A dam leak and drought conditions have taken a toll on Willow Pond west of Washington and now work is required. The pond, which was restructured in 2011, has suffered from low water levels for a lengthy period of time, says Washington County Conservation Executive Director Zach Rozmus. The work performed nearly 15 years ago included sediment removal, replacing outlet structures, and creating habitats for the numerous types of fish the Iowa Department of Natural Resources provided when they restocked the pond. The project also helped create a recreation area along the Kewash Nature Trail. The recent developments have caused County Conservation to explore ways to rectify the issues. Rozmus spoke recently with KCII News about the plan to move forward, “We’ve known that there was a problem, we’ve now reached out to a contractor, DeLong Construction, they’ve been a part of the project from the very beginning. We are going to have to cut the dam, we’re going to drain the pond, restructure it and make sure that we do it properly, to make sure we correct that leak, and then hopefully we can take advantage of some of these spring rains we are going to have in the near future to get that fishery back up and running and it won’t be a problem for the foreseeable future.”

Work was also done at the site in 2014, which included paving and extending the Kewash Trail around the pond, and in 2017, using Washington County Betterment Foundation and Washington County Riverboat monies, County Conservation and local Eagle Scouts worked on landscaping, where they installed benches and constructed a shelter on the grounds. Rozmus wants to see work begin and be completed this spring.