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This fish habitat restoration project is the first, and most crucial step, in restoring the reservoir to the productive fishery that it was the first two decades after its creation in 1967. These newly created fish habitats will help hold and nourish the next year’s spawning fish as well providing more fish for anglers as well as more food sources and habitat for the large stocking program we have planned for the following Fall to bring balance and diversity back to the fishery. Adding mature cedar tree habitats to the lake in large, DNR approved bundles for fish habitats in Fall off boats as well as on winter ice with log piles and rubble. Cedar trees and logs are located along the private property along the western bank and easily accessed by volunteers for deployment along the lakes main channel. This will help replace all of the decomposed and silted in fish habitats that were originally in the lake from its construction in 1967. This will allow the fish habitat to grow exponentially and maximize fishing opportunities along the central and western bank of the reservoir for boaters and reduce the crowded fishing along the easily accessed road adjacent eastern bank between bank fisherman and boaters that has limited small cedar habitats sporadically installed by the county.

Mature cedar trees and log piles donated from private land along the western bank of the lake that will be bundled together in DNR approved guidelines and disbursement around the western side of the main channel. Donated cement/rock rubble will also be used in limited areas. large rows of mature 12 foot cedar trees tied together to form large rows of habitats along the lake channel via boat drops in lake and winter ice deployment along with log piles. We will be using boats from volunteers to place the cedar tree habitats in preselected and marked depth locations around the lake to maximize the accuracy of their placement and impact on the fishery.

We have worked directly with the Iowa state DNR fisheries biologist John Lorenzen responsible for the lakes and waterways in our region. He has coordinated with other DNR officials to provide us with guidelines for us to follow on how the cedar tree structures should be constructed and placed in order to maximize their effect. The letter of recommendation that he has included states "Like many Southwest Iowa reservoirs, Pony Creek struggles with sedimentation. Sedimentation decreases lake volume, and covers once existing structure throughout the lake. The addition of habitat will provide a refuge for juvenile fish and improve anglers success by congregating fish around specific habitat features." These cedar tree habitats will be placed in the correct depths for several species of fish in the lake in order to benefit all of the depleted species of fish mentioned in the application.

This will provide habitats for young Bluegill, Largemouth Bass, Crappie, Yellow Perch, and Walleye that have little to no current habitat in the lake for protection and and help the fishery recover their depleted numbers.

Leveraging our local Facebook Community page and our nonprofit’s Pony Creek Lake Conservation Association Facebook page to coordinate the event with volunteers throughout the community and our current local supporters of the project. We will advertise this with signage at our fundraisers as well. We have plans to reach out to the local Boy Scout troops, FFA organizations, and the local school for volunteers as the students need to complete a set amount of volunteer hours for their graduation, as many youths have expressed interest in this project in the community. Depending on the amount awarded for this grant, we can scale our project up for more materials and volunteers to increase the projects impact on the fishery of the lake.