Sources
Every lake fact on LakePA 100 comes from these public sources. Each lake page lists its own sources and the date we checked them; the full file-by-file record, with checksums, is published with the data.
SourcePublisherRetrievedUsed for
SourcePFBC Access Points (Fishing and Boating), PASDA dataset 984, file Access20260827 (dated 2026-08-27)
PublisherPennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission via PASDA
Retrieved2026-10-04
Used forDated snapshot of PFBC access areas (278 sites). Status suffixes in WATERBODY ('**DRAWDOWN', '**Temporarily lifted**') become dated notices.
SourcePFBC Access Points, live map layer behind PASDA 984 (1,216 access points)
PublisherPennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
Retrieved2026-10-04
Used forPut-ins: name, ramp, pier, dock, parking class, owner, coordinates; lake-level boat-traffic class when no operator page states it.
SourcePFBC Boating Special Regulation Lakes (Polygons), PASDA dataset 966, Boating_SpecReg_Lakes202403
PublisherPFBC via PASDA
Retrieved2026-10-04
Used forCross-check of the boat-traffic class only.
SourcePFBC PA Lakes map — lake layers (PFBC Owned, State Parks Owned, USACE Owned, Other Owner)
PublisherPennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
Retrieved2026-10-04
Used forAcreage when no lake page states it; status labels (e.g. 'DRAWDOWN STATUS') that become dated notices.
SourcePFBC lake pages (47 'PFBC-Owned Lakes')
PublisherPennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
Retrieved2026-10-04
Used forAcreage, boating rule wording, launch counts, impoundment / natural-lake wording, status statements.
SourcePFBC paddler-rule pages (Cold Weather Life Jacket, Unpowered Boat Regulations, Launch Permit vs. Boat Registration, Boat Registration & Titling FAQs, Register/Title Unpowered Boats)
PublisherPennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
Retrieved2026-10-04
Used forThe eight dated facts on /paddling-rules (SPEC §5.5).
SourcePFBC Contact Us — Region Offices with county lists
PublisherPennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
Retrieved2026-10-04
Used forCounty-to-region map for the six regions.
Source58 Pa. Code Chapter 111 — Special Regulations Counties (linked from PFBC's Boating Regulations page as 'View Regulations by County')
PublisherCommonwealth of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Code & Bulletin)
Retrieved2026-10-04
Used forLake-wide motor rules (boat-traffic class) and the per-lake regulation citation link.
SourcePFBC and DCNR news releases (pa.gov newsroom; discovered via the pa.gov sitemap)
PublisherPFBC / DCNR
Retrieved2026-10-04
Used forDated drawdown and closure notices.
SourceDCNR Where to Boat in State Parks
PublisherPennsylvania DCNR, Bureau of State Parks
Retrieved2026-10-04
Used forState-park lakes: motor type, lake acres, launch or hand launch (only these three columns).
SourceDCNR state park pages (main, Boating, Maps) for every park in Where to Boat
PublisherPennsylvania DCNR
Retrieved2026-10-04
Used forLake name and acreage as the park states it, launch descriptions, motor rule line.
SourceDCNR park advisories (the feed behind each park's /alerts page)
PublisherPennsylvania DCNR
Retrieved2026-10-04
Used forDated (first-seen) drawdown/launch notices for state-park lakes.
SourceDCNR State Parks GIS — park boat launches, park attributes, park lakes
PublisherPennsylvania DCNR
Retrieved2026-10-04
Used forCoordinates of state-park launches that are not in the PFBC access layer (pins instead of hand placement).
SourceU.S. Army Corps of Engineers — Corps Lakes Gateway (Pennsylvania) and district lake pages (Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Philadelphia)
PublisherUSACE
Retrieved2026-10-04
Used forUSACE reservoirs: operator, launches, acreage and motor rule where the page states it.
SourceUSACE National Inventory of Dams (national CSV, 'Data Last Updated 2026-9-23'), Pennsylvania rows
PublisherUSACE
Retrieved2026-10-04
Used forDam-caution flag: a named NID dam on the lake (or a dam at the lake whose listed surface area matches).
SourceUSGS National Hydrography Dataset (High Resolution), Pennsylvania state extract (staged 2026-09-10)
PublisherU.S. Geological Survey
Retrieved2026-10-04
Used forLake outlines (silhouettes, 500 m put-in check, county shares). Public domain (U.S. Government work); no attribution required.
SourceUSGS National Hydrography Dataset (medium resolution), NHD map service layer 10 'Waterbody - Small Scale'
PublisherU.S. Geological Survey
Retrieved2026-10-04
Used forOutline for Tamarack Lake, which the 2026 high-resolution extract does not contain. Public domain.
SourceUS Census Bureau TIGER/Line 2025 counties; Cartographic Boundary 2025 counties (500k)
PublisherU.S. Census Bureau
Retrieved2026-10-04
Used forInside-Pennsylvania check, county shares, state outline and region map. Public domain.
SourceUS Census Bureau 2026 Gazetteer Files — places
PublisherU.S. Census Bureau
Retrieved2026-10-04
Used forHub coordinates (internal points) for the 14 /near/ pages. Public domain.
SourcePennsylvania DEP — Harmful Algal Blooms page
PublisherPennsylvania DEP
Retrieved2026-10-04
Used forThe single generic link on /safety (SPEC §3.2). No data used.
Link check: 306 outbound URLs checked 2026-10-04, 0 failed.
Notes
- Lake outlines come from the USGS National Hydrography Dataset, a U.S. Government work in the public domain. One lake (Tamarack Lake) uses the medium-resolution NHD outline because the 2026 high-resolution extract doesn't include it.
- State, county and region shapes come from US Census Bureau TIGER/Line and Cartographic Boundary files (public domain); city points for distances come from the Census 2026 Gazetteer.
- Dam cautions use a lake's own page or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers National Inventory of Dams.
- Our compilation (the list, numbering, tiers and text) is © WeldonPC and licensed CC BY 4.0. Please cite “LakePA 100 (lakepa.org), checked {date}” with the date shown on the lake page.