On Sun, 26 Jan 2003 12:04:08 -0600, J Kolenovsky wrote:

It's a shame the county is taking out the lake. It would be nice if
people would concentrate on restoring and preserving nature rather than
replacing it with aggregate.

The original poster didn't say the lake was being taken out - merely drained.
There are several reasons that this might be done:

1) A state park nearby drained their lake to allow the building of a boat
dock.

2) Repair work may be needed on the dam.

3) Around here it is not an uncommon practice to drain small lakes, dig them
out to increase water depth, then refill. If you don't, eventually the lake
will fill in completely.

I too, would want a soil test on the silt removed prior to putting it into my
landscape.