Group celebrates completion of Ventura Marsh project

    A job well done. 
    That was the message as the completion of the Ventura Marsh Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Project was celebrated Tuesday, Nov. 1.  A ribbon cutting was held at the site of the $5 million project. The marsh restoration project was a partnership between the IDNR and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

    The project included the demolition of the existing outlet structure, construction of a new emergency spillway and a pump station with an outlet to Clear Lake and dredging of a channel from the deepest section of the marsh to the pump station.
    According to CLEAR Project Director David Knoll, the sediment will be pumped to a new containment site located behind the DNR wildlife office in Ventura. The channel is the deepest (10 feet) and widest (100 feet) at the pump station, and then gets more shallow and narrow as it extends out into the marsh,  approximately 1,250 feet.  Its principal goal is to restore Ventura Marsh by achieving water level control of the marsh. The overall health of the marsh greatly influences the condition of Clear Lake. Experts say the marsh contributes up to 40 percent of the annual sediment loading the lake receives.
    The Marsh Restoration Project followed the dredging of the west end of Clear Lake, also known as the “little lake.”  The combination of the work has resulted in vast improvements in lake water quality and clarity, according to Knoll and Mike McGhee, lake restoration project coordinator for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
    At the August meeting of the Association for the Preservation of Clear Lake, Knoll and McGhee both - Read More Via e-Edition