On the YouTubes: Not Quite the Love Boat

Here's some exciting, and almost exhaustive, video of the ongoing dredging operations at Lake Audobon. If you have young children, be sure to gather them around the computer screen, as this is almost as exciting as that Thomas the Tank Engine show they keep prattling on about, except that the RA's boats and backhoes (thankfully) don't have human faces or bad attitudes.

Here's what the videographer has to say:

Prior to the recent stream restorations, with each heavy rain, lots of dirt would be washed into the lakes which over time would make the lakes shallower where streams enter. The restoration projects are expected to greatly reduce the erosion from run off and create a healthier water system. Consequently dredging is expected to be required much less often and so I recorded this activity for posterity.

The dredging cycle begins with empty barges being pushed down the lake by a tug boat to the dredging platform. A backhoe on the platform then fills the barge with mud while the filled barge is pushed to shore for emptying. A second backhoe on land scoops the dirt into trucks for disposal. This cycle repeats for weeks until the job is done.

Another Restonian operative asks a question:

Will they leave the boats in the water and make gambling boats out of them?

We can only hope.