First, it was President Donald Trump proclaiming Lake Ontario was renamed \u201cLake America\u201d and now a Pennsylvania state lawmaker has Lake Erie in his sights.<\/p>\n
Rep. David Maloney, a Berks County Republican who lives over 350 miles from Erie, is proposing a resolution to urge Trump, Congress and the Interior Department secretary to change the name of Lake Erie to \u201cLake Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe case is about the lake\u2019s modern identity,\u201d said Maloney in a statement.<\/p>\n
GoErie.com reported last week on Maloney making a \u201ctongue-in-cheek\u201d comment about renaming Lake Erie the \u201cLake of PA\u201d during a joint legislative meeting on fishing and tourism, but the joke that drew laughs at the time has now become a reality.<\/p>\n
Maloney, of Boyertown, said in a co-sponsorship memo that Pennsylvanians from across the state visit Lake Erie in the summer to boat and fish \u2014 along with visitors from New York and Ohio \u2014 and to take advantage of the shoreline, and Erie Bluffs and Presque Isle state parks.<\/p>\n
Citing research by Pennsylvania Sea Grant, Maloney\u2019s statement said 74% of anglers surveyed live in Pennsylvania but travel an average of 103 miles to reach Lake Erie, augmented by those from New York and Ohio coming for the county\u2019s \u201cSteelhead Alley.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania, the statement said, \u201cpunches well above its weight in maintaining our Great Lake\u2019s recreational fishery,\u201d stocking nearly 500,000 yearling steelhead last year \u2014 more than any state or Canadian province \u2014 and supplying all the brown trout stocked in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is Pennsylvania\u2019s only Great Lake. It\u2019s modern economy and identity are increasingly tied to the boaters, anglers, families and tourists who come to enjoy it,\u201d said Maloney.<\/p>\n
\u201cOhio has plenty of shoreline. New York already has two Great Lakes. Canada has four others,\u201d he said. \u201cPennsylvania has one. Let\u2019s call it Lake Pennsylvania!\u201d<\/p>\n
Lake Erie is bounded by Ontario, Canada, to the north and Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and New York.<\/p>\n
In a statement to PennLive, Erie County Executive Christina Vogel said the county does not want the \u201chistoric name\u201d of Lake Erie to change.<\/p>\n
\u201cLake Erie\u2019s name reflects the layers of our history, from the Indigenous Erie people to the pivotal role our region played in the War of 1812,\u201d Vogel said. \u201cPreserving this name honors our past and the contributions that helped shape our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vogel\u2019s statement said the Lake Erie name is \u201ca vital part of our shared heritage, honoring the Indigenous Erie tribe who lived along the lake\u2019s southern shore in the 17th century.\u201d<\/p>\n
That legacy, according to the statement, \u201cis woven into the identity of both Lake Erie and Erie County, and we remain committed to recognizing and respecting that history.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement said the lake also has \u201cnational significance\u201d for its role in the War of 1812 and the Battle of Lake Erie that \u201cmarked a turning point\u201d for the United States and was \u201cmade possible by ships built right here in Erie County, Pennsylvania, which helped secure the nation\u2019s future and is one of the many reasons we celebrate America\u2019s 250th anniversary today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First, it was President Donald Trump proclaiming Lake Ontario was renamed \u201cLake America\u201d and now a Pennsylvania state…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":["post-282574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}