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Laurel Lake Dam, North Carolina

Laurel Lake Dam on the Swannanoa River in North Carolina.

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35.5975, -82.3351 · Buncombe County · NID NC05140. Tap the map to open this water in the live app.

What the runs do here

Swannanoa River carries no anadromous run on our corridor map, so this page makes no claim about salmon or steelhead at this dam. What it sits on is coldwater — resident trout water — and the section below says which classification says so.

The structure

Owner
Blue Ridge Assembly Private
Purpose
Recreation
Type
Earth
Height
26 ft
Length
483 ft
Spillway
Controlled
Storage
24 acre-ft · 2 acre pool
Condition
Satisfactory · High hazard potential

From the National Inventory of Dams (USACE). Hazard potential is a downstream-consequence classification, not a statement about the structure's condition.

The water above and below

Coldwater designation is the state's own classification. A dam sits on one river and this list is every designated reach within a mile and a half of it, so a tributary mouth shows up here too.

Water right now

GaugeDistanceTempFlow
French Broad River at Haywood Rd at Asheville, Nc 13.1 mi 69.4 °F —
French Broad River at Asheville, Nc 13.7 mi 70.0 °F 1,440 cfs
Catawba R Nr Pleasant Gardens, Nc 16.6 mi 66.4 °F 296 cfs

Live from USGS. A gauge miles away is a gauge miles away — the distance column is there so you can discount it. A hydro dam's releases move the flow below it on a schedule the gauge sees and this page does not.

Getting to it

Public access sites near the dam, straight-line distance. A dam itself is private property unless its owner says otherwise; these are the places the state lists as open.

Fly shops nearby

The river this is on

Open this water on the map →Every reach around it coloured by today's water temperature, with the access points along it.