-12 summarizes the perceived crowding ratings for Mountain Island Lake for each survey type, including responses to Survey D and a combined rating for Survey A, B, and C responses. Recreators on Mountain Island Lake (Surveys A, B, and C) indicated weekday crowding was about low-range (on a scale of 1 to 5), and for Surveys A and B, weekend crowding was rated as on the mid- to high-range. The one respondent to Survey D indicated that weekday crowding was low and weekend crowding was fairly high. 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 4.6-8 shows the distribution of boating activity type for Mountain Island Lake based on Surveys A, B, and C individually when comparing the percentage of each boating activity type to overall boating use. The average boating party size for Survey A was 3.2; for Survey B was 3.1; for Survey C was 2.5; and for the combined responses for Surveys A, B, and C was 2.8. The average number of hours boating was 4.3 hours for Survey A; 5.4 hours for Survey B; 5.1 hours for Survey C; and 5.2 hours for the combined responses for Surveys A, B, and C.

Of the individuals surveyed who primarily recreated on Mountain Island Lake, 71 percent of Survey A respondents (n=7), and 95 percent of Survey B respondents (n=20) owned boats. About 54 percent of Survey C respondents (n=41) owned boats; and for the combined responses for Surveys A, B, and C, about 68 (n=68) percent of the respondents owned boats.

Table 4.6-13 summarizes the distribution of boat ownership by type of boat for Mountain Island Lake. Motor boats comprised about 67 percent of the boat ownership compared to other boat categories, followed by canoes at about 16 percent. The ownership of motor boat types was primarily small motor boats (ranging 20 feet or less in size).