January 2005
Clarke Pond Dam Repaired
After three years of paperwork, construction repairing the Clarke Pond dam and dredging its sediments was completed in January after four months of actual work. This is an important water quality improvement project and is a major step toward implementing the Plan for the Management of the Otsego Lake Watershed (1998). Clarke Pond, an old mill pond dating back to the late 1700’s, is located near the end of Cripple Creek, just to the northeast of the Lake next to the Otsego Golf Club. The pond, with a laid-up limestone dam built in 1847, has served as a detention basin collecting sediment from the 10,000-acre Cripple Creek drainage basin, which is part of the Otsego Lake watershed. In doing so, Clarke Pond has served to protect the lake. The pond was full of sediment and the old dam had deteriorated. The dam has now been repaired and approximately 8 million pounds of sediment have been recovered.
Photo credit: Timothy Pokorny