What We Do

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers staff at Stockton Lake manages the lake to provide benefits to the nation in areas of flood damage reduction, recreation, fish and wildlife management, hydroelectric power, and water quality improvement.

Stockton Lake encompasses approximately 25,000 acres of surface water. Federal land surrounding Stockton Lake totals 36,047 acres of which 16,572 acres are leased to the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) for management.

The staff conducts dam safety inspections and maintains the dam and outlet works. Corps employees make water release changes to the Sac River in coordination with the Kansas City District Water Management Section, Missouri River Region Reservoir Control Center, and the Southwest Power Administration.

Eight parks around the lake are managed and maintained by the Corps of Engineers. These parks include roads, utility systems, campsites, beaches, boat ramps, picnic grounds, and playground areas. In addition to Corps-managed areas, the Corps also maintains active lease agreements with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and private entities. The lessees provide a full range of marina services, restaurants, and camping to the public.

Additional services contracted to the private sector include mowing, refuse collection, facility cleaning, and park attendant. The Corps manages the contracts and conducts inspections to insure that the services are provided for visitors to the lake.

The Corps of Engineers Natural Resource Management personnel have established over 500 acres of prairie grass plant species that were once native to the Stockton Project area. Some of those grasses include sideoats grama, big bluestem, little bluestem, and Indiangrass. Other management techniques used by the natural resource staff to maintain existing open fields for wildlife loafing and breeding areas is the advertising of fields for hay production and also, the utilization of controlled burning.

The project’s natural resource management personnel developed a small wetlands area below the Stockton Dam in 1991. This area provides a feeding and loafing refuge for various waterfowl during their seasonal migrations.

A popular interpretive program offered by the natural resource staff at Stockton Lake is Eagle Days. An annual outing to view the magnificent bald eagle during its migration. Another program implemented in 1998 was a deer hunt designated to accommodate the physically challenged. Stockton Lake natural resource staff works in conjunction with the Missouri Department of Conservation and many volunteers to make these events a great success.