Odland Receives Upgrade
By Ron Wilson
Arguably one of the largest sediment removal projects from a fishing lake in North Dakota is expected to improve angling opportunities in a part of the state where prospects for wetting a line are few.
Odland Dam, located 7 miles north of Beach in western North Dakota, was constructed nearly 90 years ago, and last winter a staggering amount of frozen sediment was removed from the 120-acre reservoir after the water was drained.
The project was made possible by an alliance of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, Golden Valley County Water Resource District, local landowners and funding from the Outdoor Heritage Fund.
According to Bud Ordahl, Golden Valley County Water Resource District chairman, 166 million gallons of water was pumped out of Odland to make possible the removal of 130,000 cubic yards of sediment.
“That would be equal to 6,450 of those big, off-road haul truck loads, or 60-foot tall when stacked on a football field,” Ordahl said.
Odland Dam has long been a fishing and recreational boating fixture to the local community and surrounding areas, but the decades old reservoir was feeling its age because of the sediment overload, so making it more attractive to users was important.
“Been after it for years and years and years just because the community wanted it and over the years it just got where we couldn’t hardly boat out in it anymore,” Ordahl said. “The weeds were growing back too fast because of the shallow depths. And the fishery was getting in rough shape because of no depth also.”
Jeff Merchant, Game and Fish Department fisheries biologist in Dickinson, said Odland Dam for years has been managed primarily as a walleye, yellow perch and bluegill fishery. Unfortunately, fisheries management efforts over time were often hampered because of frequent winterkills.
Bluegill from Odland Dam.
“Odland is capable of growing some really nice fish, but when you have winterkills often, it really hinders that,” Merchant said. “Another issue we’ve had in the past several years are the perch have become way too abundant. And so, this project is really giving us a chance to reset the fishery and kind of start over.”
Water was already back in Odland in spring and Merchant and other Department fisheries personnel stocked fish to jumpstart what could easily be called a new fishery, considering its major facelift.
