With a Lake Going Under, Fullerton Acts

As a teenager, Richard Juarez fondly recalls, he often walked the railroad tracks from his La Habra home to Fullerton, pole and bait box in hand, to fish in Laguna Lake.

In the 10 years he’s fished there, he has noticed a difference. The once-clean lake keeps getting blacker. And the fishing worse. The lake is so contaminated, many fish have died.

“It’s too bad because there aren’t many places to fish around here,” he said.

Residents in the hills around the lake share his concern. So do officials from the city and the state Department of Fish and Game. That’s why the seven-acre Laguna Lake, a beloved gathering spot in the city’s northern hills, is getting $2 million worth of help.

A Long Beach consultant has been hired to advise the city, which owns the lake, on what needs to be done. But the concern goes beyond dead fish.

A staff report to the City Council says “significant amounts of contamination” from Laguna Lake are reaching coastal waters. The lake feeds into Brea and Coyote creeks, which run to the ocean via the San Gabriel River.

Runoff from surrounding hills results in much of the lake’s contamination, bringing with it motor oil washed from streets and fertilizer from lawns.

Sometimes, said Margie Hansen, who takes daily walks around the lake, she can even see grease on the surface from runoff. It’s a sad turn for the place where Hansen has met many of her closest friends during walks. The lake regulars have even given pet names to the wildlife.

“There’s George the old goose with the hump on his head,” Hansen said, “and Pity Old Gus, and Sorry--he’s a blind duck but he knows our voices and comes running.”

But the waterfowl bring their own contamination. Laguna Lake is overrun by hundreds of ducks and geese, far too many for the lake’s size, creating high bacteria levels. They roam in groups so freely that they often stop traffic on surrounding streets. On top of that, the lake has never had an adequate filtering system or good circulation.

Benches dot the rim of the lake, set in a 28-acre park of the same name. Ringing the lake are a picnic area and a trail used by walkers, bicyclists and horseback riders. No swimming or wading is permitted, and the park closes at dusk.

“We don’t want to change what’s there for the public,” said city park project specialist Randy McDaniel. “We just want to make it better.”

The city will hold a public hearing at the lake at 10 a.m. June 9, a Saturday. “The consultant will tell people what some of the solutions are, but we also want the public’s input on what we should be doing for the lake,” McDaniel said. “Bring your own chair.”

Hansen is ready with her thoughts: “Keep it natural,” she said. “We don’t have many spots of nature left in this county.”

Of course, Laguna Lake was never strictly natural. It was born as a small man-made livestock pond near the turn of the century. In 1916, the Bastanchury family, which owned the lake, enlarged it to impound water from Brea Creek for irrigation of its citrus groves. The city bought the property in 1952 to turn it into a fishing spot. By 1955, the lake was stocked with largemouth bass, bullhead catfish and golden shiner minnows. Later, bluegill and rainbow trout were added. Sometime in the last decade, homeowners added koi, now abundant.

The fish once fed on crayfish in the vegetation that lined the lake, McDaniel said. But most of that vegetation is long gone with a cement wall now ringing much of the lake.

The lake was once about 25 feet deep. Now, officials say, it’s so packed with silt you can walk across it. That’s causing a shortage of oxygen for the fish, McDaniel said.

About three years ago, residents of the North Fullerton Homeowners Assn. pushed for remedies.

“At first we didn’t get much encouragement from the city,” said Catherine Lancaster, head of the association. “The city’s budget was too strapped for even everyday problems, like fixing potholes.”

But the fish deaths caught the attention of state Fish and Game officials in 1999. They found high levels of contamination in the lake. That, combined with community concern, prompted the city to seek money from the state Coastal Conservancy. Thanks to a bill by state Sen. Richard Ackerman (R-Irvine), the Conservancy committed $2 million to the lake’s rehabilitation.

Though the report from consulting firm Moffatt and Nichols is due in October, the city already has some idea of what’s needed: creating a filter system to redirect runoff, reducing wildlife to a manageable level, restoring greenery along the banks, improving the lake’s circulation for better aeration and removing contaminated sediment.

That means closing lake access for three months while the bottom is dredged, perhaps in the summer of 2002, because it’s easier with a dry lake bed. The neighborhood seems to be all for it.

Melissa Underwood, who often walks her Labrador-mix Alex there, said she discovered the lake on a class trip as a kindergartner from nearby Hermosa Drive Elementary School. She’s pleased to see single-file groups of schoolchildren still making jaunts to the lake.

Joan McCabe and her daughter Kelly say they take their daily walks at the lake because they love feeding the ducks. They plan to attend the June hearing and urge the city to restore ducks’ nesting places. State Fish and Game recommends that the city prohibit feeding the ducks. That’s going to be a hot topic with many who enjoy it.