Posted on May 6, 2019
ORONOCO, Minn. (FOX 47) – A project decades in the making is finally becoming a reality Sunday.
It has been a long time coming for Lake Zumbro to get the face lift it desperately needs. For nearly a century, mud and other material has slowly built up on the lake bottom.
Lake Zumbro Forever President, Sheldon King, said he has worked so hard for this day. “It’s been 18 years for me working on this project, and I’m just elated it’s time it gets done.”
Year after year King continued fighting to restore parts of Lake Zumbro so it could be around forever. “It’s been an uphill battle. There’s just no question about it,” said King. “It’s been a battle to get this done.”
After the major flood of 1978 in Rochester, Lake Zumbro has not been able to bounce back.
King and others have spent countless hours trying to get the ball rolling. “If I had a nickle for every meeting I’ve been in over the last 18 years i’d be a rich man,” smiled King.
The break King’s been waiting for is set to begin Sunday as the dredges are in place.
“The lake is 100 years old this year, and this is the first time there’s any major amount of dredging that’s gonna be done,” said King.
Lakefront homeowner Mike Hintz said although the lake in front his house is not going to be impacted, dredging will make things a bit easier to access the lake.
“Dredging the lake will make the lake more accessible for more people not everyone will have to come in on one end of the lake.”
King hoped 1,000,000 cubic yards would be removed from the bottom of the lake. “We’re not getting quite the project that we wanted, but we are getting a project,” said King. “We are opening up 120 more boatable acres of surface water.”
You may think the hard part is over, but it’s not. “We’re not gonna get a break, we’re gonna get the dredging done and we’re gonna turn right around and start raising money to start doing the maintenance of the lake,” stated King.
All in an effort for Lake Zumbro to be around for generations. “It’s like planting a tree and paying for a new school your not doing that for you, you’re doing that for the future,” said Hintz. “So hopefully my kids and my grand kids will be able to use this lake 20, 30, 40, 50 years in the future.”
Source: myfox47.com
