Nebraskaland Magazine
Got another Aquatic Habitat Rehabilitation project to tell you about. This one is underway at Bowman Lake just west of Loup City.
Aquatic Habitat Project in Progress at Bowman Lake
August 16, 2016
LINCOLN – An aquatic habitat improvement project has begun at Bowman Lake, just west of Loup City in Sherman County.
Bowman Lake has long suffered from poor aquatic habitat conditions resulting in mediocre fishing opportunities. This rehabilitation project is designed to increase lake depth, deepen channels that connect main pools of water, and reduce excessive aquatic vegetation.
In addition, shorelines will be reshaped to make them friendlier to anglers. An Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible fishing dock and concrete boat ramp will be built by Myers Construction, Inc., of Broken Bow.
Bowman Lake and the surrounding park area is owned and maintained by Sherman County. The park will be closed for safety reasons during construction, which is tentatively scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016. Fish will be restocked following the rehabilitation work.
Funding for the nearly $500,000 project is coming from the Nebraska Environmental Trust, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Aquatic Habitat Fund, Sport Fish Restoration Program and Sherman County.
Bowman Lake is an old oxbow lake off of the Middle Loup River. I do not know how old that lake is; I suspect it has been there a long time. I know it typically has an abundance of aquatic vegetation, which I will always tell you is GREAT fish habitat, but on an old oxbow that means the lake has accumulated a lot of organic material, dead and decaying vegetation, over the years. Accumulation of organic material is a natural aging process that all bodies of water experience, and it reduces depth over time. So, one thing that will be accomplished at Bowman is removal of some of that organic material to deepen the lake and connect the main “pools” of water, and to open up some of the areas that have become choked by aquatic vegetation, especially cattails. In the process we can add angler access improvements and when it is all done the fishing at Bowman will be better than ever!
