Leave a comment (post it below our survey) about your boating, hiking or nature-watching experiences at these two unique locations in the Meramec River Valley area. What do you think about Simpson and the Meramec as nearby recreation areas? Are they Fun? Safe? Green? Maintained?
Many scientists say Global Warming will make Missouri wetter and more tropical — not just warmer.
Thanks for a good column in the July 16-22 “South County Times” about Simpson Lake. Three years ago when I retired, Simpson Lake was going to be what I considered my “Home Lake”. It was close, a short 7 miles, and had several good features. Those being, fish, boat ramp, good fish habitat and structure, serene atmosphere. My first trip out on the lake shattered my illusion of what I had thought would be my favorite place to get away at least one day a week.
The shoreline was littered with debris beyond belief. Not just in the area near the pavillion, but around the whole lake. Being concered about the water quality and the pallatability of the fish I made numerous phone calls to multiple agencies and departments trying to locate a responable party to get some answers.
I found out that the Missouri Conservation Department surveys the quality of the fish by doing a shock harvest and examination approximately every two years. By chance being there on one occasion when they were removing their boat and equipment, they related that the larger slower growing fish contained lead from an unkown origin. My concerns also are for the possible amounts of furtilizers and pesticides that are present due to the large residential impact on the lake’s watershed.
After contacting the resonsible party for maintaining the park grounds and lake, I did participate in a lake clean up day. As you related in your column, the amount of balls of all types were phenominal. I filled two trash bags with them alone. Anything else imaginable was also pulled from the lake including a plastic swimming pool, sheet of plywood, wooden mail box post, building insulation, wooden head board from a bed, dead dog, and the ever infamous water bottles and plastic milk jugs.
With the fore mentioned problems and deficiencies at Simpson Lake, I still make frequent trips there, including outings with a VA kayak group once a month. And there is still the ongoing clean-up of the never ending flow of debris. As for the fish, anytime I see any eating restrictions or limitations I’m done. That’s the same to me as “DO NOT EAT”. As a final note, I do wash my hands soon after getting of the lake.
Thanks again for bringing to light the issues at Simpson Lake, and maybe it will bring about more awareness and involvement to improve the conditions there.
Ken House
Sappington
Thanks for the post, Ken,
It is pretty amazing how much debris ends up in Simpson Lake and a lot of other streams and ponds in Missouri. I have to salute the Clean Streams operations, which seem like they are starting from scratch every year they take on a cleanup.
One of the things I have noticed lately is that a lot of Missourians are still tossing their trash out the window on our highways, as if the whole world is their trash bin. A lot of this stuff ends up in our waterways as torrential rains carry it away.
I am with you on the reticence about eating the fish as well. We need to know more about what is in the fish — your story about lead contamination is pretty interesting.
Don Corrigan
Interesting. I probably rode my new, but old-fashioned, bike through the parking area at Simpson Lake even as you were counting the cups, bottles and balls. It was actually surprising how pristine it looked, though there were no illusions.
I did experience pangs of yearning to somehow get a remaining sailboat down from the garage rafters. However, at my age such pangs are disconnected from reality, and a car bike rack is a vital part of negotiating Marshall Rd Hill from our Kirkwood home.
Thanks for calling attention to Simpson Lake. Our Service Learning students have done clean-up and honeysuckle removal each semester for about 10 years. It’s one of those jobs that never seems to go away. especially when it has flooded.
We did do a fairly comprehensive water testing program there about 7 years ago and the lake was healthy. There is a really gross cove by MSD that we have never touched as it looks like it needs folks with hazmat suits.
My understanding from St. Louis County Parks is that neighbors to the park use it as a dumping ground. Very sad.
It’s such a lovely little lake and I hope your efforts will lead to more care for this beautiful resource. We will keep up our efforts!
Don,
Thank you for the information you shared with our community. I hope you were able to report the fish kill you described to the proper authorities – the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Emergency Response unit. They can be reached either by calling 573-634-2436 (24/7) or by visiting http://www.dnr.mo.gov/concern.htm.
When it comes to our local urban lakes and streams, some might say, “oh, it’s just a couple of fish” or “gee! I didn’t realize anything was even living in this nasty water…” Well, there are fish in our streams – I’ve seen them in Deer Creek, Grand Glaize Creek, Gravois Creek, Sebago Creek, Sugar Creek, Two-Mile Creek, and in the River des Peres! In many of these, I’ve also seen crayfish and mayflies and several other kinds of aquatic insects. So, yes, there is life in our urban streams.
And you know, a few dead fish is still a few dead fish – and something killed them. We have to make sure the authorities are made aware of this! When the state receives information on these instances, two things happen 1) they have proof that problems exist and 2) they have proof that the citizens care. Both are vital to improving our water resources.
As a river enthusiast who works to protect and improve all of our local waterways (yes, including the River des Peres!), I would like to encourage anyone who comes across a fish kill (or turtles or other animals) to PLEASE call 573-634-2436 to report it.
Danelle Haake
Webster Groves