Document text
68 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, May 24, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Biz Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend May 17, 2005 Maintenance means spring cleaning for Ashland duck ponds By BUFFY POLLOCK for the Mail Tribune ASHLAND — The duck-muck dilemma may finally be over, at least in one of the city’s two popular duck ponds. After years of almost comic problems with the popular Lithia Park ponds, city officials are going all-out. First up was the lower pond, which could reopen to ducks this week. Next on the list is the larger upper pond. Parks and Recreation Director Don Robertson said crews have been busy installing a heavy-duty, swimming-pool-style filtration system in the lower pond that could very well end the half-decade saga of too much goo created by too many overfed ducks. "Filtration has been an issue for awhile, but we’re hoping this fixes it," said Robertson. The lower pond began having issues after the flood of 1997, when a dam that diverted fresh Ashland Creek water into the lower pond was removed. The pond ranged from chocolate brown to neon green as various methods were tried to clean it up. Solutions have ranged from regularly emptying and recycling the water to a cascading waterfall and a complex biological filtration system. Advertisement Most pre-date Robertson’s year-and-a-half tenure, and none of them did the job. "The one I inherited was the natural pond clarification process ... using a natural filtration of floating plants in a median. Unfortunately that was not able to keep up with the volume of ducks in the water," Robertson said. More recently, parks commissioners voted to post signs, despite initial attempts to educate the public on appropriate means of duck feeding, urging pond visitors not to feed the begging birds. "Basically, duck output is directly related to duck input," said Robertson. "Ducks are natural foragers. By feeding them foods that aren’t natural to their diet, it not only produces more duck output but also harms the ducks’ overall health." Robertson said the filtration system is expected to be a final fix for the murky pond. "It’s a mechanical filtration system, set up similar to a swimming pool filtration," he said of the $30,000 system. "We tried to go with a more natural system before going to the man-made system." Tuesday, Ashland resident Brittany Orberly said her daily jogs through the park had not been the same in recent months since the lower duck pond had been emptied. "I love coming through here. It’s so peaceful and beautiful," she said. "The duck pond adds so much charm. It’s not the same with it empty." Three-year-old Willow Marx loves to visit the park and the ponds’ ducks, said her mother, Farrah. "She laughs when they stick their heads under water and their butts poke up," she said. "This is one of our favorite places and we’ve been checking every week to see if it’s reopened yet. ... The hard part is convincing her she can’t feed them anymore. Maybe when they get the water dilemma squared away they’ll let us feed them again." No promises, said Robertson. City officials haven’t yet considered whether swans would be reintroduced. Problems became evident several years ago when one of two resident swans got sick and died, possibly from the foul water. Robertson said he gets daily calls from people eager to know when the pond will reopen, which he said could happen any day. "People are fascinated by it," he said. "It’s a long-term family tradition to visit the ducks. Tourists who come here every year, part of their annual pilgrimage is to visit the duck pond. It’s a significant asset to the community and to Lithia Park." Buffy Pollock is a freelance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Free Music Downloads Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg diamonds Distance Education Diamonds Online Poker Auto Insurance Mesothelioma Slippers Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation teleconferencing Website Design & Marketing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Mortgage Calculator Free Home-Loan Referrals Payday Loans Advertisement s