POWERS LAKE – It is a one-of-a-kind project for North Dakota. It is groundbreaking, precedent setting, lengthy and rewarding. Plenty of eyes are keenly watching the progress and monitoring the results. Powers Lake is in the midst of being rescued.

The Burke County community has long boasted one of the finest recreational lakes in the state. Proof can be found in a 1965 photograph of 3,500 people lining the shore of Powers Lake to watch a performance by Lake Metigoshe’s Skinatiques.

Boating, water skiing and fishing has long been part of living in the Powers Lake region. But an aging lake plagued by a growing influx of runoff carrying a heavy nutrient load eventually became so algae laden that the community’s showcase was reduced to repulsive status.

“In the 1980s and ’90s, the water quality kept going down and pretty soon no one was using the lake,” said Jake Douts. “Over a cup of coffee the project started in June of 1999 and we’ve gone from there. It’s been a long project but it’s been a very good project and it’s going to be beneficial. It already is.”

Douts is one of the early volunteers who took a lead role in attempting to return Powers Lake to what it once was, a body of water that was a valued showpiece and recreational asset to the community. Citizens were understandably skeptical about the possibility of ridding the lake of algae, particularly toxic blue-green algae. It had never been done, or attempted, in North Dakota. One estimated cost of the project was nearly $100 million.

Dennis Dosch, a former vocational agriculture teacher at Powers Lake school, and the local chapter of Future Farmers of America did the initial testing of water and soil at the lake. Armed with those results, they met with community people who were thinking that they too would like to see the water quality of Powers Lake improved.

“I told the kids when we started that the project will outlast me,” said Dosch. “We keyed in on the fact that there is a lot of sediment in our lake that is high in nutrients that’s causing algae problems and water clarity issues. We keyed in on the watershed first. We thought that if we could reduce the amount of pollutants that inflow into our lake, it would help our lake in the long run.”

Following the advice of the State Health Department and several other agencies, a grass roots effort began to believe that the impossible could be done – that a 1,600 acre lake could undergo a dramatic change from an algae-laden eyesore to a popular recreation spot once again. It was a huge undertaking.

Eventually, a two-phase plan was developed to reverse a trend that was continuing to degrade water quality in Powers Lake. Phase I was to address the issues of the watershed, to reduce the amount of nutrient-laden sediment that was entering the lake. Phase II would be the actual dredging of sediment from the bottom of the lake.

“We spent 10 years, basically, making improvements in the watershed,” said Dosch. “We started getting landowners and producers to come on board and make some changes in the type of agriculture practices that they were carrying on.”

Improvements included the construction of nine dams in various drainages leading into Powers Lake. The dams serve the purpose of retaining sediment while letting cleaner water enter the lake. Nearly 1,000 acres of grassland was planted along the lake, much of it where cropland existed previously. The changes have resulted in far fewer nutrients flowing down the watershed and into Powers Lake. Without additional nutrients, and particularly phosphorus upon which toxic blue-green algae feeds, water quality in Powers Lake began to improve.

“We’ve had lots of landowners that have been very helpful to us,” said Douts. “Without that our project would have gone no place.”

“We’ve had tremendous support in this community. People in this community have really embraced this project,” said Dosch. “It started out as a grass-roots project and it is still a grass-roots project. We are seeing improvement in our lake.”

Kenny MacDonald, coordinator for the Powers Lake Watershed Project, agrees with Dosch.

“Our visibility has increased. Total suspended solids has gone down,” said Dosch. “The one thing that has stayed up is the phosphorus. The reason is that the phosphorus is attached to the sediment that is in the lake.”

According to MacDonald, the goal of the Watershed Project was to reduce the amount of nutrients entering Powers Lake by 50 percent and then to reduce the amount of phosphorus in the lake by 50 percent. It was thought that reaching those goals would result in a major difference in water quality in Powers Lake. Today, after making significant changes to the watershed, progress is evident.

“In 2004 when I started, for the first couple of years, we had bad algae outbreaks in early June. Now they are getting later in the summer instead of earlier and earlier,” said MacDonald. “It’s more of a natural cycle. We had to stop what’s coming in before dredging can take place.”

The Powers Lake Watershed Project has twice received funding through Federal 319 grants of the Clean Water Act. The two grants totaled over $700,000 on a 60/40 matching basis. Remarkably, Powers Lake area residents met the challenge, much of it through volunteer labor.

“It was started by the people of Powers Lake and the people have stayed with this project and backed this project,” remarked Douts.

The city has become so encouraged by results and progress that they recently purchased a dredge so that Phase II of the project could get under way.

“It’s easier to see something happening when you see a dredge,” said Douts. “We know we’ve been doing a lot in the watershed but a lot of people don’t see that.”

Powers Lake purchased a newly built dredge in Glendive, Mont. Plans are to put the dredge into service on the lake yet this year, perhaps as early as this week. Sediment from the bottom of the lake will be pumped to a holding area near the lake where it will dry out. The sediment has been tested and found suitable for removal and storage.

“It’s pretty much like the natural soil on the land, approximately what the county average is,” explained Mac Donald. “There’s no contaminants and no health hazards involved in it. It’s a rich soil.”

Plans are to spread the soil back onto cropland in the area where it’s rich nutrient content will prove beneficial to growers. With runoff problems already addressed, the chances of the sediment and its nutrient load returning to the lake are very minimal.

The dredge cuts an eight-foot swath on the lake bottom, meaning it may take several years of operation to remove a significant amount of sediment from Powers Lake. However, with water quality already improving due to changes in the watershed, removal of even a portion of the sediment could make a dramatic difference.

“I think we’re at a point that in the next five to 10 years we are going to see some huge increases in water quality,” said Douts.

Dosch noted that the grass-roots effort was seeing results and that people were being rewarded for their patience with a long-term project. He also expressed his feelings about volunteering time and energy to improve the lake.

“I feel that what we have here has been given to us on loan and we need to be good stewards of the resources that have been made available to us,” said Dosch. “My whole concept is, if I can make the area where I live better than when I found it, I’ve done something good. If we don’t do something, who is going to do it?”

Fortunately for the project, many ranchers in the watershed agreed to be part of the solution to reduce unwanted runoff. Cattle producers have improved their operations with the installation of wells, water tanks, fencing and grazing rotations. In one instance a diversion was installed to direct water around a feedlot. It is an example of what can be done when people see they can make a positive difference.

Anyone wishing to contribute to the project may do so by writing to the Powers Lake Restoration Fund, P.O. Box 275, Powers Lake, ND 58773 or online at www.NDCF.net/

powerslakerestoration.