Sylvan Lake restoration a success story

Indiana DNR Release:

ROME CITY – Armed with backpack sprayers, pumps, boats, and even a commercial crop-dusting airplane, the Department of Natural Resources conducted one of its most successful fishing restoration projects 25 years ago this week at Sylvan Lake, a 669-acre impoundment in northern Noble County.

On Sept. 19, 1984, fisheries biologists with the DNR Division of Fish and Wildlife began applying 4,000 gallons of rotenone, a chemical fish toxicant, to Sylvan Lake, its inlet ditches, and several lakes upstream, including Barr, Beck, Hall and Wible.

The purpose of the project was to remove an excessive population of carp, a non-native invasive fish species that had roiled the lake bed, muddied the water, destroyed fish habitat, and displaced sport fish. Ironically, carp were first brought to Indiana 100 years earlier in 1884 to stock in ponds in hopes of boosting meat production.

Once treated, Sylvan Lake was restocked with large mouth bass, bluegills, channel catfish, and walleyes.

Total cost of the Sylvan Lake project in 1984 dollars was about $125,000 and was funded by fishing license sales and the federal Sport Fish Restoration program.

Since then, the turnaround in water quality, fish habitat, fishing, and the overall economic value of the lake community has far exceeded that initial investment.

As a result, Sylvan Lake today is one of the most popular fishing lakes in northern Indiana. Anglers flock to the lake each year to catch bass and bluegills, progeny of those released back in 1984.

A 14-inch minimum size limit on bass, imposed at the time of the renovation, has helped protect small bass from over-harvest. Walleyes are still stocked in the lake each fall by the DNR Division of Fish and Wildlife. As recently as 2007, estimates are that anglers fished nearly 60,000 hours and took home more than 46,000 bluegills.

“The Sylvan Lake Restoration Project is a true success story and a great example of what professional fisheries managers can accomplish,” said Bill James, DNR’s chief of fisheries.

James credited the teamwork of his field biologists, hatchery managers, lake residents and town leaders for success of the project. Local residents coordinated a cleanup effort that sent over a million pounds of carp to a fertilizer plant.

“If anyone wants an example of what the DNR and Hoosier citizens can accomplish together, or how state investment in local communities and outdoor recreation opportunities can pay big dividends, I’ll mention Sylvan Lake every time,” he said.