"Only 12 more feet to go," announced George White, as he opened the Leaser Lake Heritage Foundation meeting.

Latest measurements indicate with approximately 12 feet remaining, water should soon be going over the spillway.

This is what the group has been anticipating for many years.

White also said trout stocking took place on March 25 and April 4.

Graffiti has been removed from the spillway and the vandals have been assessed the costs of removal.

Foundation member Randy Metzger reported 18 wooden duck boxes were placed in trees March 23 in the wooded area around the lake.

Jeff Schucker and Leslie Blatt from Bailey Wood Products, Rich Kulp, Northwestern Middle School teacher, his seventh-grade student Adriana Walp and her dad, Kurt, installed the wood duck nesting boxes, cut by Schucker and built by Kulp's students.

The project was funded by Susan Kistler, a member of the Leaser Lake Heritage Foundation, who donated money in her parents' name to ongoing projects by the foundation.

Metzger said the next habitat construction project will occur July 19 and 20. The group will start to install turtle platforms in various spots in the lake 10 a.m. July 19. The next day, construction of new cribs will take place at 9 a.m.

The cribs are placed in the lake as fish habitat protection area.

A three-year plan envisions 50 structures with more construction days scheduled. Volunteers are welcome.

Metzger was invited to address the Pa. Fish and Boat Commission of the history and creation of the Leaser Lake Heritage Foundation.

The commission was interested in how the foundation obtained funding and got people involved.

They plan to use the story of Leaser Lake as a model for lake reconstruction in other parts of the state.

Metzger was also invited to attend another meeting, in either May or July, to further address the commission.

The Heritage Foundation's website states the Pa. Lake Management Society has named the Leaser Lake Heritage Foundation as the "Organization of the Year" with Metzger designated "Volunteer of the Year."

PALMS is a non-profit organization devoted to the management, restoration and protection of Pennsylvania's lakes and the wetlands surrounding them.

YSM Landscape Architects then gave a presentation on the handicap access in the western parking area.

Nine handicapped parking spaces are proposed with a kiosk, restrooms, picnic pavilion, bocce courts and horseshoe pits.

A beach area and a canoe or kayak launch area with a fishing pier are also proposed.

A turnaround with parking for trailers is proposed at one end of the parking area.

YSM will develop a cost estimate.

Several handicapped individuals with handicaps were present to view the proposal. Among them was Bob Amelio Jr. from the Lehigh Valley Center for Independent Living.

He is an accessibility inspector and plans examiner and community support coordinator.

He expressed approval of the project and said he would use the site.

"It is important to have facilities like this in the area," he said. "Build it and they will come".