We reported in May that colleagues and I visited Etang
Lachaux near Camp Perrin to take measurements and check the lake’s suitability
for stocking fish. I visited the lake a
couple days ago on 04 Sept 2013 and the lake is completely dry except for two
shallow pools and some springs. Tropical
Storm Gabrielle looked promising for rain, but seems to have dissipated. Seems the people who took a chance and
planted right up to the then drying lake edge in May will get in crops. New land is being plowed even closer to the
lake bed. Cattle, sheep, and goats are
grazing right in the lake bed, and at least one died from getting stuck in the
remaining mud. When the lake refills,
will decomposition of all the vegetation deplete the oxygen levels of the water?
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| Dung beetles. |
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| Looking toward north end of lake. |
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| Planting newly plowed land. |
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| Cows with mud up to knees. |
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| Our little guide standing by a spring. |
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| Where I took a soil sample. |
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| Football (soccer) field in lake bed! |
