“Weather slowed Lake Darling Restoration activities in 2009,” DNR Fisheries Biologist Chad Dolan said. “Extended dry weather was rare in 2009 and is needed for the lake bottom to harden so that construction within the lake may happen.”

The lake was first drained in November 2008, and subsequently, has refilled and drained numerous times since its initial draw down.

Weather has allowed the completed construction of five ponds and one terrace as well as six road culvert risers and one road culvert extension within park boundaries. In the watershed, final plans have been completed for an erosion control pond involving four landowners.

The purpose of each is to slow the transport of water and trap sediment and nutrients before run-off water reaches the Lake Darling basin Dolan said.

Reduced sediment and nutrient inputs into Lake Darling will result in increased water clarity and decreased algal blooms. The growth and condition of fish such as largemouth bass inhabiting the lake may also improve as they’ll be able to see and capture prey more successfully.

The ponds themselves provide fishing opportunities and are already stocked with bluegills. In spring 2010 the ponds will be stocked with channel catfish and largemouth bass. All of the ponds and riser structures are visible from the park roads and are easily accessible.

Dolan, along with the DNR Fisheries Bureau and Engineering Bureau, has also been working on plans for the construction of a new boat ramp and parking area. The ramp and parking lot will be constructed on the shoreline before the entrance of the existing campground and will replace the current campground boat ramp Dolan said.

Archaeological surveys are being conducted in areas anticipated to be impacted by project construction activities. All archaeological work has been completed with the exception of a single site which has valuable historical significance.

Archaeologists will be exploring this site further to insure they collect as much information as possible regarding past civilizations before restoration work moves forward.  The last phase of archaeological work will be completed in November 2009 and lake restoration construction activities are expected to proceed in 2010.

The Rockwell City Community Center was filled to standing room only during the public meeting. More than 100 people came to voice their concerns and hear what the DNR has in store. At the meeting, DNR officials informed residents of the Rockwell City and Twin Lakes area of the process involved in lake restoration, while clarifying rumors of South Twin’s future.

“We have no definite plans at this time,” said Jim Wahl, regional fishery supervisor with the DNR. “The idea now is just to share information. The DNR feels that South Twin Lake is not living up to its full potential.”

Mike McGhee, Iowa lakes program manager for the DNR, said there are currently 131 lakes within the state that are considered prioritized lakes. These lakes are observed for their water quality, public benefit and feasibility of restoration.

“With this project, we would like to see water clarity of 4 to 5 feet during the months of April through September, keep beaches to recreational standards and create and maintain a healthy aquatic environment,” said McGhee when explaining what the potential outcomes of the shallow lake improvement project would be.

Doug Janke, DNR shallow lakes project manager, said South Twin Lake would benefit from the improvement project because recent tests indicate that its water clarity is only about 6 inches.

“The goal is to improve water quality in the lakes,” he said. “But first you must improve the clarity.”

Janke also informed those in attendance that another project goal is to improve the plant population within the lake. More plant growth would likely require the lake to be drained and dried to rid the lake of unfavorable fish, such as carp. This would allow sediment to settle to the bottom and create a mud flat in which new plants can grow.

Currently, there are only five known species of plant life in South Twin Lake. An improvement project to Diamond Lake in northwest Iowa, similar to that proposed for South Twin, resulted in an increase from three known plant species to 24.

“Vegetation is an important part of this project,” said Lannie Miller, a DNR fishery biologist.

One rumor Janke and Mike Mahn, a DNR wildlife biologist clarified is that the project doesn’t mean the lake would not be permanently lowered.

“This is an issue that has been met with a lot of controversy,” said Mahn. “We will need to drain the lake, but it’s still too early to discuss any specifics on how it would be done.”

While DNR officials feel Twin Lakes would benefit from the project, some Twin Lakes residents, such as Dave and Mary Gidel, feel the lake should simply be dredged and be given more access points. They believe the lake is good as it is for sailing, wakeboarding and fishing, but its boat ramp, which lacks a dock, keeps it underutilized.

The future of South Twin Lake will be up for discussion this evening in Rockwell City.

However, a decision on what alterations will be made to the rural Calhoun County lake is more than a year away, according to Doug Janke, a wildlife biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

A public meeting will be held tonight in Rockwell City. The gathering will allow people to voice their opinions and hear what the DNR has to say about the 600-acre body of water, Janke said.

