A thin layer of ice flanked the banks of Minsi Lake as a flock of birds meandered over the ripples in the warmer waters toward the center of the lake. Just to the north, the leafless trees gave Blue Mountain a gray hue.
Even in the midst of winter, the lake in Upper Mount Bethel Township offers a picturesque view of the most rural parts of the Slate Belt.
By June, if it were any other year, the lake would be catering to fishers and boaters enjoying a transformed landscape and far warmer weather.
But summers on Minsi Lake will be on hiatus starting this year.
In less than two months, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission will start an ambitious, $3 million project to drain the lake so an aging and structurally deficient dam can be replaced.
We wanted to give readers a unique look at the lake before then so we sent lehighvalleylive.com multimedia specialist Saed Hindash there to capture images of the lake by drone. Scroll through the gallery above to see his photos.
The work starts in April with the commission relocating fish in the lake before draining it, commission spokesman Eric Levis said.
The draining process involves water being released gradually into the East Branch of Martins Creek through controls on the existing dam, he said.
It’ll take up to a month to safely drain the entire lake. Factoring in the fish salvaging component of the project, expectations are that the lake will go dry sometime in June, according to Levis.
The timeline calls for the lake being refilled with the new dam in place in 2019.
Refilling a 117-acre lake doesn’t take as long as it may sound.
“The lake will refill naturally based on precipitation,” Levis says. “Lakes typically take three-to-six months to refill. We expect to start refilling the lake in spring 2019 and expect it to be fully refilled by the end of summer 2019.”
So from this June until then, the lake and the construction area around the dam will be off limits to the public.
Walking, jogging and picnicking on the rest of the property will still be allowed throughout the entire project, Levis said.
The commission currently classifies the dam as “high hazard unsafe.” A high hazard dam is any that could result in the significant loss of life and property damage were it to break.
Minsi Lake’s dam, which was built in 1970, is among five statewide that meet this classification and are being replaced.
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The new dam will feature a reinforced concrete spillway capable of handling more water in the event of a flood. The height of the new dam will also be 2 feet, 3 inches higher than the current dam.
Project planning has been underway for some time. The commission last year suspended seasons, sizes and creel limits for most species in the lake to thin out the fish population before the salvage.
In October, it held a public hearing to give residents an in-depth look at the project and why it’s being done.
The water level at the lake was lowered by about three feet in May 2013 and has remained at that level since.
Nick Falsone may be reached at nfalsone@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickfalsone. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
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