A Washington County Conservation Board project that’s been a few years in the making is set to be completed this summer.

WCCB completed a pond restoration at Foster Woods County Park southwest of Wellman last fall, which involved raising the pond and removing some of the trees on the south bank to increase airflow and lower the risk of winterkill to the pond’s fishery. Conservation Executive Director Steve Anderson gives an update on the park project, “It is going great, we have the retaining wall all done and actually the slab is now poured, and so over the course of the next month our staff will now go forward and build the actual shelter. The pond levels continue to rise and the fish are coming so everything is progressing very nicely there.”

Anderson anticipates the shelter to be completed by July 4th. A small parking lot was added to the north side of the pond, with two fishing jetties created in the center of the pond and an ADA-compliant trail wrapped around it. This project was funded by grants from the Fish Habitat Stamp Fund and Rural Energy for America Program, and self-generated revenues.