North Park Lake Drained

The valve to drain North Park Lake was opened Tuesday morning starting a 2-year project to restore the lake to the way it was 70-years ago. When the lake was first created it covered 75 acres, now it only covers 60 acres and is much more shallow than it once was. Over the next 4-6 weeks the lake will be drained and then it will have to dry for another 4-6 weeks for before a contractor comes in to take away an estimated 350,000 cubic yards of sediment. Army Corps of Engineers Colonel Mike Crall says that is enough to fill 10,000 trucks. The sediment will be placed on an old fly ash dump adjacent to the park and eventually turned into new parkland. Topsoil will be removed from the site, set aside, and the lake sediment will be placed on the site. Once the project is completed, the topsoil will be replaced. Crall says the corps looked at both wet (hydraulic) dredging and dry (mechanical) dredging and decided mechanical dredging was best. As the lake is being lowered all fishing limits will be lifted and the state will capture as many remaining fish as possible and transport them to Deer Lakes Park. Crall says when the project is done in May of 2011 the fishing could be better than ever because they will be placing artificial fish habitats on the lake bed. After the water is restored the PA Fish and Boat Commission will resume trout stocking and warmwater fish management for largemouth bass, channel catfish and panfish. The work will be done in two phases. The first comes with a cost of $7.7 million. The County and state will cover $2.7 million and the rest will come from the federal government. The second phase will come in at 5 million and will be funded fully by the county.