Out of our depth

Lincoln City’s Devils Lake to be drained again

By D. Hildreth

For the TODAY

“When you have a problem, it’s best to get right to the bottom of it,” said Boone Marker. “And that’s precisely what I’m going to do.”

Marker, who serves as manager for the Devils Lake Water Improvement District, made the comment while drifting in his motorboat in the middle of Lincoln City’s 685-acre Devils Lake.

The problem that plagues the lake weighs about 20 pounds and eats like a horse: It’s the grass carp, a non-native fish species first introduced to the man-made lake in 1986 in an effort to cut back on aquatic vegetation. Back then, the plants grew so thick in the mud that has, over time, gathered atop the lake’s concrete floor, that they interfered with navigation on the lake, shutting down the annual speed boat races and deterring water skiers and other recreational users.

Marker is but the latest in a long series of lake managers who has been forced to tackle the grass carp problem. The lake was last drained for the same reason back in 2009, but the irregular topography of the lake bottom — intended by its designers to make the lake appear more “natural” — meant some areas never completely drained. Thus, some of the older grass carp that aren’t eating the vegetation in the lake are simply taking up space and generating a growing amount of waste.

“In the past, there have been carp fishing tournaments, dragnets — they’ve even attempted electrocution,” said Ethan Parker, a longtime lakefront resident. “But the stubborn grass carp is a survivor. Too bad the same can’t be said for the plants.”

In the past, the lake has been a victim of the grass carp’s success. Some years, the fish have decimated aquatic vegetation to the point that not enough of it survives for other fish species to find shelter, much less food. The out-of-balance ecosystem also interferes with what should be a healthy population of ducks, geese, and swans.

Of the decades-long struggle to find a solution for the grass carp versus vegetation problem, Marker remains optimistic.

“It’s been draining for me, the lake’s board of directors, and for my predecessors,” Marker said. “Today, I’m all drained out. That’s why we’re draining the lake.”

DLWID Unplugged

Next Tuesday morning, April 1, Marker will travel down to the main inflow and outflow control room of the man-made lake. At 10 am, he’ll turn a valve and the show will begin in earnest. “We generally do this on Tuesdays, historically,” Marker said. “We try to avoid ruining anyone’s weekend.”

The main plumbing for the cement-and-rebar-lined “lake” is located about 20 feet below the lake bed. From the control room, Marker will crank “Valve D”— the valve that opens the lake’s largest drain pipe network — to its full-open position. If all goes according to plan, the lake will be reduced to a mucky, brown mud flat by 1 pm that day.

It will mark the fifth time since 1964 that the lake has been entirely drained.

“The first time the lake was completely emptied, it was before the city was incorporated, when five coastal villages each vied over lake use and water conservation,” Marker said.

Two of those villages were DeLake and Nelscott, which, according to voting records, stood at opposite sides of the political spectrum. In early 1964, Nelscott residents announced plans to use lake water for a temporary fountain designed to honor Barry Goldwater, then the Republican candidate for president, during a campaign visit to the coast.

“The DeLake residents feared that the yellow dye to be added to the fountain to celebrate Mr. Goldwater could harm the lake, and they fought hard to prevent it. So hard, they wound up opting to simply drain the lake,” taking a step that the Works Progress Administration engineers who constructed Devils Lake in the 1930s never anticipated, Marker said.

Margery Hale, another lakefront property owner interviewed by the TODAY, has owned her home since the 1950s, but was out of town during the period when Devils Lake lay empty in 1964.

“We saw the news reports about it,” she said, “and made it down two weeks later. By then, though, it had been re-filled by the Village of DeLake.”

Those inter-village water squabbles faded in 1965, when DeLake, Nelscott, and three other communities were incorporated into Lincoln City. This consolidation of governments was designed to provide better public services, including lake management.

Back in ’64, the refilling process took nearly two weeks, Marker said, but in the decades since, the city has made serious improvements to its infrastructure.

“Today, the District can fill the lake from empty to full capacity in about 48 hours,” Marker said. “If you ask most visitors to the lake, very few would even be able to tell you that it’s an artificial lake, much less heated and chilled — it looks so natural. We’ve decided as a management district to do all we can to maintain the illusion of it being a natural lake.”

During dry summer months, Hale says lakefront homeowners can clearly hear the humming of the pumps and systems that keep the lake filled to its usual level. “But then,” she said, “along will come a Jet-Ski or a pontoon boat, and you can hardly hear the pumps at all.”

Marker said he hopes to have the lake refilled by Friday, April 4.

“We don’t want to ruin the following weekend for anyone — except for the older grass carp,” he said.

Seizing the carp

Marker said the carp will be collected by a group of DLWID staff who will gather at noon on Tuesday, April 1. They’ll stretch out across the mudflats, in a line extending from the docks at Regatta Park to roughly the “Brown Bear” state park boat launch on the east side of the lake. Half of the line will march south, while the other half will head north.

“We’ll have rovers wandering among the walkers, collecting the carp on toboggan-like sleds dragged across the mud,” he said.

A pet food manufacturing corporation, which Marker declined to specify, is making a lump-sum contribution to the lake’s drain system maintenance fund in exchange for the carp, which will be collected at the foot of the hill at Regatta Park.

So, although the afternoon promises to be smelly, it will be profitable for the District’s operating funds.

Devils Lake will be drained starting at 10 am on Tuesday, April 1. Regatta Park, off NE 14th Street. in Lincoln City, is an ideal vantage point.

To learn more details about Devils Lake, or for information on the Devils Lake Water Improvement District, head to dlwid.org. Send story comments and suggestions to patrick@oregoncoasttoday.com.