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Hellyer's Cottonwood Lake Dried Up, 9/21/15 by Ronald Horii
2015 was in the middle of the worst drought in California history, from 2011 to 2017 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011–2017_California_drought). In September-October of 2015, Cottonwood Lake in Hellyer County Park completely dried up. The lake is fed by Coyote Creek, which was dry and not flowing. Fish in the lake, mostly non-native invasive carp, died. Here are pictures of the lake on 9/21/15, with some comparison pictures from August, when there was still some water in the lake, and October, when it was completely dry. The lake bottom was littered with bodies of large carp. In 2016, the lake started to fill up again, but with no fish. In 2017, Coyote Creek flooded Hellyer and caused disastrous floods downstream. The lake completely filled up, and fish were reintroduced to the lake from Coyote Creek.
2015 was in the middle of the worst drought in California history, from 2011 to 2017 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011–2017_California_drought). In September-October of 2015, Cottonwood Lake in Hellyer County Park completely dried up. The lake is fed by Coyote Creek, which was dry and not flowing. Fish in the lake, mostly non-native invasive carp, died. Here are pictures of the lake on 9/21/15, with some comparison pictures from August, when there was still some water in the lake, and October, when it was completely dry. The lake bottom was littered with bodies of large carp. In 2016, the lake started to fill up again, but with no fish. In 2017, Coyote Creek flooded Hellyer and caused disastrous floods downstream. The lake completely filled up, and fish were reintroduced to the lake from Coyote Creek.
