Clear Lake Enhancement and Restoration Project

Welcome to the CLEAR project.  The CLEAR Project is a community led initiative to improve the water quality of Clear Lake, north central Iowa's most important natural and recreational resource.  In 2001, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources completed a comprehensive water quality analysis of Clear Lake along with a list of suggested restoration alternatives.  For the past few years, the CLEAR Project has been focusing on implementing lake watershed improvements in both agricultural and developed areas. Click here to see a list of recent accomplishments and pictures .

Dredging of Clear Lake and Ventura Marsh Restoration.. 

While restoration work in the watershed is well underway, restoration activities in Clear Lake and Ventura Marsh are now also ready to begin.  In 2006, a large scale effort by local leaders was made to secure a total of $13 million in state, local government, and private funding to dredge the west end of Clear Lake (view the dredging flyer, and the dredging presentation).  The Clear Lake dredging project is slated to begin in the spring of 2008.  Restoration work on Ventura Marsh that will allow for better water level control, reduction in carp populations, and revegetation of the marsh is also set to begin by the Spring of 2008 through a partnership between the IDNR and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

An opportunity to become involved..