Pymatuning State Park

Pymatuning State Park, Crawford County, is one of the largest state parks in the Commonwealth. The large impoundment provides excellent fishing throughout the year. Pymatuning Reservoir is especially lovely on late spring evenings when the sunset gilds the water and colorful sailboats appear to slide across waters of gold. Pictured today is one of the wetland areas created by the formation of the reservoir.

Located in the park are two natural areas, Blackjack Swamp and Clark Island. Natural areas have unique scenic, geologic or ecological value and are set aside for scientific observation and to protect outstanding examples of biodiversity natural interest and beauty.

Blackjack Swamp consists of 725 acres and provides habitat for unique natural communities, and rare species. In the northern part of the lake is Clark Island, which has 161 acres of hardwood and white pine forest. Visitors are welcome to explore these undeveloped natural areas. WPC staff assists the Bureau of State Parks with the inventory and assessment of species and natural communities within state parks. This work has confirmed the importance of Black Jack Swamp as a high diversity wetland supporting special concern species and significant habitats.

Text modified from the Pennsylania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) web site. Today's photo showing an inland wetland on Clark Island is from WPC's Natural Resource Conservation archives.

Directions
Pymatuning State Park is located in southwestern Crawford County. The park office is located near the Crawford-Mercer County line about 1.5 miles north of Jamestown, Pennsylvania. Approximately three-fourths of the reservoir area is located in Crawford County and the remaining one-fourth is located in Ashtabula County, Ohio.

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