According to Janke, the ultimate goal of any project will be to restore water quality and aquatic health to South Twin Lake – a shallower, more rustic counterpart to the adjacent North Twin Lake, a popular site for boating and fishing.

The first step of the improvement program is to collect data on the lake’s water quality and quantity of fish, wildlife. aquatic plant and invertebrates in the lake. Monitoring of South Twin Lake began in 2006, with results indicating the renovation project would significantly improve the quality of its water.

Currently, funding is available for a feasibility study to help determine what is possible for the lake, Janke said.

That study is scheduled to begin in 2010 and to take between six to eight months, he said.

In the future, South Twin could fall under the auspices of the DNR’s Shallow Lakes program, which would involve draining the lake to establish new mud flats and reduce the presence of unfavorable species like carp, which stir up sediment that prevents sunlight from permeating the lake and promoting plant growth.

Other Iowa lakes included in the Shallow Lakes program are Diamond Lake near Lake Okoboji and Big Wall Lake in Wright County. However, if such a course of action is pursued, it would not be for several years. As of now there have been no decisions made to go ahead with anything in particular.

Some owners of property adjacent to the lake oppose the shallow option. Mary Gidel, who, along with her husband Dave Gidel, resides year-round at South Twin Lake, said she would sooner see the lake dredged to make it more appropriate for boating and fishing.

Gidel said that South Twin is used for sailboating, wakeboarding and fishing, but inadequate facilities leave the lake underutilized. There is only a primitive boat ramp without a dock. South Twin Lake was historically deeper than its current depth of approximately seven feet. They dredged the north lake in 1939 and put the sludge into the south lake.

The Twin Lakes are not controlled by the Army Corp of Engineers and there are homes on the lake. Recently the lake has added a recreation trail and has a 9 hole golf course on the lake.

MAP (PDF)

A $400,000 project to improve a southern Iowa lake has hit a snag. An Iowa Department of Natural Resources crew discovered fish called “gizzard shad” in Lake Wapello last week. Mark Flammang, a fisheries biologist based at Lake Wapello, says they just drained the lake to get rid of the gizzard shad, but now that the lake’s three-quarters full again, the shad are back.

“We’ve spent a lot of time and a lot of dollars basically making a very good lake…better,” Flammang says. “And part of that $400,000 was aimed at draining the lake and getting rid of these fish.”

Gizzard shad are fine for large lakes and reservoirs as they eat plankton and serve as food for bigger fish like walleye, but in small lakes these gizzard shad are bad news because they eat so much they crowd out other fish, like bluegill. Lake Wapello, which is near Bloomfield, is a 270-acre lake that the D.N.R. had hoped to re-stock with bass, bluegill and channel catfish.

“Lake Wapello is a very special resource in southern Iowa. It’s certainly one of the first lakes in this part of the state,” he says. “It was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps way back in the ’30s. It’s an extremely beautiful area, a state park there, lots of cabins, lots of camping and swimming — just a great recreational area.”

But plans to reopen the lake for fishing and boating are now on hold as officials decide whether they have to drain the lake again to get rid of the gizzard shad, or find another way to deal with the problem.

“It’s really a resource that’s important to a whole lot of folks down here and not just down around here. There’s a whole lot of anglers who come from far away to fish this (lake), so you can imagine how this would be a large disappointment to us seeing that essentially we’re going to be delayed another year because we will have to eliminate the gizzard shad again,” Flammang says. “On the upside, at least it was caught now and not somewhere farther down the line.”

Flammang won’t speculate as to how the shad got back into the lake. It is illegal to “introduce” live fish to any public waters in the state and Flammang says it’s against the law for anyone to possess live gizzard shad.

The Lake Wapello restoration project also repaired a leak in the dam and expanded access to the lake by improving boat ramps.

Located in Davis County, Lake Wapello is threatened by excessive amounts of sediment and nutrients. As a result, water quality at Lake Wapello has declined over the years. When rain falls in the watershed, it erodes valuable topsoil and washes it into the lake. An estimated 20,000 tons of sediment reaches Lake Wapello annually. Nutrients are another factor threatening water quality at Lake Wapello. High nutrient levels can lead to poor water quality and cloud the water. This can create low oxygen and high ammonia levels, which are harmful to fish and other aquatic life and lead to potentially toxic algae blooms, as well as a variety of other problems.

