Restricted Areas at Dams

I have a question about the Restricted areas at the Army Corps dams. Last weekend, when I was at Barren, I saw several boats fish in the restricted area around the tower of the dam. They went through the area and were seemingly unworried about going through the area. I have seen a few boats pulled over before becasue of entering the restricted area, and I have heard sirens before coming out of the dam when boats enter that area. Is there a reason why a boat should be in that area? Surely not....and is there any real danger of being in that area, or is it just a terrorism/saftey hazard to the dam? I was just curious.

I beleive that the bouy markers say "boats keep out". I do know that if you fish any tournaments and are caught inside the markers you could (and should) be DQ'd. The water patrol must not have seen them or they would have gotten tickets. Since 911 they have been pretty strict about boats near the water intakes or the dams...Get boat numbers and report them, they won't do it again...

I really don't think 9/11 has anything to do with it. In the days that followed 9/11 temporary boundaries were set in place to prevent boats from being too close to dams - I know because I was pulled over for it at Ky Dam (no buoys were placed, and the boundary lines were based on trees on the bank - I certainly missed the memo about the "tree boundary line"). After a few weeks everything was back to normal.

The buoys are there for safety purposes. I too have heard loudspeakers at Barren tell boats to get out of the no boat zone. If there were an emergency drawdown or something along that lines, being in that area would not be a good thing!

I would too imagine that around the intake would not be a good place to be during a drawdown. Im sure that the gates are well underwater at summer pool, but I do know at Barren that the gates are just below the water line during the winter season. However, I severly doubt that the gates are large enough or strong enough to draw a boat underwater and through them. I may be wrong, but I've never heard of a boat going through the intake.

I have lived in Barren county for most of my life, and there have always been the ristricted area by the dam. When I guest hosted Beaver Creek Camp Ground a few years back I was talking to the head ranger about the restricted area. He said there was a real chance that if the gates were opened wide enough as in a flood stage that a small boat could be caught in the eddy created by the drain, since 9 out of 10 of us probably would not know wether to s--- or go blind the wrong move could cause a boat to swamp and put boaters in the water and if you were caught against a screen you would not get loose untill some one could throw the right switch. the temptatation is strong though those hybrid like the current and the bait fish it brings with them.

Speaking of all of this, I've always wondered what is exactly in that large tower against the dam. I imagine its some sort of control room, but I've always wondered if its like most dams where you can walk down to the interior of the gates, etc. I've seen a few corps guys walk into it before.
Just my curiosity. And I've actually been down in the tailwater before at high flow and seen hybrids/shad coming through the dam, so I know that area around the dam has to be teeming with fish!

I have only been to the door level because of the Corp rules, but the drive gears for the gates below the water line are housed and operated there is also many monitors set up in the tower that monitor the water quality, temperature, O2 levels and thermal clim(spelling?)and there is more than one gate there is the By Pass and there is the Main gate. There is also swinging tiller that swings the current from side to side when the main gate is open, this makes the errosion even on the spillway below. There are also barrier post in the spill way it's self to disrupt the flow also and as a by product creates ambush points for for those state record Hybrids.