Open up the lake area

Open up the lake area

EDITOR:

I recently presented a statement to the Girard City Council urging that the Upper Girard Lake area, which has been closed for several years now, be opened for public use.

Girard Councilman Mike Costarella gave a separate recommendation on the lake’s status at the meeting and agreed with some of what I had said, emphasizing that the public does have a right to use the area as it is picking up the monetary tab for its support.

Although I was given ample time to submit my remarks and was treated very courteously, I didn’t sense a great deal of support for what either Mr. Costarella or I said. One councilman cited all the trouble the city has already had with the lower lake’s dam.

Costarella basically said that the lake’s level, which has been held very low during the repairs to the lower lake’s dam, could now be raised appreciably since that work is complete. A higher lake level would enhance its use for boating, especially fishing.

I am not a serious fisherman, and in my remarks I suggested the creation of a hiking trail along the eastern shore of the lake in order to encourage a more “active” public usage of the lake than just fishing. I believe such a trail would be a very viable alternative, for example, to nearby boring “mall walking.”

I said that as result of three foot-slogging visits to the lake, I found that by following existing ATV trails, I could hike from the dam to the end of the lake at Niles-Vienna Road and back in about three hours. This is a distance of about three miles as the crow flies, but (not being a crow) I had to follow the lake’s irregular shoreline.

During these fairly pleasant walks, I saw bald eagles, an osprey (also called a fish hawk), deer, and numerous waterfowl (including cormorants) and shorebirds. Fish jumped in the lake as I walked by, and I passed through fields of golden rod, jewel weed, thistle and other tall weeds as well as through stands of bright yellow wildflowers.

At a couple of points, I did stray into the adjacent woods and found walking there very difficult due to thick growth resulting from past timbering.

I told Mr. Costarella that although a hiking and, of course, dog walking jogging and skiing trail along the eastern shore of the lake might be feasible, such a project would not be possible if the lake were raised some eight feet to its previous high mark where it lapped at the edge of the woods.

But raising the lake by a modest amount would both further boating on the lake and still allow creation of what I believe would be a fine hiking trail for those Trumbull County residents who enjoy both nature and health-promoting outdoor exercise.

I read recently that Brattleboro, Vermont, a city almost exactly the same size as Girard, has developed public hiking and skiing trails on 400 acres of nearby forest and farmland.

ROBERT R. STANGER

Boardman