A photo posted to Facebook on Sunday, July 21, by rural Tama County resident Kyle Purk depicting Tama County Conservation’s Otter Creek Lake & Park Nature Center (top right) beside Otter Creek Lake which has been slowly refilling as part of a restoration project that began in earnest in late 2022. The county’s flagship park is located roughly seven miles northeast of Toledo. PHOTO COURTESY OF KYLE PURK/FACEBOOK

OTTER CREEK – This past Monday, Tama County Conservation provided an update on its Facebook page regarding the refilling of the 70-acre Otter Creek Lake as part of the lake restoration project which began in late 2021 but didn’t get fully started until over a year later with the dredging of the lakebed.

“We get asked a lot about the status of Otter Creek Lake here at the park,” the posting began. “Now, thanks to our neighbor Kyle Purk and his excellent drone footage, you can see it’s really starting to look like a lake! Refilling the lake can be a slow process as it is all up to Mother Nature; there’s no hose to turn on, no dam to open upstream. This lake is filled entirely by [rainfall] and runoff within it’s [sic] roughly 1,000 acre [watershed]. The more rain we get, the fuller [Otter Creek] Lake becomes.”

Tama County Conservation further stated that if rainfall patterns continue “as normal,” the lake should be completely filled by spring 2025.

“For now,” the posting continued, “the public can at least push kayaks into the boat launch channel, but the beach goers and any [motorized] watercraft will have to wait until [the lake is] full.”

“In the meantime, we’ve been stocking fish, constructing new play facilities, sprucing up existing facilities, adding new kayak launch features, and planning for future campground and wildlife area improvements.”

An official grand opening celebration for the newly restored lake took place on October 7, 2023.

Otter Creek Lake & Park – Tama County’s flagship park – is located roughly seven miles northeast of Toledo at 2283 Park Road. Operating hours are 4 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. The park’s campgrounds are currently open for the 2024 season.