South Holston Reservoir suffers serious low levels due to drought. shorebird habitat vanishing In the next 48 hours the lake level at the impoundment will drop under 1700 feet. This is several feet lower than the midwinter mark observed in late January of this year. The red line on the chart shows the actual impoundment elevation for this year by feet and by months. The black line shows the 2006 levels. The present lake levels is down about 20 feet below this date last year. That is a major departure. The shaded area represents the reservoir's expected elevation throughout the year. Based on computer simulations using more than 100 years of historical rainfall and runoff data, the reservoir's elevation is expected to be in the shaded area an average of eight out of every 10 years on any given date. For this reason, it is also referred to as the 80 percent probability bound. The green line is used to project drawdown for current discharges in relationship to other TVA impoundments. At the current stage, birders visiting Musick's Campground will notice the lake level is probably far below lower almost anything seen for late summer. The shorebird habitat of wet muddy areas with more shallow, rocky, shorelines is gone. The useable mudflats are dry or nearly dry. It is doubtful if any significant shorebird usage will continue this fall. Late September and early October are still good times for such migrants but the habitat is also necessary. It will be an interesting development to watch and will probably reveal good information about habitat usage by late summer shorebirds at this site. The lack of water levels reaching high enough and staying long enough to inundate some habitat has caused extensive vegetation growth in areas that might have otherwise been used by some shorebirds. Arrival of coots, grebes, waterfowl and such during the next two to three weeks should not be affected. Let's go birding...... Wallace Coffey Bristol, TN