PA Lake Rules AtlasIndependent · cited · checked monthly

Home / Data & methodology

How we build and check this atlas

What we cover

Inland Pennsylvania lakes and reservoirs with a lake-specific state boating rule (Chapter 111, Fish and Boat Commission lakes, DCNR state parks and forests, Game Commission lands) or at least two PFBC-verified public ramps. Rivers, creeks, canals, river pools, Lake Erie and Presque Isle Bay are not covered. Today: 154 lakes.

Our principles

  1. We only state what a cited source says. We never guess a rule from a lake's size, owner or neighbours.
  2. No lake-specific rule is not the same as 'unlimited'. We say 'No horsepower limit listed in §…' or 'No lake-specific state rule found (as of date)'. 'Unlimited' appears only where DCNR's table says so.
  3. Horsepower caps cover electric motors too. Kilowatt figures are our arithmetic (hp × 0.7457).
  4. On Commission and DCNR waters where gas engines are banned, electric boats are slow, no-wake and a gas engine may stay attached but not run.
  5. A bigger motor on an hp-capped lake: the boat may launch, the motor may not be used. On state-park lakes, ask the park office.
  6. PWCs: in state parks only where posted open without an hp limit; never on Commission lakes; Chapter 111 bans as written.
  7. Where two regulators apply, we show both. The sign at the lake controls.
  8. A rule's conditions — days, season, hours, zone — are part of the rule, and we always show them.
  9. Every fact shows the date we verified it and the date a machine last re-checked the official text.

Freshness states

OK · Rule text changed · Not re-verified in 13+ months · Expired after 36 months — We re-check each official text monthly. If the text changes, the lake turns grey and says 'Check official text' until we re-verify it. If our checks can't run, facts age honestly: amber after 13 months, grey after 36.

Data verified through Oct. 4, 2026; official texts last machine-checked Nov. 1, 2026.

Sources

The Pennsylvania Code (58 Pa. Code Chapters 53, 91, 93, 97, 103, 107, 109, 111, 135; 17 Pa. Code §§11.219, 11.224, 21.109); the Pennsylvania Bulletin (48 Pa.B. 7185; 55 Pa.B. 6278); DCNR's Where to Boat table and park pages; PFBC pages (Boating FAQs, BSEC, registration, lake pages); PFBC data on PASDA (Access, Lakes PFBC Database, Lakes Point, Boating Special Regulation Lakes, PFBC Properties); U.S. Census (ZCTA and place gazetteers, county boundaries); USGS GNIS.

DCNR (46)
The Pennsylvania Bulletin (2)
The Pennsylvania Code (68)
PFBC pages (48)

What we changed in PFBC data

We use PFBC's data with credit to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. We kept only PFBC-verified access points with a ramp on lakes we cover and within 2 km of the lake, simplified lake outlines to at most 400 points, removed status notes from names, and used PFBC's lake acreage. PFBC has not reviewed or approved these changes.

Never a rule source

Cornell LII, Justia, eRegulations, boating-course blogs, registration services, other lake-rule sites, the undated PFBC digest, Wikipedia and AI answers. We may use the digest and Wikipedia to find things to check, never as a source.

AI assistance

Compiled with AI assistance; every rule is quoted from the official text and machine-checked against it.

Downloads

rules.csv · rules.json — Our rule summaries, citations and dates, licensed CC BY 4.0. Ramp locations are PFBC's data and are not redistributed in bulk.

Also: llms.txt · llms-full.txt · changes (Atom) · each lake page has .md and .json alternates.

How to cite

PA Lake Rules Atlas, lakepennsylvania.org, {page}, verified {date}.

Quoting the Pennsylvania Code

We quote short passages of Pennsylvania regulations, each with its citation and a link, so you can check our summaries against the text. The Pennsylvania Code website asks that its contents not be reproduced or sold for profit; we quote only short passages, link each one to that site, and do not sell its text.