A multi-month drawdown of Lackawanna Lake began this week as construction started on the 198-acre lake’s dam. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has classified the 69-foot-high, 350-foot-long dam as a high-hazard structure, and the rehabilitation project is expected to be complete by the end of January 2027.
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has eased fishing regulations on the lowered lake for the duration of the drawdown, and shoreline fishing access will remain available while the lake sits well below its normal pool. Lackawanna Lake is one of about 100 waterways stocked with trout by the commission in the fall; fall trout stocking at Lackawanna Lake has been canceled for 2026, and trout stocking there will be reassessed in the spring.
Design specifications on the dam and the lake add scale to the project. At normal pool the dam impounds 2,400 acre-feet of water on Lackawanna Lake; Lackawanna State Park itself covers 1,445 acres in Lackawanna County, roughly 10 miles north of Scranton, and is one of 125 Pennsylvania state parks. The rehabilitation targets the dam embankment and related infrastructure serving that footprint.
Bass, catfish and other resident species will remain in the lowered basin during the drawdown; the commission is not conducting a fish salvage. Project updates and access notices are posted on the state park and Fish and Boat Commission pages.
