The Corps does not have enough staff to safely oversee those areas while still being prepared to mobilize for flood management duties if needed.
"We understand these temporary closures will disrupt plans and we sincerely appreciate the public's flexibility." said Jamie Hyslop, chief of the Corps' Natural Resources and Recreation Branch. "We will continue to monitor conditions throughout the season and concentrate our resources so we can better maintain high quality service at priority locations."
In addition to the impacts at Oklahoma lakes, the Corps' Tulsa District said 8 recreation sites at Council Grove Lake in Kansas would be closed this summer.
The closures don't have a set end date, but the Corps said it will reopen the sites as soon as it has enough staff to safely do so. The staffing shortages are also bringing closures to other Army Corps Districts across the U.S.
And they're not likely to end soon, as federal hiring is on pause through mid-July. President Donald Trump ordered a hiring freeze on his first day back in office and extended the freeze last month.
The effects will likely ripple into the communities surrounding these lakes. At Canton Lake in Northwest Oklahoma, tourism provided around 50 jobs and added nearly $2 million in value to the local community, according to a 2022 study.
Across the state, tourism brings in billions of dollars each year from visitors, contributing to local tax revenues and tens of thousands of jobs.
People with reservations at sites that are closed will see those automatically canceled and refunded on a rolling basis.
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