lake cunningham

[jlehn]

Cunningham to be refilled in 4 months
BY CHELSEA KEENEY
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER


Attention, boaters: Cunningham Lake should be ready for recreational use by late summer.



Cunningham Lake is expected to be ready for boaters by late summer. Renovation work has been completed on 99 percent of the 350-acre northwest Omaha lake. Waterfowl and semiaquatic vegetation are expected to flourish in the Pawnee Wetlands at the north end of the lake. The wetlands should be finished in early 2009.

"About 99 percent of the reservoir is done," said Randy Winter, aquatic habitat program manager for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

He said the last part of the lake portion of the project was seeding and planting disturbed areas and refilling the lake, which should take about four months.

It will take a few years to develop the lake's fish population, he said.

The total cost of rehabilitating Cunningham Lake, including design and engineering costs, excavation costs and the building of a sediment weir, will be between $6.5 million and $7 million, Winter said.

That cost includes the $1.5 million Pawnee Wetlands, to be completed by early 2009.

Winter said the Pawnee Wetlands will be about 100 acres of standing water that will filter sediment out of the watershed before it reaches the lake.

Who does what at Cunningham Lake? The lake and the dam are owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission manages the water.

The area around the lake is maintained by the City of Omaha.
The wetlands will be located on the northern end of the lake and be home to waterfowl and semiaquatic vegetation.

The Cunningham Lake and Pawnee Wetlands projects have been funded by a mix of local, state and federal funds, Winter said.

Rehabilitation of the 350-acre northwest Omaha lake has taken more than eight years to complete. Draining of the lake began in April 2006, and the park has been closed to visitors since April 2007.

One of the biggest changes to the lake was the removal of about 440,000 cubic yards of silt from the lake bed, Winter said.

The removal of the silt increased the lake's average depth between 4 and 6 inches, he said.

"The (change in) average depth isn't going to be that significant," he said. "Where we've done it has made a world of difference, though."

Increasing the depth in the shallower areas makes it harder for waves to dredge up silt from the lakebed and cloud the water. Winter said the northern end of the lake was the most affected by wave erosion.

Jeff Jackson, district fisheries manager for the Game and Parks Commission, said a sediment weir will be built to slow the water enough to dump the sediment before it gets into the lake.

"A considerable amount of work on the main lake has been done, so we want to preserve that work" by keeping sediment levels low, Jackson said.

The sediment weir won't be completed until spring of 2009, he said.

Fishermen can expect the lake to be stocked with walleye, largemouth bass, bluegill, channel catfish and crappie, Jackson said.

Because crappie and bluegill dwell near irregular shorelines, Winter said, the additional shoreline will help the fish population in the lake.

Winter said he expected the water clarity to double or triple because of the removal of silt from the lakebed, the sediment weir, the stabilization of shorelines — with four offshore breakwaters — and the addition of the wetlands to filter out some of the silt entering Cunningham Lake from the Little Papillion Creek.

The Little Papillion Creek is the lake's main source of water.

Winter said Cunningham Lake now boasts 43,635 feet of shoreline, an increase of about 16,000 feet, due to the addition of the offshore breakwaters.

With all of the improvements, Winter said he expects the lake to have another 50 or 60 years of usage and maybe up to 100 years if properly regulated.

None of the camping, bathroom or playground equipment has been replaced yet, said Steve Scarpello, city parks director.

He said $350,000 in upgrades would be done over the summer, including new signs at entrances, upgraded portable toilets and new grills and picnic tables.

Scarpello said the renovation of the marina should be complete in the summer of 2009.

He said there are no funds available to improve the trails around the lake, and planners have chosen not to allow swimming.

Joan Martig, who lives on the east end of the lake near 84th Street, said Cunningham Lake was largely ignored for many years.

"The city didn't take care of it," she said. "It was really abused."

Martig, 78, said the area around the lake was muddy and overrun with weeds.

She said she is looking forward to watching the lake refill with water, people and sailboats.

"I think they are correcting so many problems," she said.

[jimbosan]

[DiscoStu]

Arg, i want it done now!

[LiquidSteel]

Originally Posted by DiscoStu

Arg, i want it done now!

[BoB_25]