Somerset Lake to house park, dam repairs possible

WILKES-BARRE — Somerset is getting its first real county park, and fishermen across western Pennsylvania may be a little closer to seeing one of its lakes repaired.

Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commissioners on Tuesday approved a no-cost 25-year lease with Somerset County for most of the property around Somerset Lake.

The commission will maintain control of the dam and the land on which its southwest region office sits, said Mark Mitchell, commission property services chief. The county parks and recreation department — which oversees a portion of the Great Allegheny Passage bike trail, but has no other parks — will take over responsibility for the rest of the 468-acre parcel.

The county will handle all routine maintenance and make improvements, installing bathrooms, perhaps developing hiking trails, and more. The commission must be notified before any work is done, as fishing and boating “remains our No. 1 priority,” Mitchell said.

Of course, fishing and boating already are suffering at Somerset Lake.

Built specifically for those purposes more than a half century ago, it's fallen on hard times. Leaks in its earthen dam prompted the commission to draw it down about eight feet in 2012. It remains partially drawn down today, limiting access to car-top boats only and making shore fishing more challenging.

Money to correct that isn't available.

The commission controls 10 such “unsafe high hazard” dams statewide. The combined cost of repairing them is estimated at $47.2 million, said Tim Schaeffer, director of policy and planning for the agency. Fixing Somerset Lake alone will cost $7.4 million.

The commission doesn't have that money, he said.

Commissioner Len Lichvar, from Somerset County, said the lease won't solve that by itself, but it may help.

“If this gets more people using the lake and using the property, that might be the impetus for us getting some funding to do what we need to do to repair the dam,” Lichvar said.

The commission has some money, generated from leasing oil and gas rights under some of its properties. The lake also has local support. The volunteer nonprofit Somerset Lake Action Committee has $100,000 for repairs so far.

Next up is getting the Governor's Budget Office to release capital budget funding, said Schaeffer. The commission is lobbying for the money needed to make repairs at Somerset Lake and Meadow Grounds Lake in Fulton County, he said. It hopes to have some answers by its meeting in July, he said.

Bob Frye is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at bfrye@tribweb.com or via Twitter @bobfryeoutdoors.

Article by Bob Frye,
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