Firesteel watershed open house draws over 100 people, provides opportunity to see the wetland project area
May 10—MITCHELL — As Cindy Gregg browsed through an assortment of displays full of information about the city's wetland project along Firesteel Creek, she gained a clearer understanding of the plans to reduce runoff in the watershed.
Gregg was among the Mitchell area residents who attended a Firesteel watershed open house Tuesday at the Valley View Villa venue, formerly known as the Kelley property. Over 100 people attended the two-hour open house hosted by the Mitchell Area Chamber of Commerce and Development Corporation.
The event gave Mitchell residents an up-close look at the land along Firesteel Creek, where the city is building its 37-acre wetland aimed at reducing the phosphorus and runoff entering nearby Lake Mitchell.
"I really like seeing the models with a plain view of the area at the same time. I think this is going to be a very critical project for the lake and watershed," Gregg said.
Prior to moving to the Mitchell area, Gregg resided in Florida with her late husband, Clay Gregg Jr. The couple spent a lot of time on the Everglades in southern Florida, which is a vast area made up of wetlands, creeks, marshes and forests.
Gregg witnessed the impact a man-made wetland had on a waterway in the Everglades, which she said drastically improved water quality and revived wildlife populations in the area.
"It is the slowest moving river in the world, and it is a river. At the north edge of the river, there are these sugar cane fields they would flood. It would release all this runoff and cause water quality problems. What they did to alleviate it was build cleaning ponds like they are doing here, and we saw the positive effects in the water, wildlife and plants almost immediately," Gregg said.
The city's wetland will be filled with cattails and sediment traps, which will help filter the phosphorus and sediment flowing downstream Firesteel Creek before hitting Lake Mitchell. The $583,997 project will begin this summer and wrap up in the fall.
Although the open house was centered around the upcoming projects and plans the city has to reduce phosphorus in the 350,000-acre watershed that drains into Lake Mitchell, Gregg was quick to support the proposed $25 million lake dredging project.
"It should have been years ago. The problems have only exacerbated over the years," Gregg said of the algae blooms that have been plaguing the lake for decades.
As a leader of a nonprofit organization that formed to raise funds for a future lake dredging project, Mike Vehle was elated at the strong attendance numbers. Vehle is the vice president of Friends of Firesteel and has been an advocate for the proposed dredging project.
"We've got a good crowd here, and people are interested. We wanted to show people what exactly the wetland project will be by actually seeing the land," he said.
Vehle believes the roughly 400 acres the city has acquired in the Firesteel watershed since 2019 is located in the "most pivotal areas" in the watershed for runoff-reducing projects. With the recent $200,000 purchase of 17 acres along the west edge of the lake abutting Firesteel Creek, the city now owns most of the land along the creek in between the wetland project — which is about 2 miles west of the lake — and the west edge of the lake.
"This low-lying land where the wetland will be built is such an incredible spot for this project. It's a wide part of the creek that is fairly close to the lake, and it will give us more control to stop runoff entering the lake," Vehle said of the former Kelley land. "The 17 acres the city just bought is another key area because of its proximity to the lake. We have made incredible progress by getting these two pieces of land."
A sticking point for some of the Mitchell City Council members and residents opposed to the lake dredging project is making more progress in reducing the runoff in the watershed before taking on an in-lake project. Vehle rejects that idea. He said the massive watershed is privately owned land, and waiting to secure agreements with landowners for additional projects would take "decades and decades" for the city to accomplish.
"This has taken a long time to get to this point, and it would be a shame if we didn't take the opportunity we have now to dredge and invest in our great community asset. If we play the wait game, we could be waiting for decades and decades," Vehle said. "Imagine what the lake will look like if we continue waiting?"
