KEYSTONE HEIGHTS – The final step of restoring Lake Geneva to its former greatness started on Monday, March 16, when crews started the Lake Geneva Restoration Project to remove trees to grow in open water areas while lake levels were low. 

Lake Geneva's water levels have been low for the past 50 years, and trees and vegetation now cover the lake's beds. 

The Black Creek Restoration Project was completed late last year that would redirect some water from the South Prong of Black Creek, pipe it 17 miles to a filtration plant, then into Alligator Creek, which flows into Lake Brooklyn, which then feeds into Lake Geneva. It resolved the quest to replenish the water in the lakes that started in the 1980s. Mismanagement and abuse, particularly by regional power companies, depleted the water from the two lakes. 

Clay County’s contractor C&S Site Prep will begin tree clearing operations in the lakebed of Lake Geneva. The initial focus will be on areas 1, 3 and 4. Area 2 and 5 are awaiting funding approval.  

For the next few weeks, the county’s 5th Street Boat Ramp (across the street from the BP Station/Woodland Burgers) will be closed and utilized as the contractor’s staging area. Please expect and be patient with slow moving logging trucks on State Road 100, County Road 214, Baker Road and Breezy Point Road for the next few weeks. 

The contractor is permitted to burn on site if the environmental conditions are appropriate, so expect smokey haze in the area around the lakebed over the next month as well.  

Tree cutting equipment can throw hazardous debris 100 yards – the length of a football field – from the tree being cut so residents and off roaders must stay away from the tree removal areas. For safety reasons, the state said clearing of areas inside of State Sovereign Submerged Lands (the lakebed) are off limits, and trespassing will be legally enforced. 

Do not approach the clearing teams as they are focused on safe and efficient project completion and not public coordination.  

Direct questions to Clay County Engineering at (904) 529-5287 or the Keystone Heights City Manager at (352) 473-4807.