Green Heron

Although surrounded by walkers, joggers and the homeless, Olympia’s Capitol Lake often yields good birds, like this Green Heron on 15 September 2019. This city lake is about two miles in circumference. The lake connects the Deschutes River and Puget Sound. The lake was created as a reflecting pool in 1951. Water levels are controlled by a dam where lake water enters the Sound.

The lake is becoming clogged by sediment and contaminated with phosphorus. Recently an oil spill and sewage spills have further contaminated the water. Algae and invasive species also inhabit the lake. According to our local newspaper, The Olympian, the state has initiated an environmental impacts study about what to do with the lake. At least four solutions present themselves.

1. Leaving the lake as it is.
2. Managing sediment levels.
3. Taking the dam out and reverting the lake to an estuary.
4. Making a “hybrid version,” including a pedestrian walkway across the lake.

I am not sure which of these alternatives I favor. I suppose a muddy esturary would replace current duck habitat with shorebirds. On the other hand, alternative duck habitats seem few and far between. In either case, a final report is due in 2021.