Southwest Kansas reservoir staff preparing for another busy outdoor recreation season

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24-02-2025

A boy takes a photo of a flock of birds as they fly Feb. 2, 2025, over HorseThief Reservoir. Park staff are preparing for busy spring and summer seasons. (AJ Dome for Kansas Reflector)
HODGEMAN COUNTY — As a southwest Kansas native, Audrey Rupp gets excited by lakes and reservoirs.
'It's not something we see a lot,' Rupp said partially in jest.
Rupp is in her fourth year serving as park manager for HorseThief Reservoir in Hodgeman County, 11 miles west of the rural community of Jetmore and within an hour's drive of Dodge City and Garden City. She also manages the HorseThief Reservoir Benefit District, including a volunteer board that oversees park operations. The dam, boat ramps, restrooms and roads around the reservoir were completed in fall 2009, and the 450-acre reservoir filled to 50% capacity using just rainfall in spring 2010.
Rupp, who graduated from high school in Greeley County in 2009, first learned of the opportunities at HorseThief while attending college.
'I went to an event called Camp Wild Woman — that was an all-women's weekend where we could try anything outdoors,' Rupp said. 'I thought, 'Oh my gosh, this is amazing.' I never personally knew anything about the reservoir until that event, and now I manage it, so it's come full circle.'
The HTR Benefit District and board of directors were established in 2004, but the conversation about creating a recreational body of water in the Hodgeman County area had been circulating since the 1930s. In the 1960s, the Pawnee Watershed District was formed, and according to a statement from former park manager Troy Brown on the park website, it's the largest watershed district in the U.S. at more than 1.5 million acres across nine counties.
Brown wrote that discussions became serious in the mid-1990s with Department of Wildlife and Parks employees about developing a reservoir in southwest Kansas. Then-manager of the Pawnee Watershed District, Ron Allen, met with Brown, who managed Cedar Bluff Reservoir at the time, to talk about how to construct a recreational park. Voters in Ford, Finney, Gray and Hodgeman counties approved a bond issue in 2004 to fund the project.
Once the reservoir filled halfway in 2010, the benefit district board chose to open the park on a limited basis for fishers and boaters. Camping spots opened in 2012. The reservoir reached capacity on July 1, 2016, according to Brown. Even through several years of drought conditions, Rupp said the water level has stayed somewhat consistent since then.
'That's something I never stop hearing: 'I never thought that lake would fill with water.' Last year it looked kind of bleak, we had docks that weren't even touching water. This year we're full again,' Rupp said.
Rupp is currently working on adding several amenities to the park, which already includes a large event building and several yurts, or round tent-like structures, that people can reserve. She's also organizing a raffle prize drawing where people can purchase tickets for $25 to raise funds for a kayak rental kiosk that is coming soon.
'It's like a vending machine for kayaks,' Rupp said. 'It can accommodate a range of kayak types.'
The drawing ends with a winner chosen March 21. Information can be found on the HorseThief Reservoir website.
The park is open year-round, and Rupp said now is the time for maintenance and improvements around the park. She and her staff, two full-time employees and a few seasonal workers, are also preparing for the park's first big event in April.
Formerly the Plow Day BBQ Contest, the event has been rebranded this year as Smoke on the Water. Rupp said it will feature a barbecue competition, antique tractor and car show, pedal pulls and youth train rides, yard games and more. The free event is on April 26.
Rupp said Memorial Day weekend kicks off the park's busy season, as camping spots are quickly reserved. This year park staff are hosting a Memorial Day Luau with a traditional pig roast. July 4 will feature a large fireworks show over the reservoir. Labor Day weekend will see the return of the annual HorseThief Kite Festival.
'Some of the kites are the length of a football field,' Rupp said. 'It's wild.'
Rupp said she's also working on constructing a trail system for hikers and horseback riders around the perimeter of the reservoir using the state's Trail in a Box program. The Kansas Trails Council offers three to five trailers full of tools like shovels and weed whackers for people to use at no cost to build their own trail systems. Rupp said she just needs 'a nice day' to open the trailers and get to work.