Allegheny National Forest Resources

Established in 1923, the Allegheny National Forest became Pennsylvania’s only national forest. The forest extends 513,279 acres across Elk, Forest, McKean and Warren counties and welcomes approximately 1.6 million visitors annually.

View a map of the Allegheny National Forest.

Minerals

• About 7,000 producing oil and gas wells are located on the Forest, with their associated roads, pipelines and electric lines using about 50,000 acres of surface.
• 93 percent of the mineral rights are not owned by the federal government but by private owners. WPC currently owns 1,297 subsurface acres to ensure that the use of those minerals will not compromise ANF’s biodiversity.

Natural Features

• Two Wild and Scenic Rivers — Allegheny and Clarion — pass through the forest
• Two national wilderness areas — Hickory Creek and Allegheny Islands

Timber Harvesting

• A regenerated “second growth” forest of black cherry, red maple, black birch and sugar maple.
• Contains about one-third of the world’s high quality black cherry.
• Approximately 5,600 acres (about 1.1 percent) is harvested annually producing approximately 53 million board feet of wood.
• Primary method of wood harvesting is thinning, followed by final harvest, selection cuts, and right-of-way cuts.
• Timber harvesting represented about 99 percent of the $304 million generated at the Forest from 1987-2004.

Fish and Wildlife

• 315 vertibrate wildlife species are found within the forest, including rare species such as: showshoe hare, northern watershrew and blue-breast darter.
• Five federally Threatened or Endangered Species are known to occur within the forest or nearby: bald eagle, northern riffeshell (mussel), clubshell (mussel), Indiana bat and small-whorled pogonia (orchid).
• About 770 miles of perennial cold-water streams and 43 miles of rivers are home to at least 71 fish species, including walleye, smallmouth bass, muskellunge, northern pike, yellow perch and brook trout.
  

Go to the next article, New Allegheny National Forest Supervisor.