Morse Lake rehab project underway

PART 1 OF 2

            If you’ve visited Morse Lake in northern Wright County in the last several years for recreation or fishing, you may have noticed a few of the lake’s more undesirable qualities.  The lake is often very murky. There might be some suspicious looking algae floating around. If you tried to fish, chances are good you caught some bullheads or seen large carp on the edges of the lake. Fortunately, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is trying to fix these problems.

            Morse Lake is located about 10 miles north of Clarion, east of Madison Avenue. The lake is 103 acres in area and is quite shallow, averaging less than ten feet deep. A DNR report from December 2018 concluded, Morse is “plagued by nuisance algae blooms, little to no submerged vegetation, and poor water quality. As a result, this important shallow lake has been underutilized by migratory waterfowl and other species of conservation need.”

            Morse Lake residents have noticed these problems for years. Naomi Lette, whose family has owned property on the lake for generations, says she has seen the lake go down in quality through the years. She sites murky water quality and the slimy algae that can be seen floating on the surface. Jacki Thompson, who has lived at the lake the last few years, mentioned the “swarms of carp” on the shoreline that she at one point mistook for huge rocks.  Both women also remarked on shoreline erosion that has undermined trees on their property, leaving bare roots exposed.

For the full story, see the August 15th edition of the Monitor