Citizens say ignoring Shreve Lake ‘unacceptable’
Helping make the case for restoring Shreve Lake are Tim Hendershott, left, Ted Woodring, Shreve Mayor Yvonne Hendershott, Josh Hamilton, Missy Spencer, Jeff Norris, Joe Slabaugh and Kodan Hamilton. Spencer, Norris and Slabaugh make up the Shreve Lake Restoration Committee.
They just want their lake back.
That’s why residents from Shreve and surrounding areas are banding together to petition the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to restore Shreve Lake. The 58-acre lake was drained in 2014 due to a faulty dam.
ODNR’s projection to restore the lake by 2025 “is unacceptable,” reads the digital petition that has gathered more than 3,800 signatures. “Please hear our collective voices and fix our lake.”
Spearheading the grassroots campaign are three local residents — Jeff Norris, Missy Spencer and Joe Slabaugh — who have formed the Shreve Lake Restoration Committee.
“This lake is very personal to us, and we’re very passionate about it,” Norris said. “It’s our local lake, and that’s all we have around here.”
Built in 1961 and filled in 1962, Shreve Lake is Wayne County’s only public fishing lake.
“Shreve Lake has been ignored for seven years,” Norris said, “and that’s just unacceptable.”
After ODNR completed a $110 million Buckeye Lake dam project in 2018, it planned to turn its attention to smaller dam projects in Ohio and estimated the Shreve Lake dam project would be finished by 2021. A $4.6 million rehabilitation of Knox Lake was completed in June of this year.
The restoration committee wants Shreve Lake to now be top priority.
The amount of people who enjoy the lake is so diverse, Norris explained. They include bird watchers, kayakers, picnickers, hunters, fishermen, trappers and ice skaters. “Everybody gets a little something out of our lake,” he said.
Without the lake local businesses have lost revenue, and bait shops have been forced to close.
Norris said his connection to the lake dates back to 1974 when he began fishing there and later trapped and hunted. “I made a lot of memories here,” he said, pointing out the now timber-filled area. “All these kids in the area deserve a chance to make memories too.”
Spencer said the committee continues to find ways to get the word out and gain support. Those efforts now include a website — www.Shrevelake.com — and logo Slabaugh designed and a Facebook page titled Shreve Lake Restoration.
Rich Carter, ODNR’s coordinator of dam rehabilitation, said the department is moving forward with an engineering assessment of the current dam at Shreve Lake. The dam is labeled Class 1 (high-hazard potential), meaning a dam failure may result in probable loss of life and/or extensive property damage. The structural deficiency is the reason the lake was drained.
“We expect a summary report (of the assessment) this fall,” he said.
A more in-depth assessment that involves core and soil samples and hydraulics testing will be conducted before next spring. Repair of the dam is estimated to cost between $3.9 and $5.5 million.
“ODNR has so many aging dams; projects must be prioritized,” Carter said. “Shreve Lake is a priority, but one among many.”
The department is working to secure funding for dam design and construction, Carter said. “A project like this requires two to three years from start to finish.”
The Shreve Lake Restoration Committee has been talking to various groups and elected officials, hoping to get their support.
Ohio Rep. Scott Wiggam, R-Wooster, said ODNR has relayed to him that it will press to finish the project by next year. “It has been put off long enough,” he said, “and they need to let me know how I can help them fix the lake by next year.”
Norris said even if the lake is filled and stocked next year, it’s going to be another five years before it would be what he termed “good for fishing.”
Josh Hamilton said he grew up fishing at Shreve Lake. He’d like to take his son, now 17, fishing there also. “My kid never got to come here like I did.”
Ted Woodring grew up in Shreve and later worked as a commercial fisherman in the Gulf of Mexico. “It broke my heart when I came back to see what had happened to the lake,” he said.
Norris said his group will continue its efforts until it has a firm commitment from ODNR to fix the lake.
“We don’t have any quit in us,” he said. “We’re not going to stop until the project is done.”