The Future

Downtown Olympia could look very different in our future.

People could still walk on trails and bring their dogs, but instead of walking around the lake they would be walking along the estuary, admiring the wildlife it brings and the native plants growing. For most of the day, the basin of the estuary would be filled with water, but at low tide, twice a day, the river flowing out to the inlet will be visible. Anyone walking past would be able to see what a diverse and productive ecosystem exists here.

People would walk by as heavy machinery occupies the lake, dredging out sediment in order to restore water quality, hopefully. The “Healthiest lake in Thurston County” would have to go through a very difficult process to even obtain the permit to dredge the lake without removing the dam, because there would be no significant environmental benefit and would cost taxpayers money every few years to maintain.

People might walk by hurriedly, trying not to look at the marshy, muddy, unhealthy former Capitol Lake. With the dam still in place, more and more sediment would accumulate, replacing the water with mud. The only thing flourishing here would still be the invasive species, and Capitol Lake would not be the social gathering place it is today, or even be a healthy ecosystem anymore. By then, any restoration project would cost much more than it would today to start, and maybe by then even more alternative plans would need to be made, because maintaining the lake or restoring the estuary would be a lost cause.