The winter drawdown for Highland Lake will begin on October 15 this year. A five-foot drawdown has just been approved by the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission as a “short-term remedial drawdown.” It will provide the opportunity for the Town of Winchester and volunteers to remove some of the dangerous debris deposited on Resha Beach as a result of a “mud island” that formed during the eight-foot drawdown last winter. Resha Beach has not been very usable this season due to the organic material, logs and rocks deposited close to shore last spring.

The gate at the north end of the lake will be opened on October 15 and kept open until the water level reaches five feet below the spillway or November 30, whichever comes first. The drawdown will not exceed five feet and the gate must be closed no later than December 1, 2010, regardless of whether the target depth has been reached. Then the lake will be allowed to refill naturally back to three feet below the spillway and maintained as constant a water level as possible until “ice off” (usually around April 15).