One of the most popular fishing and recreational spots in Greene County soon may be on its way to recovery as a result of state and local cooperation.

A task force dedicated to reopening the 62-acre Duke Lake in Ryerson Station State Park met recently and forwarded its design ideas to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which is now reviewing the data.

The group of local officials and state representatives has met several times since the lake was drained in July 2005 after cracks began developing and expanding in its concrete dam.

Dam redesign plans are moving forward despite ongoing litigation with Consol Energy, which was sued for more than $58 million earlier this year by the DCNR over the company's Bailey Mine, believed to be the cause of the dam failure.

Company officials maintain the mine was too far from Duke Lake to cause subsidence damage, but a $1.2 million study ruled out natural causes last year.

DCNR Press Secretary Christina Novak said that ideas generated by the task force have been submitted to a design company, the Maguire Group, for review.

The company is expected to take six to eight weeks to review the material, after which it will develop a design program outlining the specific tasks necessary to complete the design, time schedule and the estimated cost, Ms. Novak said.

The company also will begin gathering additional topographic survey information that it believes necessary to support the design, she said.

Along with a rebuilt dam, task force member Harry Gillespie, of the Friends of Ryerson citizens group, said the designers would be asked to look at some new features, such as a walking trail around the lake, more cabins and habitat improvement.

Dredging several feet of sediment from the now-dry lake bottom would create a deeper impoundment and the opportunity to stock a wider variety of fish, he said.

"It will certainly be better because it will be dredged," Mr. Gillespie said of the lake.

Members of the Center for Coalfield Justice, who sponsored the second DRYerson festival in July to mark the third year that the lake has been closed, said they were optimistic that improvements would begin soon.

"I am certainly hopeful that this recreational asset will return to Greene County," said executive director Raina Rippel.

Ms. Rippel cautioned that monitoring and testing for subsidence damage should continue to ensure the dam's future stability.

"These impacts can take place over months," she said. "It's a terrible shame when community resources like this are taken away."

State Rep. H. William DeWeese, D-Waynesburg, said he and fellow task force member state Sen. J. Barry Stout, D-Bentleyville, have been monitoring progress.

"Sen. Stout and I have been in regular contact with DCNR to assure that the project moves forward and does not get buried beneath other plans," Mr. DeWeese said in a recent statement. "[DCNR] Secretary Mike DiBerardinis is to be commended for responding to our requests and for pursuing a course of action with vigor."

In the same statement, Mr. Stout said the task force is seeking ways to fund the improvements with the help of Gov. Ed Rendell.

The 1,164-acre park, opened in 1967 for picnicking, hiking and camping, also has a swimming pool. The concrete dam across the north fork of the Dunkard Fork of Wheeling Creek was built in 1960.