The Lake Panasoffkee Restoration Council will meet to discuss the status of the Lake Panasoffkee Restoration project on Thursday, June 19, 2 p.m. in the Commission Board Room at the Sumter County Government Offices, 910 North Main Street, Bushnell.
During the meeting the council will receive status updates on the lake dredging project, canal cleanup and the sale of shell at the spoil area. The public is also invited to share their comments.
The Lake Panasoffkee Restoration Council was created by the state Legislature in 1998 to develop a restoration plan for the lake. The council is responsible for reviewing the project and reporting back on the project’s progress to the Legislature.
The implementation of the four-step restoration plan, which is being managed by the Southwest Florida Water Management District, began in Sept. 2000. The first three steps focused on dredging the lake. These steps are scheduled to be complete in September. The fourth step of the project involves dredging the residential canals along the western shoreline. Sumter County is the lead agency on the fourth step.
Steps two and three of the project began in July 2004 and involve dredging approximately 7.8 million cubic yards of sediment from more than 1,741 acres of lake area to improve fish habitats, restore the historic lake shoreline and improve navigation.
Since the 1940s, 22 percent of the lake, or 800 acres of open water area, has been lost to sedimentation and vegetation encroachment.
Lake Panasoffkee is designated as an Outstanding Florida Water by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and is one of the District’s Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) priority water bodies. Lake Panasoffkee is the third largest lake in west-central Florida and is a nationally acclaimed fishery.
For more information about the meeting, please call Tahla Paige at 352-796-7211, ext. 4606 or 800-423-1476, ext. 4606.