Dec 29, 2024 By Ben Moyer 5 min read

If you visit the websites of our state natural resource agencies with any frequency, you have probably noticed a change. For years, the Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), Game Commission, and the Fish and Boat Commission each had their own unique websites. These were attractive, colorful, and featured graphics and photographs themed to each agency’s role in outdoor matters. Most importantly, frequent users got accustomed to each site and how to find what they need.

But beginning about a month ago, all state agency websites are built on the same bland, unexciting, and difficult to navigate template. Little about the Fish and Boat site, for example, entices you to go fishing, and it’s a joyless chore to find information helpful to a first-time angler.

In the upper left corner of all the sites appear the words: “Official website of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.” So, the natural conclusion is that someone high up in state government had the brainstorm to direct all agencies to use the same unimaginative website design. To confirm this change was not inflicted only on “outdoor” agencies, I also checked the sites of PennDot and the PA Dept. of Health and found the same bland unwelcoming setup. Was this done to improve efficiency? To create consistency? No way to know, but it is certain that no agency’s website carries the appeal and user-friendliness it did a few weeks ago.

Okay, enough venting. Despite that downgrade, after some acclimatization I did find something useful on the DCNR site that I’d never encountered before. It’s the State Parks Winter Report, and it’s a pretty nice service to the outdoor public, even if presented on an unattractive page.

The Winter Report offers frequent updates on snow and ice conditions at 103 (I counted) of the 122 parks in the state park system. This provides key information to people who want to go sledding, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, or ice-fishing at a state park somewhere in the state.

To access the State Park Winter Report, type “PA DCNR State Parks” into your internet search box. Once you’re on DCNR’s bland official template, you’ll see another search box in the upper right corner. Go there and type “Winter Report.”

Now, if you’re fortunate, you’re just one click away. That search will load a new page that should give you an option to click on “State Parks Winter Report.” Hopefully, this will appear at the top of a lot of useless links of little interest.

Click “State Parks Winter Report.” The resulting page will confront you with an open, airy, white space without appeal. But there will be an inconspicuous instruction to “SELECT TO SEARCH BY PARK OR BY ACTIVITY.”

Now you’re there. If you select by park, you’ll see a lineup of 103 state parks across the state. Click on any of those to get recent snow and ice conditions. Most parks I checked on Christmas Day had updated conditions between Dec. 20 and Dec. 23.

As an example, I selected our most local state park — Ohiopyle. The site reported 0 inches of snow and 0 inches of ice (many state parks have a lake where ice thickness is relevant information). The Ohiopyle report also made it clear that “Ohiopyle has no ice activities offered.” That means even under cold conditions, there’s nothing you can do on ice at Ohiopyle-nobody ice-fishes on the Youghiogheny River. Sledding, though, is popular at Ohiopyle if there is snow on Sugarloaf Mountain.

I was surprised to check Laurel Ridge State Park and find a report of 0 inches of snow. Laurel Ridge is the highest elevation state park, and I guessed there’d be snow there. When there is sufficient snow, Laurel Ridge is a popular destination for cross-country skiing.

You can also use the report to submit your activity of interest, then learn where that activity is currently doable. Because a couple of friends and I enjoy it, I checked “ice fishing.” Only one state park in the entire Commonwealth is currently reporting safe ice conditions for fishing on its lake. That park is Black Moshannon, which sprawls atop the Allegheny Front near Phillipsburg in Clearfield County. The report states Black Moshannon lake has 5 inches of ice. Fishing is considered safe for one or two anglers on 4 inches.

When I checked for cross-country skiing, only one park reported adequate snow. That was Chapman Dam State Park, far up north in Warren County.

These are just some examples of state parks and their activities you can check for winter adventures when conditions improve, which means colder and snowy. If we get that, it will be worth navigating the “improved” unfriendly state websites to get the news.

It’s also worth remembering that we don’t need snow and ice to enjoy the outdoors in state parks. Ohiopyle alone offers 70 miles of hiking trails you can enjoy in any weather. And I saw some hardy souls kayaking on the Yough in a snow squall last week. But that’s hard-core outdoors and not for everyone.

Wishing readers a Happy New Year in the woods and on the waters of southwestern Pennsylvania.