Its home cleared of algae, the Waverly Duck seemed to be a little low in the water on Sunday.
The weeding of Albany’s Waverly Lake may become an annual affair, at least for a few years.
This was the second summer a company contracted by the Albany Parks Department deployed a couple of floating harvesters to rip out the algae or whatever kind of plant had covered much of the lake’s suface.
In his Friday report to the city council, City Manager Peter Troedsson wrote:
“Waverly is looking much clearer. The aquatic harvester spent several days on the lake removing the vegetative growth. The organic material harvested will be used by Public Works in their composting program. This will be the second year that the organic materials are used in the process. We anticipate the harvesters will be in town annually for the next few years to continue to manage the lake. As it starts to get darker earlier, more and more people will get to enjoy the lighted fountain.”
As soon, that is, as the fountain is turned on again. On Sunday it was off.
As I rode past the lake on the bike Sunday afternoon, the good old Waverly Duck was slowly turning on its anchor in the wind. It looked to me as though it was down a little by the stern.
Photos from past summers show the duck’s tail sticking out of the water, not touching it as now.
After several years in dry dock, the sprayfoam creation of the late Steve Fletcher was refurbished and returned to the lake in 2017. It may be getting a bit waterlogged at the end of its seventh summer afloat.
I expect the duck will be returned to storage for the winter either this month or next. Maybe that will give it a good chance to dry out. (hh)
Why does the City Manager think that the algae at Waverly Lake will only have to be harvested yearly for a few years? Global warming isn’t going away because not enough people have the good sense to recognize it or the political will to do something about it. And warming is what increases the algae.
Where did you get the idea that global warming causes algae? Same person who said the polar vortex is caused by global warming? And it’s now called climate change because they can’t prove global warming. Go read Al Gore’s book and see how fictitious it is. And it’s interesting that both Obama and Gore own beach property which they’ve bought in the last 20 years.
I said global warming (climate change, if you will) “increases” algae. Duh!!! You haters get so high and mighty and so excited about pontificating against something that a progressive has written that you can’t see beyond your own nose when you are reading. I’m sure Obama and Gore got a great bargain on that beach property. Good for them.
The Waverly Duck made news history in the ’90’s when I phoned Carl Click of KGW News in Portland A young goose had become enamored with our huge duck and would not leave the duck’s side. I was on the newsworthy scene at the lake when the news team arrived. Carl and the camera guy went out in the rowboat and the romantic pair were filmed, as they swooned together. Huge duck, tiny goose! I was interviewed by Carl, as I described the pair, describing the young goose gliding by the ‘stern of the duck’. As the rowboat came near the couple, the goose, interrupted by her soiree, honked and flapped her wings, protecting the two lovebirds. I stayed on shore, taking photos of the newsworthy scene. Associated Press picked up and ran with the story. Must have been a slow news day!
Lovely story. Donald Trump wasn’t front and center in the news cycle back then, Thank God.
If in fact the Waverly Duck has become waterlogged, maybe the duck needs to be resealed. Surely there’s a process to accomplish this at minimal expense. Perhaps a work party of interested citizens armed with paint brushes and cans of sealant!
oh no! Get it out of the water. Lets GO!
There will be another effort to refurbish the duck this winter. Yes it will take volunteers again and some funds. His exterior needs a major repair and the inside floats need replaced. Our Waverly Lake Duck is 40 years old and we need him to be around another 40 years.