$ 9.2 Million Lake Darling Restoration Project - Public Meeting

Lake Darling State Park will be one of the premier parks in the state after a 13 year, $9.2 million renovation that has changed the face of the 60 year old area and should protect it for years to come. Unfortunately, the final leg of the project is taking longer than anticipated.

"Everyone involved would like this project to be moving more quickly," said area fisheries biologist Chad Dolan, who serves as spokesperson for the lake renovation portion of the project, which has encountered a number of delays that has pushed the completion time into fall 2012.

He said delays have come from a number of different areas, including the discovery of an archaeologically significant site in the dam area that requires further exploration before the work could resume. There were also delays in getting necessary permits and engineering designs for some important lake structures.

Dolan will be part of a panel that will be discussing the entire Lake Darling restoration project, on October 6, at the Lake Darling State Park Lodge. The agenda includes a meal from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., followed by the meeting from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The meeting is open to the public.

There are a lot of partners and supporters who have helped this project along the way and some are concerned with the delays. If the project could not go forward, why did the DNR drain the lake when it did?


"Mainly it was necessary to explore potential archaeological sites along the shoreline. We also had to draw the lake down because we could not be sitting on a full lake and have the project ready to go," Dolan said.


"We have a lot of very interested people who love this park and they would like this project to be further along. We would too. When discussing the initial timeline, in hindsight, we were too optimistic. This is a huge project and it takes time," he said.


The lake project includes installing two silt dams - one in the campground arm and one in the upper arm - that will protect water quality and collect silt before it enters the lake. Dolan said it is necessary that these two dams are designed and ready to go in the spring.


The dam will be raised two feet, increasing the size of the lake to 303 acres. An additional 4,400 cubic yards of rock mounds and reefs will be installed for fish habitat. The shoreline will be protected in areas that staff could not reach with the lake filled. But the main part of the lake project and one of the most expensive is the removal of 300,000 cubic yards of sediment from the lake bed.


Other work includes creating deeper water near shore and installing a universally accessible fishing pier.


Dolan said the lake has been battling poor water quality since shortly after it was built. In fact, over the past 30 years, the lake water looked more like chocolate milk. "The lake was good for catfishing, but not much else," Dolan said.


Once the work is completed and the dam closed, the lake will be stocked with largemouth bass, bluegill, red ear sunfish, channel catfish and black crappies.


Campground work to start in 2011


Plans for the Lake Darling campground include installing new water lines and building a shower house, increasing the electrical service to 50 amps, adding a number of sites offering water and sewer connections, leveling the camping pads, adding new fire rigs and installing a new dump station.


"We will lose a few campsites, but the upgrades will offer higher quality campsites over high quantity," said Tom Basten, state parks supervisor for southeast Iowa. "The lodge, beach shelter and new playground have been done for a few years. We will be installing a universally accessible fishing bridge connecting the two campgrounds, a new boat ramp just prior to entering the campground.


"Once we are done, this park will be a top draw for fishing and camping in southeast Iowa," Basten said.
Visit the Friends of Lake Darling Web Page
 


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Playing Catch-Up!

My head is spinning. The past several days have been so busy in the world of the orcas that I haven't had much time to write any blogs. So with this blog, I'm going to combine several encounters into one.

We've had a lot of fog and rainy weather lately. However that doesn't mean we stop whale watching. On the 26th we left for our noon trip with no reports of orcas. This was not surprising since it was so foggy out and there are less boats on the water this time of year. We traveled to the north because a large group of whales had been seen going toward the Fraser River the night before. Our zodiac the Western Explorer zoomed around Boundary Pass while we, on the Western Prince II,  covered northern Haro Strait and Turn Point. What did we find? Fog and a lot of empty water. I think our passengers began to lose faith... UNTIL! A report came flooding over the radio waves - orcas at Salmon Bank! Yahoo! We quickly motored down to the south end of the island while watching surfing Dall's porpoise along the way. We had a mystical encounter with the orcas (the L22's and the K12's) despite the fog and I think everyone really enjoyed the trip.

