Burchard Public Meeting

Many of you have probably already heard that there is going to be some work done on one of the best bass waters in the state this year.  The outlet structure at Burchard Reservoir has had a leak for many years and we have known all along that eventually that was going to need to be fixed.  Well, that leak has not improved any, and it needs to be fixed, now.  Burchard has always had excellent water quality and habitat and has provided an excellent fishery for largemouth bass, panfish and channel catfish for a long time.  It continues to do so.  We have had engineers looking for ways to fix the outlet structure without entirely draining the reservoir because we do not want to drain the reservoir and lose that fishery.  It ain’t broke.

At this point it looks like the outlet structure can be fixed with a 10-foot drawdown.  This also will give us an opportunity to do a few projects to protect some shorelines on Burchard that are showing a little bit of erosion, and major improvements can be made to the boat ramp.

I am still finding out details about the project and what it will mean for Burchard and all of us who love to fish that water.  I will continue to pass those details along, but it would be even better if you could come find out for yourself!  On February 1, a week from today, there is going to be a public meeting held at the Nemaha Natural Resource District (NRD) office in Tecumseh to let folks know what is going to be done.  The Nemaha NRD is located at 62161 Highway 136 in Tecumseh.  The meeting will start at 7:00 p.m. and last until 8:30 or so.  I plan to be there and would love to see a big crowd.