Improvements set at Ryerson Station
It looks like some major improvements are in store for Ryerson Station State Park in Wind Ridge, judging from comments made by Park Manager Alan Johnson at a recent meeting of the group Friends of Ryerson Station State Park.
Almost 11 years after the park lost one of its most prominent attractions, Duke Lake, the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is preparing to make significant investments in the park.
Johnson said the improvements could possibly include a new pool complex, modernized campgrounds, additional cabins, a paved bike trail, a boardwalk, a playground and amphitheater.
Many of the ideas came from a survey of residents conducted by DCNR and the Re-Vision Ryerson Task Force, a group formed to develop a new blueprint for the park after it was determined last July the lake could not be restored.
Residents have been waiting a long time for something to happen at Ryerson Station State Park.
The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources was forced to drain the 62-acre Duke Lake in July 2005, after cracks began to expand in the lake’s 45-year-old concrete dam to the extent the dam was deemed unsafe.
Almost eight years passed before, in April 2013, DCNR announced a settlement had been reached to rebuild the dam with Consol Energy Inc., whose underground mining activities were believed to have been the cause of the damage to the dam.
It began to look like everything was on track when DCNR and the state Department of Environmental Protection announced a project in August 2014 to excavate silt from the lakebed in preparation to rebuild the dam and to use the silt to remediate the Mather coal refuse dump.
The anticipation of further progress, however, was dashed a year later when DCNR announced the devastating news the lake would not be restored because of continuing movement of the ground in the area of the proposed dam.
The loss of the lake has had a negative impact on the park, as well as on Greene County’s offerings in the realm of outdoor recreational activities.
Since the lake was drained, attendance at the park plummeted by one-fourth from its pre-2005 annual attendance figures, park officials have said. The drop in attendance obviously indicates the importance of the lake in attracting people to the park.
There has been much talk since the decision not to rebuild the dam was announced about what people would like to see at the park to transform it into an attractive recreation area for the county and this corner of the commonwealth.
The preliminary plans mentioned by Johnson appear promising. They also appear to be realistic, considering the money available from the settlement between DCNR and Consol and other funding.
Johnson indicated a meeting will be held this month – the tentative date is May 17 – to inform the public of the preliminary plans and other funding sources Johnson said will become available.
The community is looking forward to hearing more about the plans, as well as the timetable for getting the work started.
It’s refreshing residents are being asked to participate in the process.
This is their park, so they should have a say in what outdoor amenities it will offer for many generations to come.