Work being done at Gunner's Lake, Germantown

[Karl Krueger]

To those who like viewing the variety of waterfowl at Gunner's Lake there may big changes in store this winter. The water level has been lowered by at least 6 feet where a contractor was called in quickly to upgrade the outlet near Wisteria Rd. He has completed that and mentioned the lake may start filling up again but he remarked that the county had him rush to do this work. There has been talk of dredging the lake to deal with a sediment problem mainly on the far side of the lake. Currently from the island and further north it is all mud with two remnants of the streams that flow into Gunner's.

All the usual waterfowl and gulls continue to stay here but if they begin the dredging soon it's likely most of the birds will take off for more pleasant waters. The dabblers have much less space now for foraging.

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Karl Krueger

Gaithersburg, MD

[John Dicken]

We attended the recent walk by Montgomery County staff and contractors for community residents on the forthcoming Gunners Lake dredging project. Our understanding is that the work this week was just a short-term change (not the start yet of the longer-term dredging), and that the actual dredging equipment will be put in place in February to start dredging in April, expected to last for several months and be completed by late summer/fall. Once the dredging equipment is in place, the North-west section of the path that makes a circuit around the lake will be closed, with no temporary path other than through the neighborhoods nearby. The section of the lake visible from Wisteria will not be dredged (though they did note that some of the outlets will be cleaned, as was evidently done this week). But until then, the lowering of the water in the lake is likely just a temporary change until February's more significant role. Lake Whetstone will be dredged after Gunners Lake is completed.

While removing the sediment, including chemicals accumulated from asphalt that require removing the sediment from the area, will hopefully improve the water quality, and a scientific study I found from Great Lakes wetlands found an increase of shorebirds and waterfowl post sediment removal, we were interested/concerned about what the effects after the project will be on the diversity of birds, especially shore and water birds. The consultant indicated that the mud flat/sand bars at the North part of the lake likely would no longer be there as the sediment is removed, and while many community residents evidently were pleased with that we were a bit concerned as we have enjoyed the species that are attracted to that area--including a great egret, blue-winged teal, killdeer, solitary and spotted sandpipers, and a rusty blackbird.

Any experience from others of suburban lake dredging projects?

Clearly this and all Maryland lakes are man-made and managed, so perhaps my concerns about a project that clearly is needed since the sediment has not been removed since the lake was created in 1985, but also we will miss the disruption to our local patch in 2015 and hope that the longer-term effects are neutral or positive rather than negative for the birds.

[Karl Krueger]

Thank you John for providing more detail. At the Lois Y Green park in Gaithersburg this summer they lowered the water level of the pond closest to the parking lot (what I call the near pond). My neighbor said it was because of concern of kids walking on the ice in the winter??? Draining this pond had a similar effect of opening up a big mud flat at the top third of the pond. This year we had a unprecendented variety of sandpipers show up at this park. But now getting close to the winter ducks are not so well attracted to this pond and prefer the far pond which was not tampered with.

[John Dicken]

Thanks. Montgomery County provided a 2-page fact sheet for anyone interested, available at http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DEP/Resources/Files/downloads/stormwater/facilities/Gunners-Lake-Fact-Sheet.pdf

We (and others) have been using ebird regularly over the last 1+ years at Gunners Lake, so it will be interesting to keep an eye on ebird next year to see how both the period with the sediment removal and then the post-sediment removal to see how the variety and counts of species vary.

[diane Ford]

HI all- yesterday I made a quick trip around Gunner's Lake and noticed the water level was lower than last week. Good numbers of mallards, but less so of diving ducks (not enough water to float a duck)- hoping for some Killdeer, since the mudflats are good. A lot of garbage in the lake too: fish tanks, balls, buckets, beer cans.

D.Ford/Bethesda, Md.

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