Dredging up a new life for a pond in Columbia

The Baltimore Sun

Almost a decade ago, Chris Kristensen would walk along Jackson Pond in Columbia's Long Reach neighborhood while his son, Jay, fished in the clear waters. But as years passed, the pond became dirty and undesirable as a fishing spot.

Now, Jackson Pond is being cleaned.

The Columbia Association is dredging the approximately 3-acre man-made pond after the board of directors approved the project in 2006. The Columbia Association plans to spend about $600,000 to remove 15,000 cubic yards of sediment, according to Denis Ellis, assistant director of Open Space Management.

"The pond became an eyesore, so we wanted to restore the beauty of it," Ellis said. "[The dredging] will allow it to continue to act as a pond and improve water quality."

Kristensen, a resident of Long Reach since 1973, said, "The scum on the top of the pond spoiled what was a really pretty area," making the pond "unsightly" before the dredging began in mid-May. Ellis said he expects the project to be completed in November.

Jay Kristensen said fishing "got to be not worth it after a while" when his line would snap after getting caught in the sludge accumulating in the pond.

Jackson Pond had become increasingly filled with sediment and did not have enough water depth, which was endangering the pond's wildlife population. The pond's water depth averaged about 1 1/2 feet when it should be at least 3 feet to prevent rampant algae growth, Ellis said. If the sediment is not removed, the pond eventually will fill up and become a marsh.

Henry Dagenais, the village representative to the Columbia Association board, said he had been pushing for the pond to be dredged for years because the water was very shallow and parts of the pond had filled in.

John Kohlman, who has lived next to the pond for 20 years, said he noticed the pond "really start to fill in" two years ago, when there were areas occupied by plants and sediment but no water.

"When I first got here, the pond was gorgeous. It was like having a park in your own backyard," Kohlman said. "There was a very large number of species that passed through every year."

Kohlman received a notice about the possibility of rats that might have been displaced from their habitats by the dredging. But he said he has not seen any. Sarah Uphouse, the Long Reach village manager, said some residents complained about seeing rodents near their homes, which is not unusual in an area being dredged.

The Columbia Association uses an excavator to scoop out the material and put it in trucks. The trucks deposit the sediment in an open-space lot in Kings Contrivance, away from neighborhoods.

About 7,000 fish from the pond, which is dry now, were moved to other ponds in Columbia, Ellis said. After the dredging, Jackson Pond, which will have an average water depth of at least 4 feet, Ellis said, will be refilled with water and aquatic life.

In the early 1990s, about 4,000 cubic yards of sediment was dredged from Jackson Pond, Ellis said. At the time, the Columbia Association mechanically dredged the mouth of the pond, where most of the sediment accumulation occurs. This is the first time that the pond, established in the early 1970s, is being fully dredged.

Iris Beard, a Long Reach resident since 1979, used to watch her son fish in the pond more than 20 years ago, when the pond was clean. In recent years, she said the pond looked "horrible."

"I think the dredging is good. ... The pond needs to be cleaned up," she said.

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