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The most recent appropriations for the Department of War expired at 11:59 p.m. EST on September 30, 2025. Military personnel will continue in a normal duty status without pay until such time as a continuing resolution or appropriations are passed by Congress and signed into law. Civilian personnel not engaged in excepted activities will be placed in a non-work, non-pay status. 

Lake Overview

The US Army Corps of Engineers manages 13,250-acre Harlan County Lake and an additional 17,750 acres of land surrounding the lake.  The staff conducts dam safety inspections and maintains the dam and outlet works. Corps employees make water release changes to the Republican River in coordination with the Kansas City District Water Management Section.

Six parks around the lake are managed and maintained by the Corps of Engineers. These parks include roads, utility systems, campsites, beaches, boat ramps, fish cleaning station and picnic grounds.  Many maintenance activities are contracted to the private sector. Mowing, trash collection, fee collection, and facility cleaning are just a few of the activities that are performed by private contractors for the Corps.  The Corps of Engineers manages the natural resources of Harlan County Lake in cooperation with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission through several techniques. Some of the land has been restored to native grassland, while other areas are leased for agricultural purposes, with wildlife management being a central theme.  Other activities by the Corps include public relations, visitor services, real estate management, emergency services, collection of weather data, tree planting, prairie management, rescue and recovery operations, park patrol, buoy maintenance and management of concession leases.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has the responsibility for managing the 31,000 acres of land and water surrounding Harlan County Lake. Lands around the lake are managed by the Corps of Engineers to preserve their natural value. Land management practices such as prairie restoration, prescribed burning and tree planting help conserve soil and benefit wildlife.

Harlan County Dam controls a drainage area of 7,164 square miles and is part of a network of Corps Lakes that help control flooding on the Republican, Kansas, Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.

Authorizations

Harlan County Reservoir was built to provide flood control and the authorized multipurpose uses of irrigation, recreation, fish and wildlife management and sediment accumulation.

Specific storage capacity was allocated by Congress for both flood control and irrigation. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation coordinates the irrigation releases from Harlan County Reservoir. The Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers coordinates the flood control releases, as well as operation and maintenance of the dam structure and surrounding land.

The top of the multipurpose pool at Harlan County Reservoir is 1,945.73 feet and has a total storage capacity of about 314,000 acre-feet. Irrigation has a dedicated storage capacity of 150,000 acre-feet within the multipurpose pool. The remaining available 164,000 acre-feet of multipurpose storage is shared between sediment accumulation, recreation and fish and wildlife management.

Daily releases from the multipurpose pool are coordinated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the irrigation districts in Nebraska and Kansas. Releases to the river are not based on recreation activities like tubing, canoeing or fishing in the stilling basin below the dam.

Inflows this year are the lowest since 2006 and have not been sufficient to fill the multipurpose pool. During drought years, when the lake is unable to fill, the dwindling supply is shared among the authorized operating purposes under the terms of the Consensus Plan for Harlan County Reservoir.

To balance multipurpose pool needs, the Consensus Plan limits irrigation releases. In 2025, the lake is unable to provide irrigators with their maximum allowed volume of water (approximately 100,000 acre-feet is available versus 150,000 acre-feet maximum). Therefore, irrigation releases will shut off if the pool elevation drops to 1,929.3 feet.

Ultimately, as the Water Control Manual states, Harlan County Reservoir was built primarily to provide irrigation water and flood control. It also acknowledges irrigation drawdowns may have an adverse effect on recreation aspects of the reservoir.