Boat ramp reopens; spirits rise with lake
This photo of the Llano County Park boat ramp on Lake Buchanan in May 2024 demonstrates the massive gains the reservoir has made with recent rainfall. In the summer of 2023, the end of the ramp was dry due to low lake levels and the shoreline was hundreds of yards from where it is now. Staff photos by Dakota Morrissiey
After nearly two dry years, the Llano County Park boat ramp on Lake Buchanan has reopened. The rising reservoir is lifting the spirits of a community deflated by a harsh drought that sunk lake levels below dock and access lines.
Fishing on Lake Buchanan is “EXCELLENT,” according to a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department report on May 22. That’s due to higher levels and activity caused by inflows from the Colorado River.
“Everybody is excited about (Lake Buchanan going up),” said Lake Buchanan/Inks Lake Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Joe Woolsey on Thursday, May 23. “The lake level can be seen as a barometer for how people feel about things.”
Buchanan began rising in late April following a series of torrential downpours in its watershed to the north. As of Thursday, the lake is 69 percent full compared to April 30 when it was 48 percent full. It has gone up more than 11 feet since April 30, swelling from 995 feet above mean sea level to 1,006 above msl.
The Llano County Park boat ramp was one of the many victims of the brutally hot summer of 2023. Lake Buchanan only has two public-access ramps: one at Llano County Park off of Unnamed Road in Buchanan Dam and the other at Burnet County Park at 11710 RM 2341 in Burnet. Fortunately, the Burnet County Park ramp remained usable throughout the drought, but its Llano County counterpart and many private boat ramps didn’t reach the water.
“I believe most of the boat ramps on Buchanan are now open,” Woolsey said. “We’re getting very close to anybody having access.”
Lake Buchanan Communities Alliance President Wayne Shipley told DailyTrib.com that his neighborhood, Greenwood Acres, needs Buchanan to be at 1,014 above msl before boaters have lake access at that ramp. He also expressed worry about the Lower Colorado River Authority releasing water downstream over the summer.
“(Seeing Lake Buchanan rise) is really nice. It actually looks like a lake now,” he said. “Once the lake starts coming up, the whole area seems to come alive, but there is still a fear that when summer comes, (the LCRA) will let the water out and it will go back down.”
According to the most recent LCRA river report, the authority “will not release water from Lake Buchanan solely to fill Lake Travis.”
While Buchanan had massive gains, Lake Travis has seen a more meager rise. Travis is now 40 percent full, up from 38 percent on April 30, and it has only risen a little over 2 feet in that time.
The LCRA report also stated that, while Buchanan’s new largess will not be sacrificed to fill Travis, the water could be used for other downstream needs.