Yellowwood Lake dredging project resumes Monday

Indiana DNR Release:

A Department of Natural Resources dredging project that will extend Yellowwood Lake’s useful life and improve boater access to the campsites once completed is scheduled to resume Monday, Sept. 21.

The project on the 130-acre lake, which was constructed in 1938, near Nashville, Ind., by the Works Project Administration (WPA), began last year when DNR conducted a dry dredging operation. Material was removed from the lakebed and placed on the shore. Approximately 5 acres of 10-feet-thick sediment was removed.

The project was necessary because the upper end of the lake had been filling in with sediment since it was built, a process that happens to most man-made lakes.

Starting Monday, most of the sediment from the project will be moved across the road to a clearing. Once that process is completed, workers will grade the surface and restore lakeside recreation on the lakeshore site in an elevated area. DNR anticipates opening the area in fall 2010.

DNR plans to complete removal of silt from the lakebed by Nov. 1. Additional fishing structures will be added to the lakebed before the lake is allowed to fill.