Given the recent heavy rainfall and the lake currently exceeding its full pool level, this is an opportune moment to highlight some achievements from our projects over the past year and this spring. This update also serves as a reminder of the ongoing silt challenges we face. A significant issue that will remain a priority in the coming years. Unlike road concerns, most siltation problems are not readily apparent to many residents, impacting primarily those in coves, inlets, or shallow regions such as Sunrise, Sunset, and Mallard Bays. Recent rain events underscore the critical nature of these issues and reinforce the importance of responsible stewardship of our lake environment. The combined efforts of the Infrastructure and Dredge Committees leveraging all the intelligence collected are working on project plans for our Watershed Management and Sediment Strategy. This graphic summarizes the big picture.
Low Water Crossing Performs – our recent rainstorms highlight the successful efforts of the Roads Committee, led by Tim Gravlin, in replacing the low water crossing bridge. Scott Johnson documented the bridge’s performance during his April 27th post-rain inspections. Note that no water overtopped the structure! The crossing manages significant water influx from various watershed areas resulting in substantial volume being efficiently handled.
We did see some additional erosion areas to improve and of course you can’t miss all the silt. These improvements will be added to the Operations team list of projects to address silt mitigation objectives.
R Block Shoulder Project – our ditch improvement project and road widening at the back of Buffalo Cove has paid off as well. The rip rap slowed water flow and protected the road from erosion. The picture of inflow to Buffalo shows the volume of water and silt. This is why Buffalo Cove will be a target area for our evolving silt mitigation plan.
Treasure Cove Watershed Drain Ditch – this spring following our pilot effort in the back of Union Cove (2023) we cleared out the drainage ditch in the back of Treasure Cove installing rip rap to control erosion. We also created ditch checks to slow flow and have silt drop out. The bare areas were seeded and short term wattle protection to keep any runoff from the area out until the grass takes hold. This type of project is part of our silt mitigation plan that is evolving with inputs from other Lake Operators, the MO DNR, Allstate Consultants and other lake management experts. While the amount of silt we keep out in the smaller coves is not significant, the additive effect of the watershed locations is worth controlling. Stay tuned as we brainstorm the solutions for Big Rock, Waterfall, Buffalo, Sunrise and Sunset and Mallard Bay.
Boy Scout Eagle Project – Ian Stewart chose for his project the building of fish habitat structures. Ian met with Brad Barnhart, Jeff Clemow, and Scott Johnson to go over his project plan and get the Association to be the beneficiary of the project. Brad imparted all his wisdom on building and placing the habitat structures to help ensure success. Ian then secured the material (donated) and helpers to build 11 structures. They then placed them along the dam, K block and one outside of Shawnee Cove and another along S Block. He returned to present his project report and get sign-off on the successful completion. A few more administrative steps and Ian will earn his Eagle Badge. A great accomplishment! Ian launching the habitats and the helper crew are in the photos.
Silt Basin #3 Drain Project – as presented at March, the drain project has started and mother nature was not able to hold off her rain spout. Finally a break where ICON could start and a trench behind the seawall was dug, hole cut in the seawall and the new pipe end installed. The project was off and running until about 60’ up the shore the rock shelf about 3-5’ down brought things to a stop. This is very hard rock that breaking will take additional time. Together with Allstate Engineering an on-the-fly design change was made to help shallow the line and reduce the amount of rock now expected to be in the way. For those in Quantrill’s Cove the good news is we are pushing any dock moving activity until after August 1. Dredging will start in the mouth of the cove sometime late June or early July, unless we get more delays due to rain.