Friends of Forest Hill Park hosted a small tour of the lake restoration project Tuesday evening and I was happy to tag along and take a few pics.

Mud glorious mud! The yellow object is a baffle that rises with the water to keep excess mud from flowing up and through dam. To the left, beneath the water that has recollected, is the floor of the man made lake.

For more info and photos

Aaron Ziegler of Metropolitan Environmental Services was our genial guide who obviously takes his job and its responsibilities seriously. Throughout the project he and his guys have been very carefully moving fish and turtles down stream to safer waters. The turtles, apparently, often return. A 50 pound fellow is particularly stubborn. And they’ve had to compete with some of the bigger turtles to reach the catfish first! Aaron said they’re going to leave some water for the turtles as long as they can and when they need to, will slowly move the little mini pond away from their work area. The gentlemen in the pink shirt in the photo below related how Aaron showed up with a small aquarium net to help get some of the smallest tenants out of the lake.

Aaron Ziegler shows how Reedy Creek is being redirected around lake during the restoration.

We saw three hawks and a beautiful heron. These hunters have been enjoying the abundant frog and toad population around the lake.

Water from reedy creek is being routed around the lake to the dam. They have removed a tremendous amount of dirt and that contributes to the prevalent smell which is of very damp earth. There were concerns that this project would unearth unearthly smells, but that hasn’t been the case so far. There may be more odors once more of the plant life is dug up as that will result in decay and its accompanying odors.

Some of the things that have been discovered during excavation has included a bowling ball, tires and shoes. They haven’t found any guns, although they were assured of their presence by one park visitor who knew of at least two guns. How this fellow knew is anyone’s guess.

Shoe left behind in lake bottom.

The persistent rains we experienced a few weeks back has slowed their progress a bit. Despite this, the contractors have reached the man made bottom of the lake.

Cranes at rest

Vandalism and trespassing continue to be issues for the project. Perhaps better signage and barriers would help prevent people from crossing over the orange netting fences. The netting doesn’t provide much of an obstacle and people don’t seem to notice them. While on the tour we saw at least two sets of dog walkers walk right over orange fencing, across the dam, and through chain link fencing that has been conveniently bent out of the way by previous trespassers.

The lake, in the evenings is quite restful. You can see what a beautiful calming place this will be when the lake is restored.

Mud glorious mud! The yellow object is a baffle that rises with the water to keep excess mud from flowing up and through dam.

A piece of equipment stationed on the dam had an incredible patina that I just couldn't resist photographing.