L79 "Skana" travels into the fog:

On the 27th, we had more overcast and foggy weather. The majority of L pod had been hanging out at Lime Kiln Lighthouse for the morning until they eventually decided to put on a little steam and head south. They were quite spread out, but still moving in small groups and WOW was there a lot of fishing going on. It seemed like everyone was chasing salmon. Of course, when it comes to these orcas, that's always a good thing. We want them to be fat with full bellies - I think this year, that has not been a problem.

L84 "Nyssa" breaches. It's always a thrill to see the big males come out of the water:

L86 "Surprise!" shows off her kelping skills. Here she is holding the kelp in her mouth while draping the stem over her body:

Today, the stunning September weather returned to the San Juans - blue skies, calm, and SUPERPOD in Boundary Pass! It is incredible to see SO many whales jumbled together in a tight spot. Today, whales combined with brilliant weather = a jaw-dropping afternoon.

Fins, fins, FINS...everywhere we looked - FINS:

Spyhop! This orca seemed to be saying, "Are we at Turn Point? Lemme check... YEP! Turn Point! Time to turn the corner, everyone! Time to turn the corner! Here we GO...SOUTH!":

We followed the whales into Spieden Channel. Before we left for home, L41 "Mega" did two tremendous breaches. This is an odd angle (looking at his back), but look at the size of those pecs! Okay, his name fits him perfectly:

Just another day in paradise. Hope to see you tomorrow, whales. Cheers everyone. Nighty night!

Playing with the Big Boys!

Yesterday little J38 "Cookie" seemed to think he was pretty hot stuff. Why? Because he's only seven years old yet BIG L78 "Gaia" and L88 "Wavewalker" let him join in their fun. It was an absolute riot to watch these three play together. "Cookie" seemed to be saying, "Yeah, that's right! Look at me! I'm one of the big boys now!" Too cute! Here is "Cookie" himself hangin' with big male L78 "Gaia":

Natural Beauty

Trying to describe the beauty of today would be near impossible. Some things you just have to see to believe and appreciate. Some things I do know - these little islands are quite magical and when we get the chance to commune quietly on a calm afternoon with the local wildlife, one might never be the same again...

Chin up:

L47 "Marina" brought her little six-week-old baby, L115, over to the boat this afternoon. The water was so calm you could see their entire bodies as they swam down the length of the boat. This is the closest look I've had at the newest member of the southern resident orca community this year. What a special and extraordinary experience! Here's little L115 rising to the surface:

Big breath for such a little body:

Then mom, L47 "Marina", took a breath. Look carefully and you will see the baby swimming next to her (the white smudge on the right...):

THEN L47 "Marina"'s grandson, L110 "Midnight", wanted to get in on the fun. The three of them fished behind the boat for several minutes:

After an spellbinding salmon chase, L47 "Marina", L110 "Midnight", and baby L115 travel off into the serenity of the Strait of Juan de Fuca:

Orca Addiction

What do we whale addicts do on our days off? Why, we go out on the boat to watch whales, of course! What a beautiful afternoon. We heard there were some Pacific White-Sided dolphins swimming with the orcas in Boundary Pass earlier in the day. We took a good look around for them, but didn't end up seeing them. We did have a lovely afternoon with whales, however. September has been an incredible month so far. I just can't believe all the things we've seen and experienced this month. Nothing short of spectacular!

J26 "Mike" surfaces after a very intense salmon chase:

K25 "Scoter" with kelp trailing from his dorsal fin:

Comin' at ya!:

There is just something about this image that I LOVE - ok, maybe because it's my favorite whale L87 "Onyx", but I love the way it shows him cruising in his beautiful Pacific Northwest home. Simply yummy:

Where Do We Look?!

