Council will invest in a long-term plan that will cost more than $1 million over two-and-a-half years, along with a range of other measures, as part of the Forest Lake management plan to address the ongoing issues affecting the lake.
A man-made wetland, Forest Lake was designed to improve water quality flowing into the Oxley Creek and provide recreational and visual amenity for the community. Over the last few years, however, the lake was beset with a number of environmental issues including blue-green algae growth; water weed salvinia growth; and the increasing population of ibis on Bird Island and other areas around the lake.
Developed by the Council’s expert working group, the Forest Lake Strategic Management Plan outlines the best evidence-based solutions for the lake. The lake management options are divided into four categories:
- reducing nutrient levels (both those entering the lake and those already in the lake)
- reducing light availability
- recreating a more ‘plant-based’ lake system
- potentially increasing water movement in the lake.
Council will invest more than $1 million, spread over two-and-a-half years, to implement the long-term program along with a range of other measures to improve the health of Forest Lake
The two-and-a-half-year program will implement measures to reduce the lake’s sediment and nutrient levels, as well as enhance the water movement:
- Development of a strategic management plan for the long-term management of the lake.
- Desilting the lake to remove large volumes of sediment and nutrient loads that have built-up over time.
- Replanting with aquatic macrophytes to encourage the return from an algae-based system to a plant-based system.
Desilting and replanting activities is planned to be undertaken in April 2020 to late 2020.These activities will be undertaken along with ibis management program; salvinia weed harvesting; cleaning out litter traps upstream of the lake; and algae scum collection and disposal.
You can also do your part in keeping the Forest Lake healthy
- Don’t feed the ducks or other animals – Uneaten food settles at the bottom of the lake, causing sediment build-up and algal blooms that impact the lake’s health.
- Pick up after your dog – Over time, nutrients from droppings that were washed into the waterways cause build-up of algal blooms.
- Stop other nutrients flowing into nearby waterways – Examples: Wash your car on the lawn, reduce fertiliser use, particularly before rain; and collect lawn clippings after mowing.
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