Hyde Lake water level stabilized
Thousand Islands Sun
First published: May 25, 2005
Aaron Sirek, Jeremy Dollinger, Eagle Scout candidate, and Sean McCarthy, from left, plant some of the willow saplings.
After 35 years, the Save Hyde Lake Association was able to bring its long awaited stream restoration project to a close Saturday, May 21, with the planting of over 900 willow saplings along the banks of the stream at the outlet of Hyde Lake in Theresa.
The saplings were planted as part of the Eagle Scout project of Jeremy Dollinger, Mattydale Troop 607 of the Hiawatha Seaway Council of the Boy Scouts of America. This was the last step in a stream restoration project that used a new design concept unique to Jefferson County and designed to solve the problems associated with the fluctuating water levels of the lake.
Save Hyde Lake Association president, Joyce Schell, of Weedsport, notes: " It is gratifying to know that everyone's efforts to preserve and protect Hyde Lake have finally been realized and that we can now move on to other goals. One of the highlights of this project is that it exemplifies the accomplishments that can be achieved when multiple interest groups such as a government agency, a private organization, private landowners and a youth organization work together in a positive way."
Hyde Lake is one of the smallest of the Indian River Lakes. Cottage owners and residents on the lake have been contending with fluctuating water levels since the late 1960's when a small stream at the outlet of the lake was channelized for agricultural purposes, eventually leading to erosion at the outlet and allowing the 20-foot deep lake to drain up to four feet. Lakeside landowners worked endlessly year after year to buttress the expanding breech with sandbags, hay bails and other natural materials while beaver helped to temporarily stabilize the lake levels.
The Save Hyde Lake Association was incorporated in the 1980's in hopes that it would help members in their search for aid from local and state government agencies and environmental organizations. It wasn't until 2003 that the association received a commitment from the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service to assist in its endeavor to stabilize the water level of Hyde Lake and restore its wetlands with a project to restore the stream to its previous state.
Through its " Partners for Fish & Wildlife Program " the U.S Fish & Wildlife Service formed a partnership with the Save Hyde Lake Association and private landowners, Robert Funda of Redwood, and Steve and Neil Wilson of Theresa. The Partners for Fish & Wildlife Program is a voluntary program to help protect, enhance and restore wildlife habitat. The program is designed to provide landowners on privately owned (non-federal) lands with technical and financial assistance to restore fish and wildlife habitats. The Save Hyde Lake Association and the Wildlife Service shared the cost of the $20,000 project. It took the association approximately two years to raise funds from its 50 members, gather necessary information including surveys, and to proceed through the permit application processes.
The U.s. Fish & Wildlife Service designed and implemented the project during February and March 2005, while the wetland was frozen enough to support heavy construction equipment. Joyce Schell recalls the words of Carl Schwartz, coordinator of the Partners for Fish & Wildlife Program, Cortland, after his first visit to the site nearly two years ago, " The beaver have already done an adequate job of engineering a system. Let’s recreate it with materials that won’t erode. "
This led Schwartz to use the design technique of fluvial geomorphology. " It is the science of stream movement, including water, bed load and how the pattern, profile and dimensions of streams work, he said. Applying this science and including some art is how stream restoration works. It is using a natural, stable stream as a model for restoring a stream that has been degraded." This is what makes the restoration project of Hyde Lake unique. " There are fewer than a dozen completed projects in the state using fluvial geomorphology and only a handful that have used PVC sheetpile as part of a wetland restoration project," he said.
Slightly downstream from the original dam at the lake outlet is where the stream restoration begins. It includes the construction of a weir, a dam-like structure, expanding 90 feet from one bank of the stream to the other. Twelve-foot lengths of PVC sheet piling were installed into the ground to a height of 6 feet in order to help retain the water of the lake. They are reinforced on both sides with 280 tons of fist-sized limestone rocks. A spillway allows excess water to flow over the rocks, slowing it down and reducing its energy.
The water then travels with less velocity about 50 feet farther downstream to a cross vane. The cross vane was constructed across the streambed in a " u " shape using two layers of huge limestone slabs that slope upward along the banks. Schwartz was on site to see that each slab was positioned in a specific place and angle. This will take more energy out of the water and will force it to gently fold into the center as it continues to flow downstream. Slowing down the flow of the water will allow the stream to deposit soil and promote vegetational growth, eventually filling itself back in as close to its natural state before it was degraded." In two years, the shrubs will be growing along the banks and much of the rock will be colored to blend in with the setting. It will be barely visible from the road and you will have to know the cross vane is there to see it," says Schwartz.
Fifteen-year-old Eagle Scout candidate, Jeremy Dollinger, of Cicero, chose to help the lake association plant the willow saplings along the stream bands and apply clay soil among the rocks of the weir as his Eagle Scout project. Although Jeremy, his fellow scouts and leaders traveled 90 mils to see his project through, Hyde Lake is not an unfamiliar area to him. As a youngster he spent many weekends at Hyde Lake visiting his grandparents at their cottage. His grandfather, now deceased, was a charter member of the Save Hyde Lake Association and worked laboriously to stabilize the water levels of the lake. " This project has more meaning to me because I am finishing something that my grandfather worked toward for over 25 years," said Jeremy.
Posted with permission from the Thousand Islands Sun.