More water flowing into Lake Sakakawea has increased boaters' opportunities to get onto the big-water playground.

Twenty boat ramps on the popular fishery are classified as either usable or marginal, compared to 15 usable ramps two weeks ago, according to a ramp count compiled by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.

The rise can be credited to a combination of snow in the mountains, rain throughout the Missouri River basin and lower releases downstream, said Paul Johnston, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman based in Omaha, Neb.

"If we got more rain, cool," he said Thursday.

And Sakakawea has risen 21/2 feet through the first half of June, as well. The pool elevation Thursday was 1,811.3, feet above mean sea level, unchanged from Wednesday. The lake's elevation at the end of May was 1,808.8 feet msl. At the end of April, the lake level was 1,806.6 feet msl.

"It's absolutely lovely news," Terry Steinwand, NDGFD's chief of the fisheries division, said Thursday.

Newly opened are the low-water ramp at Beaver Bay and the only two ramps listed as marginal: the low-water ramp at Parshall Bay and Sportsmen's Centennial Park.

Steinwand credits the higher water for expanding boaters' access choices, which now includes ramps at Beaver Bay and Charging Eagle Bay.

"Both of them would not be usable had it not been for the nice raise of water levels."

The lake will continue to rise next week and will end the month "about where we are now," Johnston said.

Despite the higher water, Steinwand said he still is paying attention to upcoming fishing tournaments. Steinwand has warned tournament organizers that if the potential for boat ramp overcrowding becomes too great, he reserves the right to cancel a tournament.

"Right now, it doesn't look like it's going to happen," he said, "but as the tournament season comes into play, we probably will get more complaints."

More ramps are likely to open later this season. Weather-related problems have delayed work on several.

"I never thought I'd say I'm happy to see (Lake Sakakawea) at 1,811, but it's all relative," Steinwand said. "I'm not ecstatic. I'd like to see it 20 to 30 feet higher, but compared to what could be, this is good."

(Reach reporter Richard Hinton at 250-8256 or outdoors@bismarcktribune.net.)