Yellowwood Lake dredging project resumes

Indiana DNR Release:

The Department of Natural Resources has resumed work on a dredging project at Yellowwood Lake that will extend the lake’s useful life and improve access for boating and fishing.

The project on the 130-acre lake in Yellowwood State Forest near Nashville began in 2008 when DNR conducted a dry dredging operation. Since the lake’s construction in 1938 by the Works Project Administration (WPA), the upper end of the lake has been filling with sediment, a process that happens to most man-made lakes.

Approximately five acres of 10-feet-thick sediment was removed from the lakebed and placed on the shore. Many acres remain to be treated. Most of the sediment from the project is being moved across the road to a clearing. Once the sediment is removed and dried, workers will begin grading and shaping the surface to restore lakeside recreation.

Operations were suspended in 2009 due to extremely wet weather. DNR plans to complete this year’s removal of silt from the lakebed by Nov. 1.

The overall project should be completed by the fall of 2011 if conditions allow.