Changes, But Not Closure, In Store For Echo Bay

Changes are coming, this winter, for Echo Bay Resort on Lake Mead. But National Park Service officials at Lake Mead insist that these changes do not involve plans to close the Echo Bay facility down.

In a letter last week, Lake Mead Recreation Center supervisor, William Dickinson announced that concessioner, Seven Crowns Resorts, had given notice that it would not renew its contract to operate at Echo Bay. “The National Park Service is in discussions with Seven Crown Resorts to determine the exact date of transition, which we anticipate will be sometime this winter,” the letter stated.

Muñoz said that there were certainly no plans to close the Echo Bay facility. On the contrary, the Park Service has immediate plans to make improvements to Northshore Road that leads from the Overton end of the Recreation Area to Echo Bay. “We have applied for and received federal stimulus funds to improve the rest of the road out there,” Muñoz said.

Construction crews have been working to straighten and widen a part of the route beyond the Overton Beach turnoff. Improvements to the remainder of the road was expected to take several years because of funding issues. But the use of stimulus funds sets a hard completion deadline. “The use of the funds requires us to have the work done by September 2010, so we will be working fast,” Muñoz said.

Echo Bay Manager, Kay Munford, acknowledged that rumors had been flying about the complete closure of Echo Bay. She emphasized that Seven Crown has been operating Echo Bay through a temporary agreement for some time now. “They have just decided not to renew that temporary agreement,” Munford said. “I’m afraid that a lot of people have heard that and immediately assumed the worst. But it was never anticipated that the facility would close down.”

Munford explained that these kinds of changes in concessioners are not uncommon. She cited a recent instance when Forever Resorts purchased the Temple Bar concession, also on Lake Mead. “In that situation, there was very little noticeable change,” Munford said. “Forever Resorts kept all the same employees in place and things were managed about the same.”

Munford emphasized that, no matter what business factors were involved in the looming changes at Echo Bay, it was not about low water levels on the Lake. “I would really like to allay a lot of fears out there,” she said. “This is not about water levels. The fact is there is still plenty of water out here.”

Munford said that her team performs regular depth checks in the marina cove. Those indicate that the Echo Bay marina won’t need to move anytime soon, she said. The marina could still operate in water levels down as far as 1075 feet. Currently the water levels, close to their annual low point, are at about 1093 feet.

“So we still have a ways to go,” Munford said.