Work protects Icaria investment

Where Lake Icaria’s clarity used to be measured in inches, it’s now measured in feet. Before, you could only see down six inches in the murky waters of the southwestern Iowa lake. Now, following work in the watershed and in the lake, you can watch your toes wiggle when standing in waist-deep water.

Landowners set out in 1996 to improve the lake as part of the Adams County Three Lakes Project. In the past decade, landowners have changed how they farm to improve water quality. Farmers reduce erosion by using new ways to till fields. They’ve put terraces in their fields to slow erosion and changed the way they manage manure. All this work aims to keep soil, nutrients and bacteria out of the lake, allowing restoration to begin.

“Local leadership was instrumental in completing the project,” said Gary Sobotka, a DNR fisheries biologist who helped with the restoration. “The relationship of a protected watershed to good water quality and good water quality to increased economic activity kept the community excited about the possibilities for Icaria.”

With work in the watershed in place, the DNR moved ahead with restoration efforts in the lake in 2004. At Lake Icaria, in-lake work has helped protect 10,000 feet of shoreline from erosion. Anglers will notice four new fishing jetties, repaired jetties and a repaired main boat ramp, as well as a renovated fishery and restocked lake.

The DNR also placed 12 underwater rock mounds to attract fish for anglers. The watershed work, by improving the quality of water entering the lake, protects the investment of in-lake improvements. With restoration complete, the results of that investment are clear.

“Aquatic insects – the foundation for the food chain – have flourished, resulting in a dramatic increase in everything that depends upon them from fish, to songbirds, to waterfowl. In many ways the entire ecosystem has been reborn,” said Bob Waters, the regional coordinator of watershed projects in western Iowa.

Since Lake Icaria completely refilled in the spring of 2007, the water is remarkably clearer – generally, a person can see three feet down in the water, sometimes up to six feet. With an improved lake, anglers, campers and other park visitors are taking notice.

“Fishing has improved and park staff expect 2008 to be the busiest season ever,” said Sobotka.

Read more about watershed improvement successes in 2007 (*.pdf)

Learn more about organizing your own watershed improvement project

Future successes: learn about current improvement projects

Read brochures about watershed improvement projects

DNR Contact
Allen Bonini
(515) 281-5107
Allen.Bonini@dnr.iowa.gov