When we are out on the boat, we always like to use the "clock system" when pointing out wildlife. The bow of the boat is always 12 o'clock and so on and so forth. Well today the system didn't really apply because everywhere we looked, there were whales around us! I finally gave up trying to tell the guests where to look and decided to give them this advice, "pick one group of whales and watch them." Because, naturally, if you try to watch them ALL, you begin miss stuff. On top of a fabulous encounter with the orcas, we also had a visit from some very playful Dall's porpoise - my first encounter of the year! We also found a lot of Mouflon Sheep on Spieden Island and a bald eagle taking flight. A simply scrumptious afternoon. Here are photos from the day:

Baby J46 "Star" pokes her head above the surface while swimming next to mom J28 "Polaris":

K25 "Scoter" lunges at the surface:

K25 "Scoter" zooming up Haro Strait:

Lift Off!:

John Boyd was also nice enough to email me some of his best shots from the day AND here they are! :

Babies play:

Throwing a wave to the crowd:

Dall's Porpoise:

Mouflon Sheep:

I hope everyone enjoyed the trip today. It was really once of the best of the summer!

No Bad Days!

Even after 10 years of watching these incredible orcas, they never cease to amaze. I have many people ask me, "Do you ever get bored being on the boat all the time?" to which I must reply, "Are you kidding?!"
Today was just one of those days - one of those super, outstanding, heart-pounding, thrilling, jump-up-and-down sort of days. All three pods have been spending a lot of time up at the Fraser River feeding. It seems like every time we arrive to watch them in the afternoon, their bellies are full. They are fat, happy, and just absolutely juiced with energy. I can't even begin to count the number of breaches we saw this afternoon! When we first arrived with the orcas, we saw most of J pod and some L's in one tight clump. They were absolutely going berserk with spunk (a colorful way of saying that perhaps there was a lot of socializing occurring among the whales...). This continued all afternoon. There were fins, breaches, spyhops, and tail-lobs as far as the eye could see. I'm pretty sure all three pods were present even though I can't recall seeing any K pod whales in all the afternoon madness. Of course that doesn't mean they weren't there playing on the other side of the strait.
After our first incredible pass-by, we hung out with J17 "Princess Angeline" and her family: her kids J28 "Polaris", J35 "Tahlequah", J44 "Moby", and her grandkids little J46 "Star" and J47 "Looker". "Star", "Moby", and "Looker" were playing with each other as if there would be no tomorrow. They were bouncing around "Polaris", "Tahlequah", and "Princess Angeline" like little orca-shaped ping pong balls. After a bit, the mothers seemed to get into the action too because THEY started breaching, spyhopping, and tail-lobbing. I think babies can bring smiles no matter what animal specie you happen to be.

Here are some visual memories from our incredible day:

The whales are coming!:

J1 "Ruffles" does a pass by the Western Prince II:

Playful babies!:

Breach practice:

Use those flukes!:

A very nice spyhop. Can you see the eye? (hint: just below the front of the eyepatch - she's looking at us!):

And NOW for a Breach Sequence...

I was just lucky enough to have the camera pointed in the right place at the right time today! (All my photos of the orcas are taken with a telephoto lens in accordance with the Be Whale Wise guidelines.)

A Positive Double Negative...?

No orcas today,
And the skies were gray.
Did that keep our spirits down? NO WAY!
(Ok, yes, I realize this is an unfathomably LAME attempt at poetry, but there is it is, burning your ears.)
Minke whales today! And Stellar Sea Lions! Harbor seals! Bald eagles! Harbor porpoise! Common murres! Rhino auklets! Gulls (naturally)!

And Captain Peter - this is for you because you liked it so much and made me say I would post it on my blog. And I must apologize in advance to my third grade teacher - Mrs. Sullivan, yes, don't worry, you taught me better than this.

About today's fantastic wildlife trip, I commented:

"We were never not looking at SOMETHING!"

A very positive double negative?...Hmmm.

And With the Rains Come Salmon and Orcas...

