A small crowd of 40 or so gathered with folks from Parks and Rec to release fish into Forest Hill Lake Saturday, April 24. J.R. Pope, head of P&R, said a few words and then turned the presentation to Carl (whose last name I didn’t catch). Eager young children learned about cool sciency stuff like the natural food chain and how these fish, as they grow, will encourage other animals like the blue herons and king fishers to come to the lake.

Three kinds of fish were released including big large mouth bass. The two smaller kinds of fish were destined to eventually feed the bass. The kids were then able to take squirming handfuls of silvery fish and put them in the lake. I do hope some of the fish survived the trauma of such eager environmentalists. Catch and release fishing will be allowed at the lake. UPDATED to add: No fishing license is required if you are aged 16 or below or over 65. A fishing license required for all other adults. Catch and release is the FHP/Park & Rec Dept standard that everyone regardless of age will be held to. The state game wardens will enforce periodically.

See the full set (or add your own!) in the hillsandheights flickr group.

City Council voted 9-0 last night to name the soon-to-be-built bridge at Forest Hill Park Lake after the Harvey Family who were murdered January 1, 2006. In a separate matter they also approved the use of property at Canoe Run to be used for new fire house. via RTD

I would think it was obvious but received a press release from the Department of Parks, Recreation & Community Facilities warning folks to stay of the local lakes including Forest Hill Park Lake. Signs are going up around the three lakes at Byrd Park, the Azalea Garden Pond and Young’s Pond at Bryan Park, and the lake at Forest Hill Park. My faith in people’s stupidity leads me to believe that we will read or see on the news someone falling in shortly. Hopefully it won’t be a tragic mistake the victim makes, only a wet one.
Read the press release.

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As head of the Richmond park system, J.R. Pope has been overseeing the revitalization of Forest Hill Park Lake. If you’ve ever gotten a chance to hear the excitement in his voice when he’s talking about our parks, you know that he’s in it for the right reasons. He was profiled in RTD today:

He has a big imagination. He sees the eventual restoration of the historic Pump House as a visitors interpretative center and community venue. He can envision a reflecting pond in front of the Carillon, where one was planned but never built decades ago. He wants to restore two silted ponds in Bryan Park.

Despite the rain and vandals good progress is being made and the project is about 15-20% done. Thanks to David Hathcock for providing the pictures. Pictures were taken on the July 7th and now are presented in an exciting slide show format.

Previous pictures here.

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

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This weeks pictures don’t seem to show much progress but progress in happening. The large amounts of rain are not helping efforts but work continues. Older pictures are here. Thanks to David Hathcock for providing the pictures. Pictures were taken on the 23rd.

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Pictures were taken on 6/16. Thanks to David Hatchcock for providing them. Previous posts with pictures are here.

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One of the few blogs I actually read everyday is The Hat by Harry Kollatz Jr. at Richmond Magazine. It was nice to see a story on the Forest Hill Park lake restoration. J.R. Pope, director of the Richmond Department of Parks, Recreation & Community Facilities introduced the two firms that will be leading the charge to restore the lake. Metropolitan Environmental Services which will be dealing the the silt and muck (not an actual scientific term) and Whitman, Requardt & Associates which will be handling the landscape. Another tidbit that was nice to know was that no work would be done on weekends so the Farmer’s Market will remain peaceful. I recommend checking out the post for the first picture alone. It took a lot of will power not to ‘borrow it” and post it on this site.

David Hathcock mentioned it previously here but I wanted to call some more attention to this crime.

Contractors for the lake restoration project are already reporting some vandalism and the equipment has not even arrived yet.

So far the problem has been limited to surveying stakes being removed and the security fencing ripped down.  Of course, this may be just nuisance, but it could also be an effort to wreck the project.  Please keep an eye out for people in the park at night, or people who don’t belong there. Please call police if you see vandalism occurring.

As far as we are concerned, this is a crime against the neighborhoods, a crime against an historic resource and a crime against the environment health of Reedy Creek, James River.