Photos

Lake Tohopekaliga, commonly called Lake Toho, is located in Osceola County in central Florida. Over the last 32 years there have been three lake drawdowns and a fourth began in November 2003. The value of drawing down lake water levels for habitat enhancement has been established through 30 years of practical research by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The lake will be lowered to a 49-foot elevation level by mid February. The drawdown will allow for the removal of 6.7 million cubic yards of exposed organic sediment and associated plant
material from shoreline areas. Some of the muck will be trucked to permitted upland disposal sites. Contingency plans have been made to construct in-lake disposal islands in areas where upland sites are not available. After scraping the bottom, herbicide applications will be made to kill unwanted vegetation. With normal rainfall during the summer of 2004, Lake Toho should be back up to normal pool level by the beginning of fall.

These gulls were actually being fed by a few small children (not mine), and were really in a frenzy. The building in the background is a marina, all the garbage, old tires, etc. is usually under water and not visible as it is now. Obviously, this marina is doing very little busines for the time being. The water appears to be down about 8 feet. It is really strange to go out for hundreds of feet on foot, which you can now do, where just a few months ago there was a lake. Hopefully, things will be back to normal soon.

I cropped this shot and cloned out a few gull parts near the bottom. I know it is a little over exposed, but this is Florida, the sunshine state, and it was a very bright day!