The Lake Wapello Watershed Project has a number of conservation practices for farm and country living. Landowners in the Lake Wapello watershed can improve the lake by partnering with the Lake Wapello Watershed Project.

The "World's Largest Bullhead" statue was constructed in 1958 by Carl Frick

After years of planning and community involvement, Crystal Lake is at the end of its long road back to becoming the North Iowa treasure it once was. “It used to be one of the great little fishing spots in North Iowa, and soon it will be back to that level,” said Tom Haan, head of the Hancock County Board of Conservation.

The lake has gone through an extensive dredging and renovation process that has been in the works since around 1991, when fundraising efforts began throughout the community. The process has taken nearly 20 years to complete, but is finally reaching its end.

Lake classification reports in 1980 and 1991 identified Crystal Lake as a high priority candidate for lake restoration, and it was placed on the impaired waters list in 1998. Crystal Lake is one of Iowa’s 34 natural glacial lakes and the 269-acre lake has been suffering from organic enrichment due to sediment build up. The lake had been crippled by high phosphorus and nitrogen levels for years before the dredging process began.

A sediment pond was also constructed near the lake and it is estimated to help reduce sediment and runoff delivery to by upwards of 20%.

Before the project began the lake measured just six feet at its deepest point, and through the utilization of a tier effect plan during dredging, the lake now measures 22 feet at its optimal depth. The tier system has greatly amplified the overall volume of the lake, providing waters that measure 22, 18, 12, and 8 feet respectively depending on location.

The estimated $3 million dollar dredging project got underway in the fall of 2006 and was aimed at removing over 1.1 million cubic yards of sediment. A major goal of the project was to restore the lake to more natural depths in support of recreation and to provide a better environment for aquatic life. The dredging was completed in 2007, which effectively removed Crystal Lake from the impaired waters list, however other problems still remained.

During the flood of 1993, an invasion of carp began which led to water clarity issues among other problems. The lake had seen a similar carp overtaking during the early 1980’s, and the fish population was renovated to promote a healthier environment for aquatic life and more appealing sport fishing. Following the dredging, plans were made to once again renovate the fish population.

During the dredging process, the lake was dropped 18 – 24 inches, providing a seal from the West Fork of the Iowa River which headwaters in Crystal Lake.

This seal helped bar a chemical agent from entering the river that was released into the lake during the fall of 2008 in order to kill off the entire fish population.

Over the two decades since the last fish renovation high levels of nutrients and resultant algae had led to periodic low levels of oxygen at the bottom of the lake. This led to the aquatic community of the lake being dominated by species tolerant of low oxygen conditions, like bullhead and carp.

Other more desirable game fish, like bass and catfish, suffer from impaired spawning and reproduction in low oxygen conditions and populations started to decline in the lake.

Also of concern for county and DNR officials were the effects the carp were having on water quality.  The DNR started a stocking regiment earlier this year and has introduced several species of fish back into the waters.

Throughout the spring officials have released northern fry, catfish, bluegill and bass. All the fish were released at a rate of 100 fish per acre, or 269,000 fish per species.

Plans are being considered to stock the lake with crappie as well.

Now all that is left for Crystal Lake is to wait for the fall when the fish will reach a reasonable size to catch, with ideal fishing conditions being established by next summer as fish reach their optimal size.

Later this year the DNR will conduct fishing surveys to check the progress of the aquatic population through utilizing electric shock techniques to stun the fish, capture, and then weigh them.

“We hope people enjoy the lake and take the necessary precautions to help keep it clean,” said Kurt Meek, a fisheries technician for the DNR. “Users should take special attention to cleaning boats and propellers, along with abstaining from introducing other varieties of fish, those kind of efforts would help substantially.”

The lake is prepared to stay at a reasonable level of cleanliness, and a small outlet structure has been renovated to prevent undesirable fish, like carp, from re-entering the lake population ever again.

The local community has the potential to benefit from the lake once again returning to its place among North Iowa’s great fishing locations, and projections estimate that over $400,000 in fishing related revenues could be added to the local economy.

The lake rests beside a 130-acre DNR owned campground, beach, park, and disk golf course that is maintained by the Hancock County Conservation Board and hosts approximately 14,000 visitors annually.