Big Bear Lake drops seven inches year-over-year as water district board tackles dam inspection, Boulder Bay safety concerns

Big Bear Lake is running seven inches below last year's level heading into the final stretch of summer, the Big Bear Municipal Water District board learned at its August 20, 2026 meeting. General Manager Jared Cheek reported the lake at 63'8", compared to 64'3" at the same point in 2025^[1]. The lower water is coinciding with softer boating activity: year-to-date boat launch counts stand at 6,229, down from 7,416 at this time last year^[1]. Cheek attributed the midweek slowdown partly to seasonal norms, though the lake's overall level gap from 2025 is a year-round figure tracked closely by the district.

Boulder Bay no-wake zone request

A safety concern from the YMCA Camp on Big Bear Lake opened the meeting's public forum. Will Logan of the camp asked the board to consider establishing a no-wake zone across the mouth of Boulder Bay, noting that a 5 mph zone already exists within the bay itself. "Water sports activities can create large wakes," Logan said, "and twice this summer, camp lifeguards have had to respond to related incidents." He asked the board to place the item on a future agenda for formal discussion^[1].

Director Craig Brewster acknowledged the request directly, saying the concerns "will be revisited and discussed by the Board at a future meeting," and Vice President Steve Ludecke confirmed the board heard the complaints^[1]. No vote was taken and no timeline was set. Notably, the board heard only the camp's perspective on the proposal — representatives of water sports operators or boat rental businesses that could be affected by any new no-wake restriction were not present or quoted in the meeting record.

Dam inspection clears the outlet works

On the infrastructure front, Cheek reported clean results from a recent Apex Diving inspection of the dam. Using a remotely operated vessel, inspectors confirmed the inlet works are completely clear; a follow-up physical dive found no debris near the outlet works^[1]. The old dam inlet could not be visually assessed because it was covered with silt, Cheek noted in response to a board question.

Other board action

The board approved several other items unanimously:

• A failover server for the district office at approximately $17,000 — coming in under the $25,000 budgeted in the FY26-27 budget — to protect district operations against server failure or cyberattack^[1].
• Roofing materials for the East Ramp, with district maintenance staff set to handle installation, as they did for a similar West Ramp project in spring 2026^[1].
• Travel and training policies (Policy 2026-04 for employees and Policy 2026-05 for directors), formalizing approval chains: director travel goes to the full board, employee travel to the general manager^[1].
• Ratification of General Manager Cheek's step increase to Step 3, originally approved at the June 5, 2026 meeting and brought back solely to satisfy CalPERS documentation requirements^[1].

The district also announced it received a two-year electrofishing permit from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to continue controlling invasive species in the lake^[1].

The board's next regular meeting is scheduled for September 3, 2026 at 1:00 PM at the district office, 40524 Lakeview Drive, Big Bear Lake. The Boulder Bay no-wake zone discussion, if agendized, would be taken up then or at a subsequent meeting.