LAKE WORK AHEAD OF SCHEDULE

Thanks to a little help from Mother Nature, Jackson's Rotary Lake is set to reopen this spring full of water, full of fish and ready for visitors.

Residents shouldn't hang out the "Gone Fishin'" signs just yet, though.

Work began on the improvements in early July and officials didn't expect the lake to reopen until sometime during the summer or fall of this year. However, heavy rains like one which added 10 feet of water to the lake in a single November day have pushed the project ahead of schedule.

"I really didn't anticipate having the lake back at full pool stage until spring but it was at full pool by mid-December," said Dave Reiminger, Jackson city alderman and chair of the city's lake renovation committee.

Reiminger is anticipating an April dedication of Rotary Lake with its new rock border and handicap-accessible dock but fishing will not be allowed until 1998 in order to give recently-stocked fish a chance to grow.

"The lake had become a distressing eyesore," said Reiminger, explaining that sediment deposits had made the pool so shallow that algae forming on the bottom was quickly floating to the surface and covering it.

"We've now got the lake deeper than its original depth and we've covered the bank with rip-rap so that should prevent the washout of the bank and sediment formation on the bottom," said Reiminger, who noted that at its deepest point, Rotary Lake now has a depth of around 16 feet.

About 15,000 cubic yards of sediment were removed from the lake's bottom during the summer. Reiminger said 1,244 tons of rock rip-rap were placed around the bank to help prevent this kind of sediment build-up in the future.

After sediment removal ended in early August, the lake's drain valve was once again closed and work was begun to create fish habitat. Wooden boxes and old Christmas trees were placed around the bottom as part of this process.

With the facility nearly full by early November, the Missouri Department of Conservation stocked the pool with catfish and bluegill. In order to give these fish a chance to grow, bass will not be stocked until mid-summer. Park officials hope to have the facility re-opened for fishing in January of 1998.

Total cost of the project was $90,000. The city anticipates receiving a $36,000 Missouri Department of Conservation grant to reimburse the cost of sediment removal and construction of the handicapped dock.