Somerset

Commissioners of Somerset County have agreed to use drilling revenue to match any public donations to save Lake Somerset.

The lake has one of 12 “high hazard dams” in the state. The county is trying to save the dam to save the lake. The 253 acre lake’s water level has already been lowered by 6 feet to take pressure off the dam.

The county is also trying to make the land around the lake into a community park. It just has to wait for the Fish and Boat Commission to approve the plans, which Commissioner John Vatavuk thinks is very likely.

Round up the cattle and put on your finest 10-gallon hat because this year’s Fire and Ice Festival will take you to the American frontier.

“Wild, Wild West,” the 19th annual winter festival, will be held Jan. 17-19 in Uptown Somerset and Stephanie Williams, executive director of Somerset Inc., said this year is going to be unlike any other.

After 40 years of planning and securing funding, work will begin August 27 on a new stretch on Route 219 in Somerset County.

The 11-mile, four-lane roadway will connect the existing Route 219 south of Somerset with the existing four-lane Meyersdale bypass.

The project will include new interchanges north of Meyersdale and at a crossing of the Mud Pike roadway.

As the weather begins to warm up and snow starts to melt in Western Pennsylvania, anglers from around the state are beginning their yearly trek to fly-fish in the Laurel Highlands.

With the second most cold-water streams in the nation, behind Alaska, the Commonwealth is home to the most trout anglers in the U.S., besides California.

Monty Murty, president of the Forbes Trail Chapter of Trout Unlimited, a cold-water conservation organization, said people can fly-fish year round in Pennsylvania, but most start in the early spring and go through June.