A 25-year lease that will allow for some of the land around Children’s Lake in Boiling Springs, Cumberland County, to be managed by South Middleton Township was approved Monday by the Pennsylvania Board of Fish and Boat commissioners.
The lease, which will cost the South Middleton Township “a minimal amount,” will allow it to develop the recreational potential of those portions of the 7.63-acre site not committed to fishing and boating on the 6-acre, spring-fed lake.
The arrangement, like leases at other commission-owned properties such as Minsi Lake in Northampton County and until recently Kaercher Creek Lake in Berks County, maintains the commission’s commitment to spend fishing and boating license funds only for those activities, noted commission Executive Director Tim Schaeffer. At the same time, it allows for additional recreational opportunities.
The township will be responsible for routine maintenance, operation, repair, and supervision of the lease area.
The lease represents an extension of a cooperative partnership for the lake – involving the commission, the “Save the Lake” campaign and the township – that will bring a $3 million rehabilitation and enhancement project at the lake.
That project is expected to begin in May, after more than a full month of the 2022 trout fishing season has been available to anglers at the lake, which is a popular destination for the one-day mentored youth trout fishing season and the opening season of the regular trout season.
According to Brian Barner, deputy director for administration with the commission, the work will require a full draining of the lake.
Dredging of the relatively shallow lake is not anticipated. Being spring-fed, the lake appears to have minimal accumulated sediment and the commission doesn’t want to disrupt the springs that bubble up under the lake.
Plans include expanding the width of a pedestrian walkway along the south end of the lake to make travel there safer.
Schaeffer noted that the lease makes the township eligible to apply for a boating facility grant from the commission for work at the lake.
For more outdoor coverage, subscribe to Marcus Schneck’s free, weekly Outdoor Pennsylvania newsletter right here:
You also can contact Schneck at mschneck@pennlive.com.
Ad Choices