Progress made in McKinley Lake restoration project

The snow and cold hasn’t delayed restoration work at McKinley Lake. In fact, construction crews say the colder, the better.

After years of preparation, digging has commenced at McKinley Lake. The restoration of the lake was approved in the November 2021 ballot with an up to $2 million in general obligation loan notes. The project includes lake sediment removal (dredging), shoreline improvements, improvement of fish habitat and angling access and other recreational amenities.

JNC Construction, based in Clearfield, has been at work cleaning out the lake for more than a week. Construction crews have been taking advantage of the cold weather to get work done.

“The colder it gets, the more work they get done,” Creston Parks and Recreation Director Rusty Zimmerman said. “The firmness of the ground and silt is a lot better to work with. It makes it faster to haul and easier to dig.”

Zimmerman said the crews have to dig through about three feet of silty sludge before finding any weight-bearing soil. Alongside cleaning out the lake, the goal is to get to the drain.

“As soon as they get done with getting to the drain and it thaws out, they’ll get that overflow put in,” Zimmerman said. “They can’t put it in when the temperatures are freezing and the ground is frozen because they have to get soil compaction tests done.”

In the meantime, JNC will continue digging. They’ve even requested to begin working at night to take advantage of the cooler temperatures as Iowa trudges toward spring. To do this, the city will first ask permission of the closest residents. Zimmerman doesn’t think there will be an issue.

“The train goes through there 25 times a day, so I really don’t think it’s going to bother them,” Zimmerman said. “If [the crews] ride at night, they’ll have extra safety lights and precautionary measures taken for citizens.”

Parks and Rec Board President John Kawa said the cold must be working, as the construction crews have already found the original lake bed.

“It was encouraging talking to one of them. He said they hit clay at the corner there,” Kawa said. “To hit clay means you’ve got down to the original bed of the lake. If they can just expose clay throughout the lake, that’ll be the original lake bed the way it was set up 151 years ago.”