No Longer Adrift

Throughout the last Century, the Boat Lake in East Baltimore’s Patterson Park attracted generations of skaters, boaters, fishermen, nature lovers, and romantics looking for a moment’s retreat amid the city bustle. But by Summer 2000, the 2.6-acre site had fallen into disrepair and resembled more of a field of cattails and lotus than a lake. “You hardly had any open water at all,” remembers KCI Project Manager Kerry B. Rexroad, PE. “The lake was only about two feet deep and was fed almost 100 percent by surface runoff, which carried silt and nutrients, like phosphorus. All that sediment reduced water depths, allowing vegetation to overwhelm the site and raising water temperatures, which impacted aquatic habitats.”

Working for the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks, KCI engineers tested the water and bottom soils and developed plans for rehabilitating the lake’s closed storm drain system, reshaping the lake edge and bottom, and restoring the path system. “We also incorporated forebays along the perimeter to trap silt from runoff,” noted Rexroad. In the Fall, the City plans to install a well and pump system to supplement the surface water inflow with filtered groundwater sources.

“We wanted to design a sustainable ecosystem within the lake that met the divergent needs of the community,” explained KCI Project Landscape Architect Nicholas M. Linehan, RLA. “On the one hand you have people who love bird watching and who favor a natural habitat with aquatic plants, which requires shallow water. On the other, you have parkgoers who desire a classic or pristine lake design, where people can fish in deep, quiet waters, with less obstructive vegetation. In the end, after listening to the community and working with the City, we came up with a design that brings everyone closer to the water.”

Gennady Schwartz, PE, Chief of Capital Development with Recreation and Parks agrees. “People in the area have happy memories growing up in the park—going there with their grandparents; it’s a connection to their youth. Now, a whole new generation will come back to the park. It’s an incredible feeling.”

Nancy Supik, coordinator of The Friends of Patterson Park neighborhood organization, sees other former residents returning, as well. “At the ribbon-cutting in March, we saw a family of wood ducks return to the park. It’s such a dream we could have both open water and habitat in one place. The excitement is beyond what anyone imagined.”



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