Tenkiller Ferry Lake has the clear-water reputation first, but the better story is the contradiction under it. Big Cookson Hills water on the Illinois River, built for flood control and hydropower, deep near the dam, long enough for wind and engine sound to carry. Scuba shops point people toward submerged objects and old-town traces. The lake can look like Oklahoma's clean exception: rock, coves, oak-hickory hills, summer heat, a diver's idea of distance. Then the management plan changes the color. A 4.3-foot average Secchi reading. Eutrophic classification. Algae, phosphorus, poultry-litter runoff in the Illinois River basin, the lake acting as a nutrient trap. The dam makes another lake below it: cold tailwater, regular trout stocking, clear water moving toward Gore. Tenkiller is not just clear water. It is managed water with a clear-water myth, a real diving culture, and a green ledger underneath.
curator · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
The facts
- Surface area 52.2 km² usgs-3dhp · lake-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Nearest town Evening Shade · 2.2 km osm-overpass · lake-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Bird species (within 25 mi) 146 ebird-api-v2 · lake-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Bird diversity index 0.9 ebird-api-v2 · lake-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Median home value $148,825 census-acs-2024-b25077 · block-group-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Water clarity Moderate sentinel-2-l2a · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
- Night sky Darkest skies viirs-black-marble-vnp46a4 · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
- Surroundings Resort — a shoreline built for visitors curator · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
- Water origin Reservoir curator · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
In more detail
- Climate
- strongly four-season; cool winters (~40°F mean), hot summers (~79°F); ~50 in precip/yr noaa-normals-1991-2020-descriptor · lake-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Public access
- Tenkiller Ferry Lake is a USACE (Tulsa District) reservoir with numerous public access points, including two-to-three state parks (Tenkiller State Park, Cherokee Landing State Park, Green Leaf State Park) plus USACE areas like Applegate Cove and Fort Gibson. The lake reports 10 marinas and over 20 launching ramps, six USACE campgrounds, and swim areas such as the Cherokee Campground beach; eight boat-ramp permits are reservable via Recreation.gov. Fees/permits: Eight boat-ramp permits are available for advance reservation via Recreation.gov; a general per-vehicle day-use fee schedule was not otherwise confirmed via primary source for this harvest.. Sources: wildlifedepartment.com (fetched 2026-07-12); recreation.gov (fetched 2026-07-12); americasstateparks.org (fetched 2026-07-12). curated-web-harvest · lake-level · as of Jul 12, 2026
- Dogs and pets
- medium — 2 dog parks within 25 mi (OSM); state rule: Oklahoma law requires dogs to be leashed (or otherwise confined) to enter a state park or recreation area under the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Commission's jurisdiction; dogs running at large may be impounded, and vicious dogs posing an imminent threat may be destroyed by department employees. The statute does not itself specify a leash length, but multiple state-park visitor pages consistently cite a 10-foot maximum leash as the practical standard. (74 O.S. § 2217 (Public access and use of state parks — Prohibitions); the prior administrative pet rule, OAC 725:30-4-9, has been revoked, leaving the statute as the primary controlling provision as of this harvest., fetched 2026-07-12); Cherokee Landing State Park is described as a pet-friendly park that allows pets under certain conditions; specific leash/beach restrictions are not published online and the park office recommends calling ahead. (americasstateparks.org, fetched 2026-07-12) curated-web-harvest · lake-level · as of Jul 12, 2026
- Property tax
- 0.54% ACS effective-rate proxy (2024 ACS 5-year; Cherokee County anchor: $911 median real-estate taxes paid ÷ $168,500 median owner-occupied home value; Oklahoma proxy 0.80%, -0.26 percentage points). census-acs-2024-property-tax · county-level · as of Dec 31, 2024
Where it’s heading
Stable hand-rated for v0.1 · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
Stable: an established USACE recreation reservoir (Cherokee County) with a mature clear-water tourism identity — scuba, marinas, cabins — but no documented growth velocity; its notable dynamic is the water-quality tension (clear-water reputation vs. eutrophic 'green ledger'), not shoreline expansion.