Lake Wonderwood Gets A Wellness Check Up

Lake Wonderwood is an approximately 20-acre manmade lake originally created in mid 1950s to provide construction fill material for the adjacent housing area.

The maximum depth of the water is between 20 and 25 feet and contains both freshwater and brackish layers depending on the depth. The lake is a very significant feature on the Station that provides for a variety of uses. It serves as a fish and wildlife habitat; stormwater storage and treatment; and as a recreational site.

The water from Lake Wonderwood is also used as the primary source of irrigation water for the golf course under a Consumptive Use Permit issued by St. Johns River Water Management District. Because we want to ensure that we appropriately manage the lake for these multiple uses, we have initiated this study.

Lake Wonderwood is the stormwater basin for a large portion of Naval Station Mayport, accumulating stormwater from most of the housing area, much of the golf course, and north along both sides of Bon Homme Richard Street to Bailey Avenue.

Even though there has not been a major spill or release of hazardous substances into the lake, oil from the roads and motor vehicles and chemicals put on lawns can wash into the lake through the stormwater drainage system. Anything that is dripped, dropped, or swept onto the roads and sidewalks in this area may eventually end up in Lake Wonderwood.

Additionally, there have been infrequent fish kills in the lake associated with low dissolved oxygen levels in the water. This is usually attributed to natural factors that occur during extended periods of dry and/or warm weather and that follow the passage of tropical weather systems.

The primary investigator for the upcoming study is Dr. Charles E. Cichra, Ph.D, Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, of the University of Florida's Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences. He and his team will initially determine the physical features of the lake resulting in a bathymetric map showing depth throughout the lake. Following that, researchers will sample water at specific locations in the lake every three weeks for a one year period and analyze it for a variety of chemical parameters. In addition, an inventory of biological resources in the aquatic and shore environment, including fish, invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, aquatic plants and algal species will be performed.

Based on the data generated, University of Florida researchers will make recommendations on the most appropriate means to improve and maintain all aspects of ecological integrity of the lake and its inlets and outlet. Caretakers of the lake will then have a good understanding of the health of the lake and in turn be better prepared to make informed decisions on management regimes and methods to prevent adverse impacts on the desired uses of Lake Wonderwood.