PLAN PRESENTED FOR RENOVATION OF HORSESHOE LAKE

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- An Illinois Department of Natural Resources team has recommended an ecological restoration plan for Horseshoe Lake.

The 1,965-acre lake near Olive Branch is filling with sediment at a rate of about a half inch a year. If it continues at that rate, the average depth of the lake is projected to be a foot by 2018, said John Tranquilli of the department's regional office in Benton.

As a result, aquatic vegetation, fish, fauna and flora are declining.

The team -- with representatives from fisheries, engineering, conservation, wildlife, forestry and nature preserve agencies -- has been working with residents of the area the past five years to devise a plan.

The plan has four parts with a price tag of $2.5 million that would come from federal and state sources. Sixty-five percent of the money would come from the federal government.

Horseshoe Lake has never been deep. It ranges from about 3 to 6 feet and has become shallower over the past five years.

The study started in 1993 to assess wetland, archaeological and biological resources so that critical habitats could be avoided in areas affected by restoration.

The proposal's four major parts:

-- Grants for watershed protection measures to private landowners along Pigeon Roost and Black creeks.

-- Development of a 145-acre in-lake sediment basin at the upper end of the lake to trap stream sediment.

-- Temporarily draw down the water level in the Miller City arm for sediment consolidation, island-building and tree-planting projects.

-- Dredge a 35-acre area near the dam to restore deep-water habitat.

Although not set at this time, a public meeting may be held in Olive Branch between Nov. 15 and Dec. 15 to provide the public an opportunity to comment on the project. More details on the meeting will be announced later.

Landowners would be contacted in the first phase of the program by the Natural Resources Conservation District of Alexander-Pulaski counties about planting a buffer strip along stream banks, installing water erosion control structures, stream bank improvements and fencing to keep livestock out of streams. That work would be done on a cost-share basis.

The second phase would involve development of the in-lake sediment basin east of the existing causeway and redirection of two streams to enter the lake within that area. The second phase would included construction of a canal to join the flow of the two creeks into the settling basin, a water flow structure on Black Creek, a new bridge on the Miller City Road, a new earthen causeway across the lake, and an outflow weir in the causeway.

The basin would have a trap efficiency of 88 percent, said Tranquilli, and the capacity to store 200 years of sediment.

The third phase would include temporarily draining and drawing down the Miller City arm of Horseshoe Lake to re-establish cypress and tupelo trees and consolidate bottom sediments to allow rooted aquatic plants. Approximately 750 trees were planted in that area during low water last winter, but fewer than half survived.

The final phase would include dredging 35 acres near the dam at the south end of the lake to restore some high quality fish habit and open boating channels to both arms of the lake. The 45-acre spill basin would be put west of the dam. The spill levees would be shaped to fit naturally into the landscape.

Additional details concerning the plan are available by contacting John Tranquilli at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources regional office at Benton or by contacting Ken Litchfield at the Realty and Environmental Planning Office in Springfield.