May 31, 2024 By Amy Fauth 5 min read

To Ken Bisbee, it seems like just yesterday that he took over as manager of Ohiopyle State Park.

Bisbee, who retired from the park in April, came to Ohiopyle from Yellow Creek State Park, a almost 3,000-acre park in Indiana County that attracted less than 250,000 visitors annually. He’d worked there for 34 years before coming to the Ohiopyle park with its 20,500 acres attracting between more than 1 million visitors annually.

“It was a really big jump,” said Bisbee, recalling that Ohiopyle was and is the largest state park in Pennsylvania at 32 square miles.

In addition, at Yellow Creek he managed 10 employees; at Ohiopyle that jumped to 40.

Named to the position by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in 2014, Bisbee said it was a very smooth transition. Soon after settling in, Bisbee, his wife and their four children fell in love with the park and the town.

But, Bisbee said, he really didn’t have much time to ease into the job. Not only did mountain biking and bicycling reach all new levels with the opening of the Great Allegheny Passage bike trail in the park the year before, but the new $7 million Ohiopyle State Park office and Laurel Highlands Falls Area Visitors Center was being completed just as he began his role.

Bisbee said the building’s central location in the “hub” of the park enables visitors paddling the Yough to congregate in one spot. It’s also located close to the bike trail.

Ohiopyle is a unique park because of the number of river rescues and a lot of emergency calls, Bisbee said.

“It’s such a challenging place to manage, especially when you’re new.”

Under his leadership, Bisbee managed park operations during a challenging, but necessary $12 million construction project with the state Department of Transportation. Geared toward outdoor enthusiasts, the project rerouted busy Route 381 making it easier for people to get from town to the park and back to their cars. The project also included the construction of an underpass leading to the river launch. This allowed for the bike trail to be removed from the highway improving the experience for bicyclists coming off the GAP and heading into the trailside town.

This was the first time the park had collaborated with PennDOT, which Bisbee recalled, was a good partner.

“I found that to be a very rewarding experience,” he said.

From a visitor standpoint, Bisbee has seen the GAP really take off.

“It was officially completed in 2013, but while I’ve been here I’ve seen an explosion of its use,” said Bisbee.

In fact, the number of bicyclists now surpasses the number of whitewater boaters at Ohiopyle.

In addition, another highlight of his career was being a part of developing Ohiopyle’s Dynamic Forest Restoration Plan, which focuses on keeping state parks healthy and providing a home for the trees, plants and wildlife.

“It’s a good ending for my career,” said Bisbee. “It’s about setting up the forest for the future.”

Climate change affects all the species that call the forests in state parks home, and this approach to caring for forests manages it for the future.

Bisbee said the pandemic – when people were urged to socially distance and seek outdoor recreation – represented a challenge.

“We saw visitors flocking to state parks. Some came to escape their houses. Some came to just regroup or get peace back in their minds,” he said. “You could tell a lot of people either hadn’t been to a state park in a while or had never been in one.”

Because of the big increase in visitors on the trails, a certain amount of educating the public on etiquette was required. The park launched a campaign with signage to inform new visitors about a variety of topics, including cleaning up after themselves and disposing of garbage in the appropriate receptacles.

Recalling the summer when so many public pools made the decision not to reopen, Bisbee said new visitors came to Ohiopyle with their floaties, inner tubes – some shaped like flamingos – not realizing the Youghiogheny River wasn’t quite the same as a community pool.

“We had some incidents. Fortunately, there were no drownings, but it was a challenge for our staff,” said Bisbee.

Despite the issues, Bisbee said it was rewarding seeing so many people rediscover the state park and recapture their younger days at Ohiopyle. What’s really been nice, he said, is that attendance hasn’t waned, and many who rediscovered the park have returned time and again.

Visitors have found that even as state parks go, Ohiopyle is about as unique as it gets with the park surrounding the town.

“Everything starts and ends right there at Ohiopyle,” said Bisbee.

There is one part of the job Bisbee said he won’t miss.

The Youghiogheny River is as dangerous as it is beautiful. As park operations manager, one of Bisbee’s jobs was to coordinate the situation when there was a tragedy. He was the one who talked with the media, updated families during recovery operations, and notified families in cases of the worst news.

“It’s incredibly heart wrenching,” said Bisbee. I won’t miss that. I did not enjoy it.”

Before he left, Bisbee passed on a little advice to his successor, Kris Baker, who came to Ohiopyle after serving as manager of the much smaller Keystone State Park near Latrobe.

“The goal is to get through the summer, get through your first year.”