Lake Lucille is a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

within the municipal limits of

Wasilla, Alaska Wasilla ( Dena'ina: ''Benteh'') is a city in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, United States and the fourth-largest city in Alaska. It is located on the northern point of Cook Inlet in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley of the southcentral part of the ...

, located at . Most of the lake shoreline is private property (i.e., not incorporated into the City of Wasilla), and many residents have docks for swimming, boating, or docking

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

s. There is also a city park with a campground and boat launch. "Lake Lucille is basically a dead lake -- it can't support a fish population" according to Michelle Church, a local environmentalist. State environmental officials say that leaching sewer lines and

fertilizer A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

caused an explosion of plant growth in the lake, which sucked the oxygen out of the water and led to periodic

fish kill The term fish kill, known also as fish die-off, refers to a localized die-off of fish populations which may also be associated with more generalized mortality of aquatic life.University of Florida. Gainesville, FL (2005) ''Plant Management in Fl ...

s."Sarah Palin's dead lake"
article by David Talbot at ''salon.com'', 2008-09-19. Retrieved 2010-11-20. Lake Lucille and Wasilla Lake are both immediately adjacent to the

Parks Highway The George Parks Highway (numbered Interstate A-4 and signed Alaska Route 3), usually called simply the Parks Highway, runs 323 miles (520 km) from the Glenn Highway 35 miles (56 km) north of Anchorage to Fairbanks in the Alaska In ...

, the main route for travel between

Fairbanks Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the po ...

and

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

. Controlling runoff from the six-lane highway is considered a key to saving the lakes in Wasilla. "Anything that comes off an automobile -- oil, antifreeze, de-icing agents, heavy metals -- all of that can run off into the lakes when it rains," observed Archie Giddings, Wasilla's public works director. Lake Lucille was listed as "impaired" in 1994 by the

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) is the state of Alaska's environmental regulatory agency. The Alaska Legislature established ADEC in 1971, and the agency's responsibilities were transferred from the Alaska Department ...

and in 2008 still carried the same legal designation after twelve years of "Wasilla's frenzied development" under Mayor

Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 R ...

(Oct 1996 - Oct 2002) and her successor as mayor, Dianne Keller (Oct 2002 - Oct 2008). The private home of former Governor

overlooks Lake Lucille, and she gave her July 2009 resignation speech at its bank."Sarah Palin Resignation Speech, (partial) VIDEO, TEXT"
''Huffingtonpost.com'', 2009-07-03. Retrieved 2010-11-21. Sarah Palin's house

References

Lakes of Alaska Lakes of Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska {{MatanuskaSusitnaAK-geo-stub