Iron Horse Trail Lake lies between the towns of Pawnee City and DuBois, Nebraska. The lake is an 85-acre flood control structure located on the Lores Branch, in Pawnee County, Nebraska. The lake and associated recreation area is operated by the Nemaha Natural Resources District (NNRD). In November 2007, TFG completed an engineering feasibility study, which evaluated a sediment basin within the upper reaches of Iron Horse Trail Lake. The recommendations from the study concluded that a comprehensive lake restoration project including a sediment basin was warranted.
TFG worked with project partners from NNRD, NDEQ, and NGPC to evaluate and design a complete lake restoration project at Iron Horse Trail Lake. The design efforts of the motorboat access development portion of the project included:
- an island complex and associated lake deepening
- boat mooring island and associated lake deepening
- improvements to the existing boat ramp facility with adjacent lake deepening
- shoreline stabilization measures
- angler access points
- underwater shoals (fish habitat)
- recreational amenities improvements
During the project, Nemaha NRD decided to expand the project and had TFG design a new primitive camping loop, camper pads, and ingress and egress roads in an underused portion of the recreation area. TFG completed design and construction management services for this additional work as an expansion to our initial contract. This project had multiple funding sources including NDEQ, NGPC Aquatic Habitat, NGPC Recreation Area, and NRD. Total construction cost was $2.1 million dollars.