October 20, 2009
We began this journey in May, when reeds and marsh grasses choked the historic old lake, the remnant of 30 years of neglect [see bottom of page].  We traveled the path through the summer when great yellow machines growled and chewed their way through the silt of 30 years, often as deep as 12 feet. We saw the lake bed exposed, cleaned and reshaped, new drainage basins created and lined with stone, new walls wrapped around the lake, and new grasses and trees planted.
 

Today we approach the end of the journey, while the greens of lake summer still color the hills but the coat of many colors that is autumn in Virginia begins to be reflected in the lake.  The deer and the ducks are back, the heron fishes in shallow water.
 

We began this journey as a promise to Richmond that this great project, this commitment to our future, would not be ignored, that it would be documented.
 

Now the restoration is essentially done, and the Mobile Dredging equipment and crews are on their way out of town. It is to city crews to finish the work, to restore and replace benches and shelters, to replace the historic lights around the lake and the paths.

This will mark the end of our weekly visit to the lake to document the progress.  We will still visit from time to time.  The Department of Parks has given us back our lake and our park.  It is up to us to keep it.

October 16, 2009
The past two days have been good only for ducks and tree planters, and we had both at Forest Hill Lake.  Contractors are planting about 400 native specie trees, including spice bush and river birch at the wetlands area at the south end of the park.  Water grasses have been planted on the shelf that will be under water shortly. 

  
Forest Hill Lake is within a foot of being at its optimum level, thanks to the rains of October.  By Friday, at least five ducks have returned, and you may be able to pick out in one photo the tracks of a moderately large deer. For all those who waited with anticipation, the result is going to be worthy of the effort.

October 13, 2009
Forest Hill Lake is slowly, quietly filling, one good rain away from full pool. The great yellow machines that have snorted and growled through the summer have moved away from the lake, their work finished, and soon will be hauled away to another job. The mound of black silt, 40,000 yards of it, is gone.

 
There's still work to be done, grading and clearing brush, cutting grass and weeds, planting marsh plants and upland trees.  The Parks Department has benches to repair and replace, new lights to line the shoreline.  The roads need repairing from the summer of construction, but we can see, ahead of schedule, the results of the time and forethought by Parks planners and engineers, contractors and workmen.

October 6, 2009
The early mornings may have a chill, but down by the lake it is still the lushness of summer.  The arrogance of the heron has returned. Mobile Dredging has completed the shaping of the lake to its new contours.  Masons are scheduled to rebuild the stone wall where possible, and where the wall is too damaged for repairs, a necklace of grey granite, right-sized to match the old stone, is being put in place.  Within two weeks, the lake will be refilled, from Reedy Creek and the springs that enter. Soon the wetlands plantings will be put in place.
The uplands at the south of the lake will be reseeded in the coming days.

September 29, 2009
The big beasts were sleeping later this morning, as crews continue to work on the fine tune of the excavation. Some of the remaining stone wall is being uncovered, and Reedy Creek is back within its historic walls. The heron has returned to his (or her) habitat in the upper creek. While it appears that the contractors will have finished their work within the next month or six weeks, we are now told that the rededication may be delayed well into next year because of an interdepartmental dispute over restoration/replacement of the lights
around the lake. Some of us are still planning a "Welcome Back" celebration for the lake in January, so we'll notify you when so you can come down, have coffee or hot chocolate, and admire what has been one of the most successful projects undertaken in the city in many years.
 

This was not a disaster response like Battery Park. This was a planned
restoration, and it involved some careful planning from an engineering
standpoint plus neighborhood involvement. The lake was even designed to serve as a stormwater retention basin for the entire Reedy Creek drainage and will serve as a blueprint for how our lake system can serve as regional components of a stormwater management plan.
  

From a personal standpoint, I have been coming to the lake since I moved to Richmond in 1982. I am seeing features I have never seen
before.