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By Sam Wheeler for the Tidings March 03. 2015 2:00AM Ashland Rowing Club members put their backs into Emigrant Lake clean-up Local volunteer Robin Pike, from the Ashland Rowing Club, was among the club members putting in their time and muscle Sunday to clean up debris that had collected in Emigrant Lake. photo by Larry Stauth Jr. The only thing tougher than raking the shoreline and pulling soaking wet logs and limbs from Emigrant Lake on a frigid late-winter morning is the group of rowers doing the work. The young, spirited — and strapping — group of about 40 volunteers started streaming in at about 7 a.m Sunday morning, rowed 10,000 meters around the milk-chocolate brown water, then started pulling waterlogged wood from the cove surrounding their floating launch dock below the dam on Emigrant Lake Road. Ashland Rowing Club President James Adams hauled tractor loads of debris from the shore to above the high water line, while other rowers finished packing their 200-pound, 60-foot boats up a hill from the dock to the storage rack before joining the clean-up effort. “Every year we do a little bit of work, but it’s never been this bad,” said Adams, of Ashland. “In the rowing shells, if you hit a big log, you’re done.” Record rainfall during the second week of February swelled Emigrant Creek and other tributaries that feed the reservoir. A huge number of logs and limbs were washed into the reservoir and wind and current pushed it all toward the northern shores. “A boat hits this, and you’re in trouble,” said longtime rowing club member Carl Prufer, of Ashland. Prying on a 15-foot long, 10-inch diameter piece of oak stuck in the mud and sticking out of the water, Prufer hollered to others in the group, “over here!” A half-dozen rowers rushed over to help him drag the lunker to the tractor. “This is certainly as bad as we’ve ever seen it,” Prufer said. The Ashland Rowing Club frequently practices and competes at Emigrant Lake, where in 2000 it purchased a public rowing dock. In addition, the club built and maintains public boat racks on the lake shore. Anyone can participate. Cathy Tronquet of Medford said she remembers when the club had just one boat that was stowed beneath the water slide at the county park, another area where rowing club members have been wading out into the mucky reservoir to remove wood debris. Club members estimated there's probably another week or two of Sunday-morning work left before the water is cleared of potentially boat-ruining floaters. With about 100 club members pitching in, the work goes rather quickly, Adams said, but it’s still soggy and back-tiring. Anyone is welcome to lend a hand, Adams said. For more information about the rowing club, visit ashlandrowingclub.org or call 541-488-9308. Sam Wheeler is a freelance writer living in Ashland. Reach him at [email protected]. http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20150303/News/150309963 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->