Four seasons cabins planned at Lake Darling

Friends of Lake Darling is planning several events in the coming months to celebrate the improvements that have been made to Lake Darling State Park while turning an eye to the future.

Friends president Fay Vittetoe anticipates opening a short camping season in the late spring. During the summer, she said, the park will be closed for work on the road systems.

Friends meets on the fourth Tuesday of every month at the Lake Darling lodge and is interested in any public input regarding the future of the park.

?We welcome all public comment or concerns or suggestions,? Vittetoe said. ?If it wasn?t for the public supporting the lodge we could not have made the improvements, and I?m not sure we would have the lake restoration if there hadn?t been such wide community-based support.?

With completion of the lake renovation just around the corner, Friends is looking to build six handicapped-accessible four seasons cabins on the campground. Vittetoe said that has been a goal of the group and she believes further planning will move ahead in the spring. She said a donation has already been made toward construction of the cabins.

Friends is holding a soup supper at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the Lake Darling lodge. Vittetoe will present plans for the cabins at 5:30 p.m., and Department of Natural Resources fisheries technician Lance Poulton will give an update on progress of the lake at 6 p.m. He will present a photo essay on the project.

Friends also will hold fundraising events this spring to help fund the new cabins. For more information on the future projects, contact Vittetoe at 319-694-2815.

For the last three years, Lake Darling has been undergoing a major renovation that includes a new dam and lakebed. Other improvements include fishing jetties and a campground upgrade. New shower houses have been installed.

The lake was drained in November 2008 for the project. Poulton said the problem with the dam, and the main reason the lake was drained in the first place, dealt with the old concrete spillway. A low spot in the dam allowed water to run over the top of the dam, which leaked about 3 million gallons of water a day. He said this is the equivalent of a one-acre farm pond. He also said during a dry spell the lake would go down quickly. He said in 2002 the dam failed an inspection.

The $4 million project included removing the old spillway and extending the dam across the lake. Poulton said the spillway was constructed on limestone, which eroded and allowed water to get out. He said in modern times such spillways aren?t made anymore. The new clay spillway won?t erode, he said.