Option to drain Forestville Dam mill pond forwarded to County Board for consideration

Two Door County committees have sent a recommendation to the County Board that the mill pond at the Forestville dam be drained, then refilled.(Photo: Peter J. Devlin/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

A petition calling for a halt to a planned draining of the mill pond at Forestville Dam County Park was submitted ahead of Thursday morning's meeting of two Door County Board committees.

Lora Jorgensen, an organizer of the recently formed Friends of Forestville Dam group, said 470 people signed the petition and that more signatures are being sought.

However, during the meeting, the committees approved forwarding a resolution to the County Board calling for a gradual draining of the pond beginning late this year, allowing sediment to dry and harden over two summers, then refilling the pond – a process officials said would kill off invasive vegetation and cure most problems at the park.

The County Board is expected to act on the resolution at its 10 a.m. meeting Jan. 22.

The Door County Soil and Water Conservation Committee and the Facilities and Parks Committee held the joint session Thursday to act on a recommendation from the Door County Soil and Water Conservation Department.

The department staff was ordered three years ago to develop a plan for reversing the deterioration of the approximately 94-acre pond that sits above the dam on the Ahnapee River. There have been several dams on the river at that location since the 1870s. The current dam dates to 1982.

“We were asked to do something because the mill pond was dying,” said Facilities and Parks Committee Chairman Dan Austad to the audience of more than two dozen people.

A 2016 study involving department Conservationist Greg Coulthurst updated the findings of a 1996 study in which he was also involved. The conservation department then worked late last year with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to study the structure of the current dam, which indicated the structure would last another 50 years if maintained.

The staff also met with stakeholders – people with an interest in the pond.

A list of 10 options, including dredging the portion of the pond owned by Door County, was narrowed to three: removing the dam, lowering the water level or doing nothing.

Jorgensen, of the Friends of Forestville Dam group, argued that local residents, including property owners on the pond, “were not invited to any of these stakeholder discussions.”

In a statement, Jorgensen said, “We are completely opposed to any draw down, but support dredging at the county park.”

Coulthurst said at a Dec. 19 informational meeting that dredging the portion of the pond owned by the county – 39 acres – would cost $750,000, considerably more than the proposed drain and refill plan would cost.

Others speaking at Thursday's meeting said the county should develop and put in place a program to stop upstream runoff washing into the pond before doing anything else.