All options for lake aren't down the drain

Before Lower Girard Lake was built in 1917, the area was a wetland. One day, it may be restored to that status.
The lake is almost drained, part of Girard's efforts to figure out what it will do with the lake it paid millions for in the 1990s.
Plans the city had for the lakes and the property pretty much drowned when it was determined that the dam was in need of repairs and had to be either fixed or breached.
The likelihood of complete restoration of the dam and refilling the lake to its former level is close to nil.
However, there is one option on the table that could turn the lake area into a moneymaker and at least keep the land in a natural state -- wetland mitigation.
"This was my idea from the onset," said Girard Mayor James Melfi.
Decision is crucial
The mayor said that some sort of decision on what to do with the lake has to be made by the end of the year, and any project has to be completed -- not just started or in progress -- by May 2006 via a demand by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Melfi said that the wetland idea is intriguing in as much as such a project could create a bank of wetlands that local developers could withdraw from when wetland areas are destroyed during a construction project.
Melfi said the city could realize upwards of $20,000 an acre from developers looking to mitigate the wetlands they had to drain or otherwise destroy during building.
"Financially, it is a marvelous idea," Melfi said. "The city could gain considerable money."
The mayor said that the loss of the lake was unfortunate but that it had to be done.
"I know some people are mad at me," he said. "But even if my own mother lived there, the lake would have had to be drained."
Melfi said the city did its homework on the lake after being told to either breach or fix the dam.
"We were on top of it," he said. "We called the ODNR and asked them what to do. They said to let it drain." He added that the ODNR was not in a position to buy the lake or develop it as a state park.
Reason for draining
The draining began more than a year ago to reduce pressure on the 80-year-old concrete dam. Recent rains filled the lake again, and it could fill further if more heavy rains come.
Earlier in the week, there was speculation that thousands of fish that once inhabited the lake had been killed because of the dropping of the water level and the remaining fish were waiting for a similar outcome.
A very distressed and anonymous caller left a message recently on the answering machine of the Trumbull County Animal Welfare League pleading with the group to do something about the "thousands of dead" fish at the lake.
Barbara Busko, director of the organization, called recently and played the tape for me.
"I wanted you to know," she said.
A visit to the lake Tuesday found no fish carcasses. However, there were scores of large carp, some so large they were half in and half out of the shallow trickle that remained in the basin of the former lake
There was speculation that most of the reported dead fish had become dinner for predators but there was no evidence of this.
Even if there was evidence that there had been a massive fish kill, wildlife officials contacted said there was likely little anyone could do to remedy that situation.
City's options
Phil Hillman, fish management supervisor for the ODNR Division of Wildlife, said Girard is pretty much stuck with either fixing the dam at what would likely be a prohibitive expense or draining the lake, which it is doing.
Involvement by the DOW in nearly any aspect won't happen, he said, because of the high cost of buying the land.
On the topic of transferring the fish, Hillman said moving the fish would not have been feasible. The soft mud bottom of the lake would make catching and transferring them difficult. "You might have killed the workers before you moved the fish," he said, adding that many fish likely went out the dam's drain and downstream.
"Unfortunately, you go through a period where the dead and rotting carcasses smell," he said. "Eventually the process takes care of itself."
Reports aren't correct
Hillman said recent news reports indicating that Lower Girard Lake is considered a wildlife area and is therefore under the jurisdiction of the DOW are not true.
"That is incorrect," Hillman said. "It is not a wildlife area, it is a private lake and is owned by the city of Girard," he said. "We don't have any say-so."
Hillman, based at the DOW's District 3 office in Akron, said the situation involving the fish is "unfortunately, obviously."
He added that a wetland mitigation project -- a topic that has come up during discussions of the lake by Girard City Council -- would be a good idea.
"We've lost about 95 percent of our wetlands in Ohio," he said. "Losing a lake hurts, but getting a new wetland would be a good thing."
Melfi also said that the Upper Girard Lake, the larger of the two man-made bodies of water, will remain intact and that fishing there could be allowed again.
"It's been brought to the council's attention to try to bring some kind of fishing back to the upper lake," he said.
One possible idea, the mayor said, would be to allow one-day passes for shore fishing at the angler's own risk. Any such proposal, he said, would be discussed by council.
Braun@vindy.com