The Meadowbrook Community Association, which will be hosting a community day on May 27, invites you to take a stroll out to McGinty Lake and take a look around.
In the hopes of raising awareness of preserving the riparian area around the lake, the Community Association, headed up by Marty Musser, have raised some funds through the Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) and the Grassland and Rangeland Enhancement Program (GREP) to establish a recreation trail to, and around, the lake. The area around the lake has also been designated an interpretive forest.
There is a parking area near the entrance to the rock quarry out on Highway 95A and from there, Musser says it’s an easy, comfortable 20 minute walk to the lake.
“We encourage you to walk out. People should come out and recreate. We don’t encourage vehicle traffic on the trail of course,” he said. “But you can access the lake by vehicle as well, although the road is rough.”
McGinty Lake is a water access for grazing cattle and one of the first projects undertaken by the group was to access funding through GREP to put up fences so the cattle can only get in to drink at certain spots.
“We need to keep cows in a couple of areas only so they don’t disturb water fowl nesting,” Musser said.
Funding has also been received through CBT to provide for educators to go into local schools and take classes out to McGinty Lake to learn about the ecology and biology of the area. That education will take place this fall.