Project name: Lake Fisher Watershed size: 1,380 acres Year began: 1998 Year Complete: 2001 SWCD Contact: Davis Phone: (641) 664-2600
Soil and Water Conservation District(s): Davis Other partners: Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Environmental Protection Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Davis County Board of Supervisors, Davis County Conservation Board, City of Bloomfield, Iowa State University Extension, Pheasants Forever

Cropland terraces and a series of strategically placed erosion control dams have been successful in dramatically reducing the amount of sediment now reaching Lake Fisher, a popular recreation lake and water supply for the city of Bloomfield.

The practices were installed as part of the Lake Fisher Watershed Project, a cooperative effort to keep sediment out of Lake Fisher, a 100-acre reservoir created in 1936 as the water supply for the city of Bloomfield.

Over time, the lake silted in badly. When the watershed project began, the south leg of the lake, which originally had 12 to 15 feet of water, had shrunk to only 3 to 5 feet.

The watershed project treated 900 acres of cropland in the drainage area with terraces, water and sediment control basins, ponds and constructed wetlands to cut the amount of sediment reaching the lake by 60 percent. An effort was also made to reduce the amount of nutrients, pesticides, and bacteria entering the lake by half.

The Davis County Soil and Water Conservation District, with assistance from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS), administered the project.

IDALS watershed protection funds offered technical assistance and cost-share for conservation practices. Landowners also received funding from Environmental Protection Agency 319 clean water funds through the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

The lake is a hot fishing spot–– catfish abound and the state’s largest largemouth bass was taken from it.

One in a series of summaries of watershed projects in Iowa carried out by local conservation districts, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Division of Soil Conservation, and other partners.

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