A fundraiser is underway to finance restoration of a waterway that’s a connection to two bays and a beach in the Iowa Great Lakes region..
“The lake was originally dredged in 1910. Islands have basically melted into the lake and then, of course, you have 114 years worth of sticks and leaves that have fallen in there, so the lake is becoming clogged,” said Tim Ireland of the Save Turtle Lake Committee. “The muck is pretty thick. That’s bad for navigation and for fish habitat.”
Ireland said Turtle Lake used to be a good fishing spot, but not with the level of sediment that’s there now. The Save Turtle Lake group has a little over $350,000 in pledges toward its goal of raising $750,000 for the project. Donations will be tax deductible. “If we reach the goal of $750,000, then the Okoboji Foundation will get a hold of everybody and start collecting those deals,” Ireland said, “and they’re the ones that provide the 501c3 tax deduction.”
The money will be used to dredge the lake and do some restoration along the shoreline. Turtle Lake connects to Miller’s Bay and Emerson Bay on West Lake Okoboji as well as Spencer Beach, which is near Wahpeton in Dickinson County.
(By, Ed Funston, KILR, Estherville)