Since the 1990s, members of the Tioga County Bass Anglers have completed several habitat projects at Hammond Lake and Cowanesque Lake. After the group entered the Cooperative Habitat Improvement Program at Lake Nessmuk, a fish habitat improvement plan was completed in 2014. Phase One was completed during the drawdown and allowed the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission to use heavy machinery to build larger and more durable structures. Phase Two was finished after the lake was filled and used volunteers and specialized habitat placement boats. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission provided safety equipment, technical assistance, tools, boats, and some financial assistance, while Tioga County Bass Anglers provided volunteers. The Reservoir Fisheries Habitat Partnership was a critical partner, and its nonprofit branch, Friends of Reservoirs, administered grant funding and ordered materials. Shell Appalachia's Environment grant funding was essential to the project. Phase One construction, completed in February 2015, created 580 rock rubble humps at nine sites, 16 half logs at two sites, 15 post stumps at four sites, 15 felled shoreline trees at one site, 11 rock stars at two sites, nine post clusters at three sites, and five spider humps at one site. Phase Two construction, completed in July 2017, added 280 short vertical plank structures, 30 catfish spawning boxes, and 15 felled shoreline trees. The habitat structures placed in Lake Nessmuk were mapped with GPS waypoints on a lake habitat improvement map.