There was a time when boats and skiers slid across the clear waters of Lake Apopka and anglers came from around the country to hook vast, largemouth bass. If several different environmental groups spreading over Lake and Orange counties have their way, the 30,000-acre lake will see those glory days again.
In a packed Tanner Hall last Wednesday, representatives from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the University of Florida, the Department of Environmental Protection and the St. Johns River Water Management District spoke on the projects about to start in the murky waters of Lake Apopka. The speakers were guarded but hopeful.
“We’re on the road to recovery, but it’s not a short road,” said Dale Jones from the FFWCC.
The funds for the new initiatives come from legislative appropriation and amount to $4.8 million. The projects include dredging at key areas, planting vegetation, putting in fish attractors and working on new techniques to remove phosphorous and concentrated nutrients from the water.
With these, officials hope to clean up the lake, pull in more anglers and get people out on the water again.
Dredging projects
Two separate dredging sites have been named, one in Winter Garden and the other in Magnolia Park in Apopka. Dredging is the process of digging into a lake and removing muck and mud, which then has to be used, disposed of or stored. Both projects are working under separate entities and have different goals in mind.
Winter Garden aims to bring tourism back to the lake with easier access for boats and better fishing populations, according to Casey Fitzgerald, chief of the Basin Project Bureau for the SJRWMD. The dredging sites will be close to boating ramps and a nearby park. Once the muck has been removed to reveal the peat underneath, the FFWCC will plant native species like bulrush.
Plant roots help to harden the lake bottom and hold it in place. They also make good habitat for fish, and in addition to the foliage, the FFWCC will be putting in fish attractors to build up the fish population near lake access points.
“There’s a reasonably good fish population in the lake...fisherman just haven’t had good access,” Fitzgerald said. “This will get them the access, and hopefully the word of mouth will help get more people out and enjoying the lake and it’ll help the local economy.”
The Winter Garden dredging is slated to start in August and will take an estimated three to four months to complete. The cost is an estimated $3 million, with $2 million coming from the legislative appropriated funds and $1 million coming from St. Johns.
The Magnolia Park project is a little more radical.
Dan Canfield, a professor and lake management specialist at UF, said the problem with Lake Apopka is more the mud bottom than the phosphorous. The fluid mud is mostly water, which makes it very mobile. As a result, the Magnolia Park dredging will focus on separating the large and fine particles from the watery mud, purifying the liquid and returning it to the lake.
Lake Apopka has a lot of variability, Canfield says, with a high pH level, varying specific conductance levels and a lot of phosphorous in the soil that could have detrimental effects if it works back into the lake.
“We have to be careful,” Canfield said.
UF will be partnering with Clean to Green, a company that uses new technologies to clean lakes. The mud will be stored in containers called geotubes until it can be filtered and purified. There are several uses for the leftover mud, Canfield said, and the group is still looking into what to do with it once the process is completed.
The use of iron to treat water is still new, Canfield said, but it’s “the way to go.” The treatment will remove heavy metals, pesticides and phosphorous and leave behind clear water.
New plants and fish attractors
Providing fish habitat is an important part of restoring Lake Apopka, according to Steve Shea from the FFWCC. The FFWCC has already planted nearly 3,000 spatterdock and 30,000 bulrush plants, which covered about 30 acres of lake bottom. It plans to add thousands more of each once a wave evaluation study has been completed.
Lake Apopka often faces strong winds that create waves and rip up plant life. The evaluation will guide the FFWCC in creating a protective barrier from waves to keep new plants safe.
The FFWCC has capped the spending at $500,000 on planting and $500,000 on the evaluation of wave action. The most cost-effective way to bring new plants in is to harvest wild ones and relocate them. The process costs about $6 a plant.
The FFWCC aims to begin planting by mid-March or April.
In addition to the foliage, the FFWCC is installing fish attractors that will congregate fish populations and provide habitat. Fish attractors have fish-friendly brush attached to concrete blocks that are sunk into the lake bottom.
According to Dale Jones of the FFWCC, the reason anglers have trouble finding fish in Lake Apopka is because a small population is stretched over a large area. The FFWCC has been stocking sport fish, but the fish attractors are necessary to concentrate the fish populations.
Four of the attractors are slated to be installed this week, with 25-30 scheduled for March through June. Once the dredging projects are completed, fish attractors will be placed in those areas, as well. The attractors will be close to access sites to make for convenient fishing.
The cost of the attractors is about $200,000.
Removing phosphorous
Perhaps one of the biggest problems for Lake Apopka was the excessive phosphorous pollution by local farms from the 40s to the 60s. With the purchase of those farmlands in 1997, the phosphorous effluence trickled to a stop, and recent tests showed a 41 percent improvement in the water quality. Now, the focus has shifted to treating what’s already in the lake.
The Department of Environmental Protection asked for proposals of new, innovative technologies for phosphorous removal and is currently reviewing proposals. No decisions have been made in regard to which technology will be used, and factors include money, time and effectiveness.
According to Drew Bartlett with the DEP, removing all of the phosphorous would be too huge an undertaking to support, and alternative ideas are needed to move forward.
The DEP will be making a decision shortly.
Changing the perception
Lake Apopka is still viewed by many as the muddy, green pit it was at the height of its pollution. These environmental groups all share a common goal: to change the perception of Lake Apopka in addition to continuing its recovery.
While duck consumption and eating fish from the north shore area are still not recommended, consuming fish from the lake is fine under guidelines, according to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. Children and women of child-bearing age are advised to only eat black cappie, bluegill, blue tilapia and largemouth bass from Lake Apopka as frequently as once a week, and catfish once a month. All other individuals can eat the first group twice a week and catfish once a week.
At the meeting, experts discussed the driving force behind many of these projects, which is to clean up the lake but also build up ecotourism again. The first Wildlife Festival and Birdapalooza will be held in Magnolia Park on March 9 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. A coalition of environmental supporters is pushing to turn the recovering north shore marsh area and bird sanctuary into a National Wildlife Refuge. There will be a Regional Summit focusing on the North Shore of Lake Apopka on Feb. 8 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Mount Dora Community Building. The meeting will discuss the topic of creating a national refuge as well as other issues concerning the northern part of Lake Apopka’s shoreline.
State Sen. Alan Hayes, who hosted the meeting with state Rep. Bryan Nelson, is not opposed to making the area a refuge but says to do so now would be premature.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do before we get to that point,” Hayes said. “We must, absolutely must, clean up this lake, and I’m not in favor of prematurely letting designations take place that will inhibit the cleanup of the lake.”
Jim Thomas, president of Friends of Lake Apopka, says FOLA has researched and built a proposal for making the site a refuge. Thomas does not understand why the designation would slow the progress of the lake and will be attending the summit in Mount Dora to receive answers. He is also interested in what the SJRWMD has to say on the subject.
“I’m hoping to get the answers that I want at this meeting,” Thomas said.
Hayes is hopeful the initiatives will be successful in restoring the once-prestigious lake.
The senator said, “Lake Apopka will be back, it’s just a matter of when and how.”