It was a bit of a spiritual Pacific Northwest day today. The resident orcas are back in the area after a several day absence. I think the abundance of rain we've had lately may be brining even more salmon into the area which equals more time with the orcas.
It was a gray day - calm, glassy, and misty. We found these whales swimming in a tight, lazy social group: J2 "Granny", J1 "Ruffles", J14 "Samish", J30 "Riptide", J40 "Suttles", J45 "Se-Yi'Chn", K12 "Sequim", K22 "Sekiu", K33 "Tika", little baby K43, L7 "Canuck", and L53 "Lulu". Behind this very tight group was J37 "Hy'Shqa" and K37 "Rainshadow". These two youngsters seemed to be thoroughly enjoying their time together. They were breaching, spyhopping, tail lobbing, cartwheeling, and just generally being very rolly-polly. At first the whales seemed to be in no big hurry to get anywhere. They spent quite a lot of time just rolling around in a single spot while constantly changing directions. After a spell they seemed to commit to heading toward Turn Point. Ooops, but I'm wrong again. They turned due south and began to scoot slowly toward John's Island. This is when I saw two of the best spyhops in my history of hanging out with the orcas - first a female slowly swam for the sky while bringing over half of her body out of the water. She slowly and gracefully slipped back under the surface at the moment another huge head lifted itself skyward. It was Ruffles! He spyhopped just off the bow of the boat and hung at the surface for a few moments. The gaze of the orcas seems piercing sometimes. When they spyhop that close, you just KNOW they can see you and are observing you just as much as you are observing them. He slipped back below the watery depths just as the first few splatters of rain began to touch the surface of the sea. They were headed southwest now, with purpose, toward Turn Point and the large and foggy expanse of Haro Strait - the Pacific Northwest at it's best: gray skys, rain, glassy seas, green trees, and orcas breathing, slicing through the mist...

NEW CAMPGROUND TO OPEN SATURDAY AT VOLGA RIVER

A long awaited recreation facility development is now ready for park visitors. The first new campground in an Iowa state park in seven years will open at the Volga River State Recreation Area Saturday during a ribbon cutting. The ceremony is scheduled from 1:30 to 2:30 at the Meyer shelter on the lake shore/boat ramp parking lot.

The new campground was funded by a $1.5 million special appropriation of the Iowa Legislature, sponsored by Rep. Andrew Wenthe, Sen. Brian Schoenjahn, Rep. Roger Thomas, and Sen. Bill Heckroth. The campground is at the north end of Volga River with a view of the lake off in the distance.

The project began when roads for a future campground were built in 2005. In 2008, the legislature approved $750,000 to develop the campground. In 2009, an additional $750,000 was provided. Work began in July 2009 and the project will be concluded on Saturday.

“This campground was built from scratch on an old crop field,” said Scot Michelson, park ranger at Volga River. “We planted trees in the area years ago that are now 12 to 15 years old and will give this new campground a more mature feel.”

The 42 campsites all have electricity and water, and 34 have sewer connections as well. Each campsite has a fire ring and picnic table. The camp pads are level, and 11 are paved, pull through sites. There is a new shower building and non modern restroom in the new campground. In addition to the campground, a new modern restroom with drinking water is available on the lake shore at the boat ramp.

Volga River is a recreation area, which means hunting is allowed.

“We do get our share of deer hunters for the early muzzleloader and bow seasons, but the shower building will be closed for winterization by mid October. We will have the electricity on until snowfall when we will close the campground for winter due to the concern for snow and ice on the steep campground access road,” Michelson said.

Volga River has a primitive campground at the south end, which does not offer electricity, showers or flush toilets.

CONTACT: John Maehl, district supervisor Iowa state parks in northeast Iowa, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, 563-920-1400 or Scot Michelson, park ranger, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Volga River State Recreation Area, at 563-920-3944.

Oodles of Transients

The resident orca pods decided to make an excursion out to the open Pacific for a few days, but we still have been having some amazing sightings - humpback whales, minke whales, stellar sea lions, Dall's porpoise, AND transient orcas! Today we received word that there were 14+ transients traveling toward the islands from Race Rocks. We were glad there were transients in the area, but Race Rocks is SO far away. Luckily the whales were still traveling east when we left the dock so we decided to go for it despite the distance. It took us about two hours before we arrived on scene with orcas and we had a wonderful encounter with T20, T21, and the T100's (including a fairly new baby). We were able to spend about 30 minutes with them before having to return to the harbor, but it ended up being a fabulous trip:

New baby with T100:

T100C traveling with BIG male T20:

UPDATE: As of yesterday (9/14/2010) the residents are back in the area! Not sure for how long, but it's always nice to see them.