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Fishing Lake fixes: Wildlife Trust group considers project
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By STEVE MCMANAMEN, News-Record Writer smcmanamen@gillettenewsrecord.net
The repairs and upgrades planned for Gillette’s Fishing Lake at Dalbey Memorial Park could cost more than $4 million — a price tag the city hopes to slice with a $300,000 grant from the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust.Levi Jensen, civil engineer for Gillette, presented the benefits of the Fishing Lake project to Wildlife Trust board representative Gwyn McKee on Friday. McKee was visiting the site prior to the board’s meeting in December, when it will vote on what projects to fund across the state.
The Wildlife Trust was created by the state Legislature in 2005 to fund projects that improve wildlife habitat and natural resource values in Wyoming. Gillette’s grant application for the Fishing Lake project is only one of 33 applications the trust received this funding cycle.
McKee said the site visits are important in helping the board decide which projects to fund.
“We all know there is way more to a story than you can put in seven or eight or 10 pages (in a grant application),” McKee said. “So we go and visit every single project to make sure that we fully understand what each project is about.”
McKee said the vision of a long-term solution and a focus on improving wildlife habitat are strengths of the Fishing Lake project. But she added that the board also looks for projects with commitment from groups in the community.
The Fishing Lake collects the water from a 27,000-acre area surrounding Gillette and with it, all of the sediment and pollution from Gillette. The lake has needed an overhaul since the early 1990s and also needs improvements so the problems don’t happen again.
The project is part of the city’s plan to fix Gillette’s storm water infrastructure.
“The way I look at it, we are doing everything we can above and beyond what other communities in our area are doing for storm water quality,” Jensen said.
Project strengths
One key strength is the public’s use of the Fishing Lake.
“It is a community lake,” McKee said. “Whether they are fishing or whether they are just going out and enjoying the open space, (they are) being reminded of the wildlife and wildlife habitat and our role in maintaining that as citizens. To me those are the real strengths.”
The city is planning for a long-term solution to the sediment and pollution problems the Fishing Lake has had for the last 40 years.
Dredging the lake to make it deeper and cooler for the trout is only one aspect of the project. It has been dredged twice before and has needed it again since the early 1990s. The project entails:
- A sediment basin that periodically can be cleaned will be installed at the west end of the lake to collect the sediment before it reaches the lake.
- A functioning wetland with a series of ponds and marshes will be built, which will help remove pollutants before they reach the lake.
- The banks of the lake will be stabilized to keep them from eroding — a visible problem especially around the bridge.
- Improvements also will include a floating island and floating walkway built with recycled plastics that will remove pollutants, provide cover for fish and give birds a safe place to nest away from dogs.
The habitat improvement to the Fishing Lake are key to get wildlife trust support, McKee said.
Project problems
One problem that might keep the project from being approved is the limited number of partners the city has. McKee said the Wildlife Trust board prefers to fund projects that have several partners.
Right now the project involves the city, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, the Campbell County Conservation District, and there is interest from the group Ducks Unlimited to help with wetland planting, Jensen said.
The more groups and people in the community that are involved in the project, the better chance the city has of getting the grant, McKee said.
If the community would get involved and do things like help plant shrubs, "they would have more ownership in maintaining it,” McKee said.
The involvement of youth groups, classes from the school district, the college, or church groups would increase Gillette’s chances of getting the grant, McKee said. The Wildlife Trust Board will meet Dec. 14 in Wheatland to vote on projects.
Jensen is hopeful the city’s project will get funding, but said it will get done even if the Wildlife Trust decides not to award the city the grant. A contracted engineering firm is scheduled to finish the plans for the project in December and work will begin in the spring.
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common cents wrote on Nov 3, 2009 7:51 AM: