Shoreline work at MWCD

You may remember that last fall I ran information from Muskingum Watershed about shoreline stabilization projects at several lakes. Here's information from them on how the work went:

As spring and summer arrive at the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) reservoirs, visitors will notice that shoreline projects at many lake locations have been completed over the past few weeks.

"Nearly two miles of shoreline has been protected and restored at four reservoirs this winter after the completion of more than 20 individual stabilization projects that cost more than $1.2 million, according to Boris E. Slogar, MWCD chief engineer. 

“The shorelines have been eroding for many years and this winter the MWCD began the most ambitious program in the conservancy district’s history to protect the shorelines,” Slogar said. “Even more important, this is an ongoing program that is part of the routine maintenance of the reservoirs to ensure their continued effective performance for years to come.”

 The MWCD projects were completed at:

 Atwood Reservoir – 11 projects at $399,157

Charles Mill Reservoir – 4 projects at $201,300

Seneca Reservoir – 7 projects at $365,957

Tappan Reservoir – 4 projects at $255,795

 Some of the projects were completed by MWCD staff members and others were completed by private contractors that were awarded contracts for the work through the public bidding process.

 The MWCD also removed more than 1,000 tires, furniture and other debris from all of its reservoirs during the winter months.

 The MWCD announced last year that nearly 500 individual sites are in need of varying amounts of shoreline improvements. A team of MWCD engineering staff members has been using innovative mapping and aerial photographic technology to review the 300 total miles of shoreline at the reservoirs. The work that has been identified would cover about 24 miles worth of shoreline at the 10 MWCD lakes.

 The work is paid for through the MWCD’s funds collected from property owners in the Muskingum River Watershed who receive identified benefits from the Amendment to the Official Plan of the MWCD that calls for maintenance and rehabilitation in the system of flood-reduction and water conservation reservoirs and dams in the region. Two of the projects – one each at Seneca and Tappan reservoirs – received grant funding from the State of Ohio’s Clean Ohio Grant Fund program.

 Planning already is under way for projects for the 2011-12 winter season, with the goal of another 20 to 30 projects to be completed. Projects likely will include work at Clendening, Piedmont and Pleasant Hill reservoirs, as well as work at other reservoirs to be done by MWCD crews.

For more information about the MWCD, visit www.mwcd.org.

MWCD lake cleanup efforts

The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District has been taking advantage of winter drawdowns and shoreline erosion control projects to do some cleanup of debris at the various lakes. It's sad to see how much trash winds up in our lakes and streams, but it's especially depressing to see how much come from fishermen, who should be guardians of natural areas, not despoilers.
I'm talking, of course, about the amount of fishing line collected from lakes. It's inevitable that small amounts of line will wind up in lakes from anglers, mostly because of line broken off on snags but how many times have you hooked onto large clumps of discarded line, or seen yards of it draped in trees along the shore?
If you have to remove a lot of line from a reel, for whatever reason, don't dump it in the lake, take it home with you and dispose of it with your other trash or, better yet, deposit it in one of the line recycling bins you can sometimes find at bait shops or tackle stores:
Anyway, here's the news release MWCD put put out about the cleanup efforts.
More than 1,000 old tires and 20 dumpsters full of trash have been removed over the past few weeks from the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) reservoirs.
Staff members from the MWCD have been removing tires and other trash and debris from inside the reservoirs and along the shorelines at Atwood, Clendening, Charles Mill, Leesville, Piedmont, Pleasant Hill, Seneca, Tappan and Wills Creek reservoirs.
The MWCD has partnered with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) for the removal of the tires for recycling. John Bird, MWCD’s lake ranger supervisor who oversaw the work, said that the winter months offer the ideal setting for the cleanup projects since the lake levels have been reduced as usual.
“This was a complete team effort with MWCD staff members from our parks and other facilities working together to remove the old tires and the trash,” Bird said. “Tires in the lakes that we find usually have either been discarded illegally or were part of old boat docks that fell into disrepair or were abandoned.”
Some of the items removed from the reservoirs and around the shorelines include:
* Metal posts, pipe, wheel rims and other discarded metals that will be recycled.
* Car seats, chairs, household furniture, televisions, bed mattresses and plastic drums.
* Old tools
* A car engine
* Thousands of feet of discarded monofilament fishing line (this can be extremely harmful to fish, waterfowl and other wildlife, as well as presenting problems for boats when caught around propellers).
Bird said that the work also has helped MWCD staff members identify areas where dumping occurred that now will be gated off for more limited access for such illegal activities.
The work is part of a busy winter for the MWCD, which also has been working on shoreline stabilization and erosion control projects at numerous reservoirs
For more information about the MWCD, visit www.mwcd.org.

MWCD shoreline projects

I mentioned before that the reason for some of the extra draw-down at some of the Muskingum Watershed lakes this winter is to control slides or other shoreline erosion. Here's the release MWCD issued to describe what's being done:

Nearly 500 individual sites in need of varying amounts of shoreline improvements have been identified at the reservoirs managed by the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD).
A team of MWCD engineering staff members has been using some innovative mapping and aerial photographic technology to review the 300 total miles of shoreline at the reservoirs and reports that improvements are needed at an estimated 480 locations. The work would cover about 24 miles worth of shoreline at the 10 MWCD lakes.
“The reservoirs in the system of dams and reservoirs in the Muskingum River Watershed are now more than 70 years old and anyone who has taken a boat ride at a lake or views the shorelines from the road can see the effects of eroding shorelines,” said Boris E. Slogar, MWCD chief engineer. “The MWCD has talked for many years about the need to improve its shorelines to protect the benefits of flood-risk management and water conservation that the reservoirs provide in the watershed.
"This technology enables our staff and the public to recognize the urgency to prepare a prioritization plan and begin this important work of stabilizing the shoreline areas.”
The work is scheduled to begin in upcoming weeks as a total of 23 shoreline stabilization projects at four reservoirs estimated to cost around $1.5 million will be handled between December 2010 and April 2011, Slogar said.
Work is scheduled at the following reservoirs this winter:

Atwood Reservoir – 9 projects
Charles Mill Reservoir – 4 projects
Seneca Reservoir – 7 projects
Tappan Reservoir – 2 projects

Work already under way at Pleasant Hill Reservoir will continue, he said.
“A number of these project sites are located near roads or other important sites that eventually could threaten the continued safe access of the highways, bridges or other structures,” Slogar said. “The site at Pleasant Hill Reservoir, which we identified as the highest priority of all of the MWCD reservoirs last year, threatens several homes if it is not addressed.”
The work will be paid for through the MWCD’s funds collected from property owners in the Muskingum River Watershed who receive identified benefits from the Amendment to the Official Plan of the MWCD that calls for maintenance and rehabilitation in the system of flood-reduction and water conservation reservoirs and dams in the region.
Work is expected to be identified, prioritized and handled yearly as part of the ongoing maintenance needs in the reservoirs, which originally were constructed in the 1930s and have been suffering from the effects of normal erosion for many years.
Much of the information used in the MWCD’s review of the eroded shorelines came through updated aerial imagery that was produced earlier this year.
“This imagery assisted our staff in reviewing all aspects of these sites, and it was completed in a timely manner to provide us with up-to-date data for planning purposes,” Slogar said.
A total cost estimate for all of the 480 identified sites has not been developed, he said.
The MWCD, a political subdivision of the state, was organized in 1933 to develop and implement a plan to reduce flooding and conserve water for beneficial public uses in the Muskingum River Basin, the largest wholly contained watershed in Ohio. Since their construction, the reservoirs and dams in the MWCD region have been credited for saving more than $8 billion worth of potential property damage from flooding, according to the federal government. The reservoirs are managed by the MWCD and the dams are managed for flood-risk management by the federal U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).
For more information about the MWCD, visit www.mwcd.org