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After 45 years with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Raystown Lake Operations Project Manager Jude Harrington is retiring.
His illustrious four-decade career with USACE was celebrated at a retirement event on Jan. 8, where colleagues, family, friends, and community members gathered to reflect on his dedicated service and contributions to the Raystown community.
Harrington’s career aspirations unfolded at a young age. A family vacation during his high school years ignited the fire of him wanting to work in nature. He recalls a trip with his aunt and uncle, traveling through the national parks in the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia.
“I started thinking, ‘why don’t I do this for a living?’ I got back to school and told the guidance counselor to find me a school where they have Parks and Recreation,” said Harrington.
He attended Slippery Rock University in Butler County, Pennsylvania, majoring in Parks and Recreation and Natural Resource Management.
Throughout his career, Harrington worked at seven different lakes throughout five USACE Districts, including 27 years as a Raystown ranger.
In 2014, he received the American Recreation Coalition’s Legend Award for outstanding service in the field of outdoor recreation during a ceremony on Capitol Hill in Washington. U.S. Congressman Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) presented Harrington with a congressional gold coin, as well as the official Congressional record read on the House of Representatives floor in his honor.
“Without Mr. Harrington’s high standards and efforts, the surrounding community would not have such high quality camping facilities, roadways, trails, beaches, and recreational opportunities. He’s truly a professional, leader, and public servant.” said Thompson.
A proponent of recreation projects in and out of the Baltimore District, Harrington supported, encouraged, planned, and executed the maintenance, repair, and improvement of many facilities to provide high quality recreational experiences.
As a founding member of the Friends of Raystown Lake and long-term advisor, he paved the way for many partnerships resulting in a multitude of successful projects for the community. Some of the more notable accomplishments include the Greenside Pathway, a 2.5 mile trail made of recycled tires, the Mountain Bike Skills Park, two disc golf courses, as well as helping local communities obtain Department of Transportation grant funding for road upgrades to improve access to USACE parks.
Despite his vast experience outside of the Baltimore District, Harrington looks back most fondly on his time and efforts in Huntingdon County.
“Without a doubt, I have to say Raystown is the best,” said Harrington. “It’s very scenic and the people in the community want us here. They want to work with us, and we get a very positive response from so many of the visitors and different agencies and nonprofit groups.”
About Raystown Lake
Raystown Lake is the largest lake located entirely within the state of Pennsylvania and draws over a million visitors annually, generating an estimated $19 million in related sales.
The dam is one of the largest in the east, standing at 225 feet tall and 1700 feet across, and has saved communities over $314 million in potential flood damage costs to date. This multi-use project constructed and managed by USACE is used for flood risk management, hydroelectric power, recreation, and fish and wildlife conservation and mitigation.
The project has five campgrounds with a total of 594 campsites, 10 boat launches, two full-service marinas, nearly 70 miles of trails, disc-golf courses, mountain biking skills park, and endless opportunities for recreation and tourism within Pennsylvania.
“There’s so much here at Raystown and there’s so much to be done, it’s never boring,” said Harrington. “There’s 30,000 acres of land and water. Every couple of months there’s some new initiative that you have to work very hard on.”
The success of Raystown today would not be possible without the partnerships USACE has built over the last 50 years. The local, county, and state officials, Huntingdon County Visitors Bureau, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Juniata College Field Station, the Friends of Raystown Lake, and volunteers who have contributed to the project over the years are invaluable.
“If you wanted to do something with fisheries management, fighting invasive species in the Lake, or songbird surveys, or bat surveys, it’s nice to be able to reach out to our partners that also want to do it,” said Harrington.
A large initiative at Raystown Lake comes from the help of the students at the Juniata College Field Station. With limited personnel to study and treat the invasive species problem that all bodies of water face, the partnership allows students to learn, while also getting the job done. Raystown staff takes the students out on the water, where they conduct research, and a contract then gets written for aquatic spraying and treatment. The next year, the students come back out and do additional surveys to see how things worked.
“It’s a system of working with your partners and leveraging your areas,” said Harrington. “Yes, it gets the job done, but the best thing is it builds relationships, and it makes the job more satisfying.”
Celebrating 50 Years
In June of 2024, Raystown Dam celebrated its 50 Year Anniversary with a rededication ceremony, free public tours of the facilities, a drone and firework show displayed over the Seven Points Recreation Area, and the planting of a time-capsule to be opened in another 50 years.
The anniversary provided an opportunity for the community to look back on not only the flooding that occurred in 1936 that prompted the need for construction of a new and larger dam at Raystown, but also what has happened since then and how the lake and community has grown.
“The nice thing I noticed during the celebration is the generational effect,” said Harrington. “I’m seeing grandparents coming back with their grandchildren that are now of driving age and they’re actually telling the stories of what it was like on the old lake and how it’s been like on the new lake.”
Raystown Lake and Dam has benefitted the community by providing flood risk management, recreation opportunities, fish and wildlife conservation and a significant impact to tourism for the State of Pennsylvania for a half century thus far and will continue to do so with the staff, partnerships, and volunteers that have led to the project’s success.
The Impact of Jude Harrington:
Harrington undoubtedly left a lasting impression at Raystown Lake after sharing his more than 40 years of experience with countless seasonal and permanent Park Rangers over the years.
“I owe my career to Jude,” said Raystown Lake Park Ranger, Jenna Conner. “He hired me not once, not twice, but six times. Once as an intern, four times as a Seasonal Ranger, and finally, as a permanent Ranger. I am grateful for the institutional knowledge of USACE he shared with me and so many other Park Rangers who came before me and I know that Raystown will not be the same without him.”
Raystown Lake Natural Resource Management Supervisor, Allen Gwinn, has spent his entire career of almost 30 years at Raystown Lake with Harrington as his supervisor. He recalls being a part of numerous changes over the years at the project with Harrington including the construction of the Visitors Center, Senoia Campground, the Greenside Pathway, Allegrippis Trails, the Skills Park, Tatman Run Beach, and endless others.
“One of the memories that I still cherish of Jude and I is the Explorer Program that we ran, giving high school students an opportunity to be in a group that explored the career of being a Park Ranger,” said Gwinn. “We took the kids white-water rafting, rock climbing, canoeing, and many other places that were all something to be proud of. I will miss Jude and he has certainly had a big impact on where I am in my career.”
Although the Raystown Lake staff will miss him in his role as Operations Project Manager, Harrington plans to spend retirement in his new role as a Raystown Lake Volunteer.
| Date Taken: | 01.16.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 01.16.2025 09:07 |
| Story ID: | 489177 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 15 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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