Hales Slough Boat Ramp And Access To Be Temporarily Closed Beginning Monday October 25th
Hales Slough Boat Ramp And Access To Be Temporarily Closed Beginning Monday October 25th
October 21, 2021Steve Schwaller
(Spirit Lake)– A commonly used boat ramp and access road in the Hales Slough area on the northeast side of Big Spirit Lake is going to be closed for a month or so beginning this coming Monday, October 25th. Dusten Paulus, Wildlife Technician with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says it’s part of the ongoing Anglers Bay Shoreline restoration project…
“We’re going to be having a contractor move in there to help us remove some large cottonwood trees, a few willow, and a couple of ash as part of the bigger Angler’s Bay shoreline restoration project is about a mile long stretch. This portion should only take about a month. It should be opened back up by about Thanksgiving.”
In the meantime, Paulus says those looking to launch a boat will need to use a neighboring ramp…
“The closest one being Mini Waukon but of course over at Marble, Templar and the south boat ramp on Spirit. Of course we apologize for any minor inconvenience for the likely monthlong shutdown of that access road but it’s for a good, much needed project.”
Paulus says good progress continues on the Angler’s Bay project, which will help protect a rare stand of aquatic vegetation essential to water quality and habitat…
“It was identified as a critical, unique habitat that’s being shaded out by some invasive trees, some native trees, but historically it would have been more of an open wood lot or savannah area. We’ve been working on that project for about a year now and we’re kind of going into phase two here at the moment. We’re removing some of those unwanted or crown species trees, mostly cottonwood and ash, that are going to be coming out of there to try and restore it back to what it was historically and get some good native vegetation back along that shoreline so it can improve things for not only for that aquatic plant bed community that’s just off shore and get some much needed sunlight there, but also for aesthetic reasons and water quality reasons.”
Paulus says they’re currently entering into the second of what will be a four or five stage project.
