Lake Wallenpaupack, located in northeast Pennsylvania, is a popular destination for boating, fishing, swimming, ice skating, ice fishing, snowmobiling, and other activities. It is one of the few lakes in the Poconos that is big enough to allow water-skiing. Public access is provided by the many resorts and motels, public recreation areas, and picnic and nature areas that surround the lake. Lake Wallenpaupack is within vacationing distance of millions of inhabitants of the mid-Atlantic states.
The area that is now Lake Wallenpaupack was once only a creek, winding its way through the bowl-like, wooded terrain of what is now the Lake Wallenpaupack watershed. The creek was known to the Leni-Lenape Indians as "Wallenpaupack," which means "the stream of swift and slow water." Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. dammed the creek and built the lake in 1926 to supply water for a hydroelectric power plant. Building the lake was a monumental task, considering that mules and steam engines were the only source of power for construction projects in those days.
Lake Wallenpaupack has become a source of recreation, income, tourism, power, wildlife, and much more to the people of northeast PA. In September 1979, Pike and Wayne counties and the 14 townships in the Lake Wallenpaupack watershed formed the Lake Wallenpaupack Watershed Management District (LWWMD) in response to water quality problems in the lake. The LWWMD is a multi-governmental, nonprofit corporation that manages the Lake Wallenpaupack watershed and addresses water quality problems. It was the first watershed management district in Pennsylvania.
