Friday, July 25, 2008

Black Otter Lake to be Drained

I guess there won’t be any ice skating on the lake this year. 

The district will begin draining the 75-acre Black Otter Lake on Aug. 30 by lifting the dam and slowly releasing water into the adjoining creek. Once the bottom of the lake is exposed, two species of invasive plants that have taken root will freeze and die over the winter.

Black Otter Lake District will modify the dam and its flume, which controls the flow of water, to allow it to do less-costly partial drawdowns in the future. The dam will be reopened in the spring to allow water to flood back into the lake.

“They will see immediate response, immediate relief, and the one thing that we do know for a fact is that fisheries’ response to a drawdown is significant and dramatic. … There’s a lot of positive that can come from just pulling the boards out on this dam,” said Scott Koehnke, water management specialist with the state Department of Natural Resources.

While the lake is emptied, the district plans to transfer thousands of the fish to a private, three-acre pond. The fish will be moved back to Black Otter Lake next spring, but the state requires that a portion of the fish first be killed and tested for infection — at the district’s expense.

(1) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1715 hrs
Off-Duty + Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

  1. Why not drain White Otter Lake? Commissioners Price and Jones demand an apology.

    PETA may ask for an injunction to stop the drainage to save the Black Otters as well. They will be joined by some Swiss scientists who want to stop the plant cruelty.

    Posted by Steve Burri on July 26, 2008 at 0837 hrs


Commenting is not available in this channel entry.