Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission, partners start on White Oak Pond dam project

Honesdale, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission and community partners broke ground April 17 on the long-awaited dam rehabilitation project that will restore White Oak Pond in Clinton Township, Wayne County. 

Construction on the $5.5 million project will begin in the coming weeks and will include the construction of a new earthen dam, concrete spillway, upgraded boat launch, and an ADA accessible fishing pier.   

While a reduced pool of water remains because of recent rain and snowmelt, White Oak Pond was completely drained in 2015 due to structural issues and leakage coming from the more than 200-year-old stone-built dam.

Following construction, White Oak Pond will be refilled to full pool, and the fishery will be restored through a multi-year restocking plan that will include native warm water sportfish species including largemouth bass, black crappies, yellow perch, bluegills, pumpkinseeds, and minnows such as golden shiners. 

Heavy vegetation that has grown throughout the lakebed will eventually be submerged under water and provide a boost of nutrients to the growing fishery, helping it thrive through a phenomenon known as “new lake effect.” 

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Until the fishery becomes self-sustaining to include fish of harvestable size, the lake will be managed under catch-and-release fishing regulations.

In addition to dam infrastructure improvements, a new culvert will be constructed directly downstream of the dam beneath State Route 4004 (White Oak Drive), funded by PennDOT.

“The good news is, we’re about to start, the project will commence in a couple weeks in earnest, and be completed by the fall of 2027,” said Tim Schaeffer, commission executive director.”

The new dam will be located about 100 feet upstream of the old dam, according to Paul Urbanik, director of the Fish & Boat Commission’s Bureau of Engineering.

“It will be an earthen dam with a concrete spillway positioned directly in the middle of it,” he said. “The spillway will be able to handle about 24 inches of rain in 24 hours, which is the probable maximum precipitation, which is the standard for high-hazard dams.”

Over the next year and a half while the dam is going to be under construction, the commission will be developing a restoration plan, explained Cooper Barshinger, Fish & Boat Commission fisheries biologist.

“This restoration plan will serve as a roadmap for us, re-establishing the fishery and successfully attaining our goal,” Barshinger said.

“And that goal is to establish a once again self-sustaining fishery with adequate size structure to allow for harvest as soon as possible.”

State Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne, Pike, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties, called White Oak Pond a major economic tourism driver and a community asset.

“By restoring this beautiful property, we are preserving an integral part of our history,”    she said. “We are also making an outdoor recreation facility for all to enjoy and utilize – both our residents and those who come to visit.”

The dams being built today are much more substantial than structures like the one at White Oak Pond that were built 200 years ago, pointed out Wayne County Commissioner Brian Smith

“Maybe, 400 years from now, they’ll be thanking Fish & Boat for the things that they’re doing right now to build these dams, to build them right, and to build them so they last well into the future,” he said.