DETROIT – Those living near Detroit Lake have a message for the tourists who found somewhere else to go last summer when the lake was at one of its lowest-ever levels: The water’s back, and you should be, too.

Last summer’s drought brought competition for scarce water resources.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which controls the water levels in the lake, drained much of it. Adequate water flows for spring chinook salmon and winter steelhead trout, which are protected by the federal Endangered Species Act, and drinking water for residents of the Willamette Valley took priority over recreation.

Docks sat on dry land. Businesses closed for the summer. Campgrounds cut staff and shut down large areas.

Dave Layman, 44, who owns the Cedars Restaurant, estimated the community lost about $2.25 million, not including the lost revenues from the state parks.

Don Hiebert, owner of the Detroit Lake Marina, said, ”I lost so much money I don’t even want to think about it.”

But the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers believes it made the best decision, given the drought conditions.

”We could not meet all the competing needs for the water,” said Corps spokesman Matt Rabe. ”We had to fall back on what were the needs that were required by law and those were the endangered species and the downstream flows.”

Detroit Lake is one of the most popular recreation spots in the state. Hills with names such as Bone Mountain and Dead Horse shoot up from the edges of the lake, surrounding it with the cool green of pines.

On a hot June afternoon last week, a cool breeze blew in across the water as wakeboarders sent plumes of spray flying into the air and sailors balanced their weight against the wind to maneuver their crafts.

A working-class town, Detroit’s economic base has shifted to tourism since the demise of logging in recent years. The town has fewer than 300 full-time residents, but plays host each summer to 5,000 to 8,000 vacationers who crowd the 9-mile-long reservoir about 80 miles west of Bend on Highway 22.

There’s no drought this year. In fact, flooding from snow melt was more of an issue this spring. Snow is still visible on the peaks surrounding the lake.

”The snowpack in the entire Willamette Valley was at 137 percent above normal on April 30,” said Stan Fox, chief of the snow survey program in Oregon and Washington for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. ”But the one site that’s right above Detroit Lake, Marion Forks, was at 479 percent.”

According to Cathy Hlebechuk, a hydraulic engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the lake was nearly 68 feet higher Wednesday than it was on the same date last year.

Businesses and residents, however, wait to see what this season brings and hope for a record-breaking year to make up for last summer’s economic losses.

Before the corps announced it was going to drain the lake, Hiebert expanded his marina, adding a building and a dock with more than 100 boat slips.

As customers drifted in and out of his convenience store Thursday, he stood on the deck in the shade and looked down at the water and an empty dock.

”Last year we had almost 200 people on a waiting list” before the corps lowered the lake, he said. ”Now the interest just doesn’t seem to be there, and we’re having a hard time filling the slips we’ve got.”

Mike Cornish, 36, and his parents bought Cook’s Market, The Burger Stop and the Detroit Motel and relocated from Grants Pass last spring. Right after they closed the deals, the corps announced it would nearly empty the lake. It left him stunned.

”We barely made it,” he said.

He didn’t hire anyone. Instead, he, his mom and his dad traded shifts at the businesses, working seven days a week.

Now things are looking up. They’ve hired some staff, and their reservations at the motel are starting to pick up.

It’s the same story at the campgrounds.

Normally, campers book 95 percent of Detroit Lake State Park’s 311 camping and RV spots during summer weeks and completely fill them on weekends. Last year, they were only about 50 percent full.

But this year, all the waterfront sites are reserved, and the rest of the campground is 85 percent to 95 percent booked, said park manager Dennis Comfort.

”It’s going to be a busy, busy season like it has been every year except for last year,” he said.

But the dry lake forced residents to look at their town in a different way and find other things for visitors to do. The state park will continue popular educational programs started last summer.

”There’s so much more to do here in addition to the lake, and we want to develop those recreational opportunities,” said Lee O’Leary, 42, who helps manage Cedars Restaurant. ”There’s hiking and bird-watching and 4,000 miles of logging roads that could be opened up to the public for mountain biking and all-terrain vehicles.”

Now there’s a live music program, and O’Leary and Layman are working with the U.S. Forest Service to get a boardwalk or a path that would encircle the lake.

They’re also thinking about starting another business renting ATVs.

”The idea is to take some of the emphasis off the lake and look at the other recreational opportunities we have here,” O’Leary said.

Diversifying recreation in the area might be the best bet for Detroit Lake, which was included in the Federal Lakes Recreation Demonstration Study last fall.

The project originated from a study done by the National Recreation Lakes Study Commission in 1999, in which it looked at the role of reservoirs and lakes on federal land and considered creating a special designation for recreational lakes.

”Recreation is at the bottom of the priority list right now, below the ESA (Endangered Species Act) and below downstream water flows,” said Stephanie Phillips, the district ranger for the Detroit District of the Willamette National Forest.

”The recreational lakes designation would mean that in times of water fluctuation, such as last summer, recreation would have to be considered in addition to flood control.”

In the meantime, the restaurants, grocery stores, campgrounds and other businesses gear up for what they hope will be a banner season. So far, it’s looking good.

”Once the warm weather hit, it was like the season was back,” said Todd Larson, owner or Kane’s Marina.

But it’s early in the season.

”The big question is still, Will the tourists come back to Detroit Lake?’ ” said Phillips. ”Last year they went somewhere else. And we don’t know the answer yet.”

Melissa Bearns can be reached at 541-617-7829 or mbearns@bendbulletin.com.