Apr 18, 2026 By Garrett Neese 2 min read

The Greene County Board is looking ahead to days of anglers and hikers at the Wisecarver Reservoir & Recreation Area.

Thursday, the board approved a bid for work on the second phase of work at the reservoir, as well as a grant request for the third phase.

Work will begin early this summer on Phase 2, which will include a boat launch that will allow the Fish & Boat Commission to stock the lake and for emergency crews to get boats on the water, said board Chairman Jared Edgreen. Plans also include a walking trail, nature playground for kids, a pavilion and waterless restrooms.

Those should be in place by the end of the year, if not before, Edgreen said.

“This next phase that’s going to take place between now and fall is going to really beautify it,” said Vice Chairman Betsy McClure. “I think it’s going to really put people out there.”

Morgan Excavating of Charleroi, which had the lowest bid of $1,764,422.35, was awarded the project. Four bids were submitted, the highest coming in at $1.92 million, said Clerk Jeff Marshall.

The board also authorized applying for a Greenways Trail and Recreation Grant through the Commonwealth Financing Authority for Phase 3. The grant would go toward funding another portion of the trail, which commissioners plan to eventually become a Americans With Disabilities Act-compliant loop around the reservoir.

“Eventually, we want to go around the entire lake, but this will be going to a logical ending place where it can kind of be a little destination,” Edgreen said. “People can go and sit and look at the water, look at the beauty of the area.”

Edgreen said $208,000 in grant funding was going toward the third phase. After the second phase is complete, the county will look at what kind of engineering costs would be required.

The county has targeted a multi-phase approach in recent years, Marshall said.

“In the past, we’d just say, ‘Here’s our project,'” Marshall said. “Now we’re going to say, ‘Here’s the grant funding, here’s the project to spend up to that amount of grant funding and expand in that direction.'”