OLYMPIA, Wash. — Mother Nature is helping Washington return a man-made lake to its natural state.
The state is restoring Capitol Lake, a lake created by an Olympia dam in the 1950s, to an estuary.
The project is estimated to cost over $25 million and will take over a decade to complete. The dam is scheduled to be removed in 2033.
This week state crews are using the dam, and low tides, to lower the lake level to give researchers a chance to see what they’ll be working with.
”We’re seeing all the infrastructure, the sediment, the channeling, so this is just a good way for us to see what’s underneath the water,” said Ann Larson, Department of Enterprise Services special assistant to the director.
The state will take sediment samples on Wednesday and Thursday, while drones are photographing and taking light detection and ranging images of the exposed sections of the 260-acre lakebed.