Mirror Lake gets grant to study soil runoff
By Anna Krejci, Dells Events
A state Department of Natural Resources grant for studying the sediment run off from gullies surrounding Mirror Lake has been approved and an engineering study is under way for future repairs to the Mirror Lake dam.
Some of the Mirror Lake association’s 170 members gathered at Ishnala Supper Club Saturday for an annual meeting and got updates on improvements to the lake.
The Mirror Lake Management District had been soliciting community support in an application for funding for DNR grant money for study of the sediment running into Mirror Lake from nearby gullies. According to Cathy Sperl, Mirror Lake Association secretary and Mirror Lake Management District board member, the management district received a $10,000 grant from the DNR for the study. The Mirror Lake Management District is contributing to that sum with another $5,000. The total invested in the study is $15,000.
According to Mirror Lake Association President Mark Blakeslee, the Sauk County Land and Water Conservation Department will fund the work performed that comes out of the study. The county will pay 70 percent of the costs, and private landowners are expected to pay 30 percent.
Blakeslee said the sand on the shoreline is creeping into the lake down the gullies and forming small deltas.
“What we want to do is stop the deltas from forming. We’re not going to stop all the erosion,” he said.
The Mirror Lake Association has a small budget. Most funds come from membership dues and the projected 2009-2010 budget is a little more than $3,000. The biggest expense out of its general operational account is the production and circulation of a newsletter.
But Blakeslee said the association is willing to subsidize some of the cost to landowners around the lake for work to be done.
The association is also concerned with the maintenance to be performed on the Mirror Lake dam. Attendees at the meeting heard a presentation from Steve Koenig of the Sauk County Parks Department who is working with Ayres Associates out of Eau Claire on the dam’s repairs.
Koenig said the dam is inspected every 10 years and a plan is in place to repair dam components, develop a dam failure analysis, an emergency action plan and inspection, operation and maintenance plan for the structure.
Koenig said the county is waiting on an engineering study from Ayres Associates to determine the projected cost of maintenance before funds can be allocated for the project in the county’s next budget cycle. He said it’s likely that actual dam repairs would begin in the fall of 2010.
Attendees at the meeting heard short presentations from representatives of the Mirror Lake Management District, Mirror Lake State Park, Friends of Mirror Lake State Park, the Seth Peterson Conservancy and the Delton Sportsmen’s Club.
Blakeslee acknowledged the cooperation among the groups to make Mirror Lake thrive.
“Between us and other groups — the friends, the conservancy, the Delton’s Sportsman’s Club and the DNR and state park — I think this lake is lucky that we’re all here to help it,” he said.