Page 61 - Walton Living

INTO THE DEEP

These Guys are Ready to Keep

Hard Labor Creek Safe

By Sharon Swanepoel

esidents in and around Walton County will soon be There won’t be any recreational swimming or diving allowed
looking forward to spending some recreational time in what is primarily a source for drinking water, but nature lovers
Rat the newly constructed Hard Labor Creek Reservoir will be able to take electric or self-propelled boats out on the
in Walton County. Despite the drought, the reservoir filled up lake, go kayaking, or just spend some quality family time pic-
quickly and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources has nicking next to the water. But along with these new recreational
been stocking it with fish for the past two years. opportunities comes another set of dangers, and it is for that
Soon local fisherman will be able to throw a line in the water reason that Walton County Public Safety authorities included
and fish for blue gill, redcar sunfish, shell crackers channel cat- dive certification in its special ops training. ecreational activ-
fish, large mouth bass and black crappie. ities near a large body of water always raises the potential for
“The Public Access Area is scheduled to open in late 2017 drownings.
to early 2018; including a boat ramp, dock, parking area, and “We started about two years ago,” said Walton County Fire
restroom facility,” said Jimmy Parker of Precision Planning, proj- Rescue Chief Mike Moore. “What we were doing was creating
ect manager for the Hard Labor Creek Reservoir. “The Georgia specialized teams for rope rescue, for rescue in high or low or
Department of Natural Resources is currently stocking the Hard confined spaces as well as for hazmat situations, but we knew
labor Creek egional eservoir with various fish species, regu- the reservoir was coming so we included a dive team to go along
larly monitoring the fisheries status, and will provide recommen- with that. It is a joint venture between us, Walton County Sher-
dations on when the reservoir should be open for public fishing." i ’s ffice and some of the city people.