Lake Elmo continues to drain while a trackhoe digs a trench, bottom left, to allow water to better drain Wednesday morning. Other options will be used in the coming weeks to help drain the rest of the lake as more shoreline is exposed. (Drone Image by Jonathan McNiven)
The water level at Lake Elmo has been receding as of Sept 1st. This is an attempt to eradicate the invasive Asian clam species that has invaded the lake. The plan is to keep enough water remaining to provide irrigation water running until October 15th. According to Mike Ruggles, “this week we will be transitioning to pumps rather than gravity to keep the drain going…Would love to see a bunch of people working to catch fish.”
A drainage trench is constructed to help drain Lake Elmo at south side of the Lake in preparation to drain the water before officials are able to work on the water and state park during the winter time. (Jonathan McNiven photo)
“The gravity draining of the lake using the existing irrigation system has been nearly completed. Pumping water out will happen as soon as the gravity draining is done. We are eager to get bids back to finalize construction plans and select a contractor to work on the improvements. We thank all the FWP staff including the AIS, Fisheries, Parks, and Budget folks that helped get this project going and partners such as Walleye’s Unlimited of Billings, Pikemasters of Billings, Montana Bass Nation sponsoring an American Fishing Tackle Company Grant, Federal Aid Sports Fish Restoration funds, FWP Trail grant, Community Pond grant, and Future Fisheries grant, DNRC Aquatic Invasive Species Grants, Yellowstone Conservation District sponsoring a 223 grant and working with the legislature for funds directly appropriated to the Lake Elmo Project. We had a great meeting with local elected city, county, and state officials along with many of the organizational representatives that helped get the project going,” reported, Mike Ruggles.
As the water level drops in Lake Elmo this fall, dozens of feet of shoreline are being exposed along with the things that have been hiding underwater with those items being entirely off limits to people, no matter how innocuous they may seem.
Robert Gibson, Communication and Education Program Manager of Region 5 of FWP is adamant regarding the picking up of otherwise innocuously appearing debris. “Just don’t pick up anything off of the lake bed,” he said.
“FWP may organize a clean-up day later in the process to make sure the trash is gone, but right now we do not want to try to sort out what is garbage and what is artifact every time someone picks up an old beer can, fishing lure or, in one case this week, a wallet that had gone overboard at some point.
“So, while we appreciate that some people want to be helpful and pick up what they perceive as trash on the lake floor, they can be of the biggest help by enjoying their time on the exposed shoreline, but leaving anything they see in place,” said Gibson.
