Big choices about Capitol Lake

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Big choices about Capitol Lake

Submitted by Rick on Fri, 09/23/2005 - 9:32am.

The Olympian opines about the fate of Capitol Lake:

Crews are on the ground studying the lake as part of a $900,000 study to determine whether it's best to leave the 260-acre lake as a reflecting pool or remove the Fifth Avenue dam and allow the man-made lake to revert to an estuary. The first parts of the study should be complete next spring.
The ramifications are huge -- not just for aesthetics, the environment and salmon recovery, but for shipping in lower Puget Sound. The sediments washing down the Deschutes River have to go someplace, and if it isn't the lake, it will be Budd Inlet. And that has potential impacts for the Port of Olympia and the Army Corps of Engineers responsible for saltwater dredging. Then there's the question of whether the new, multimillion- dollar Fourth Avenue bridge can withstand unregulated tidal action if the dam is removed.

Can anyone describe what it would look like if the dam is removed?

Can anyone describe what it w

Submitted by stevenl on Sat, 09/24/2005 - 6:49am.

Can anyone describe what it would look like if the dam is removed? I suspect the closer you got to Tumwater, the more it would look like Mud Bay, depending on the tide. GA has a site with a few historical pictures and link to a pdf document: Capitol Lake Adaptive Management Plan for 2003-2013. http://www.ga.wa.gov/CLAMP/history.htm Some sidenotes-- In years past, like 30 years ago, Capitol Lake was home to this real cheesy barge called "Christmas Island." It was a floating nativity scene with lots of Xmas lights and Xmas music blaring from loudspeakers. It was along the shore bordering 5th Ave. One group of TESC students, I'm told, had hatched a plot to kidnap Gov. Dixy Lee Ray and hold her hostage on Christmas Island as an exercise in Dadaism. The "Island" was later moved to the parking lot of South Sound Mall. Sidenote #2: There was no Deschutes Parkway in 1949 during that big quake, but in the 1965 quake the road was torn up just like it was in 2001. I'm thinking after the next one they should either scrap the road idea or go with a long pontoon parkway. Sidenote #3: In order to jazz up the lake and make it a more exciting place, I would propose that we import crocodiles, alligators, caimans, gharials, animals like that and welcome them as part of the local color.

Mud Bay; looking South from t

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Sun, 09/25/2005 - 4:53pm.

Mud Bay; looking South from the Bridge in the early afternoon:

It's kind of nice.

Submitted by Rob Richards on Mon, 09/26/2005 - 12:16am.

It's kind of nice.

I have commuted across Mud Ba

Submitted by stevenl on Mon, 09/26/2005 - 9:03pm.

I have commuted across Mud Bay for years, and it is always a beautiful sight, regardless of the tide. It seems a shame that area has the bland if functional name of "Mud Bay." In the early days it was known as "Shitpoke Flats," and personally (as a 5th generation Washingtonian) I think we should petition the Board of Geographic Names to resurrect that more colorful name and celebrate our Territorial heritage. In the part of the Bay near Buzz's Tavern someone had a large Viking ship stuck in the mud in the 1970s. Now there are larger than life metal cows across the freeway, so there is a nice recent history of public art in that area. Another odd bit of trivia about that area: McLane School was not part of the Olympia School District in the 1960s when I went there for a brief time. Instead of electric bells for recess, they had a kid come out and ring a handbell. Did you know the Deschutes Falls (the same that was portrayed on the Olympia Beer label) that empties into the most southern portion of Capitol Lake has a cave behind it? A guy I went to high school with once swam back there and grooved out while emergency personnel were searching frantically for him. OK, I know I ramble, but I took freewriting from Peter Elbow at TESC in the 70s and it has now become a disease.

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Mon, 09/26/2005 - 11:43pm.

I hope your kidding about the

Submitted by Rob Richards on Sat, 09/24/2005 - 11:47am.

I hope your kidding about the crocodiles and alligators.

As far as whether to keep or remove the dam, I lean toward removing it. I'm no geologist, and this is all based on reading that I've done. I think the example of the levees on the Mississippi is one we should heed. Evidence indicates that when we try to over-control our waterways, more harm can be done than good. I'm glad they are researching this, hopefully they will make a decision that will be good for future generations and not just aesthetically pleasing now.

OK, I admit it. I AM kidding

Submitted by stevenl on Sat, 09/24/2005 - 9:25pm.

OK, I admit it. I AM kidding about the crocodiles and alligators. But I'm dead serious about the caimans and gharials.

For the record, this thread

Submitted by stevenl on Thu, 06/15/2006 - 6:56am.

For the record, this thread was where the whole caiman thing started. Why the caiman idea stuck and the gharials went by the wayside is a mystery. It is an amazing coincidence that the nutrias, a natural food for the caiman, showed up in Olympia months after this original post.

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