The Allegheny National Forest
Lessons in Forest Management
Pennsylvania’s Allegheny High Plateau, home to the Allegheny National Forest (ANF), is known for black cherry, sugar maple and other hardwoods providing multiple benefits for vegetation, wildlife and people. ANF is managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service as a multi-use forest for recreation, timber and natural resource protection.
But 200 years ago this forest was very different. It was an old-growth forest of eastern hemlock, American beech and white pine. Deer populations were at naturally regulated low levels, estimated at 10 deer per square mile, so the understory vegetation was dense and richly diverse. Black cherry accounted for less than 1 percent of all trees on the Plateau.
Man and Nature Deplete Forest
By 1930, ANF’s sustainability had been heavily impacted. In addition to natural disturbances, such as tornadoes and blowdowns, the forest was burned by Native Americans to improve berry and oak mast production, hunting and travel; settlers cleared the land for agriculture and to provide timber for cabins and barns. During the Civil War the demand for hemlock bark tannin was needed for curing the leather used for harnesses, military equipment and industrial belting.
As the country grew, forest land continued to be depleted for lumber to build homes and furniture as well as for paper and other wood pulp products. The coal industry’s use of lumber for mine props, timbers and planks, and the development of the wood chemical industry, provided a market for virtually every size, species and quality of tree growing on the Allegheny High Plateau leaving barren hillsides as far as the eye could see.
Devastating Economic Impact
Many large corporate forest landowners abandoned the land and moved west in search of new forests. The land left behind often ended up on delinquent tax rolls, prompting a financial crisis for rural counties. At the time ANF was established in 1923, the forest was so depleted that it was referred to as the “Allegheny Brush-Patch.”
Benefit of Low Deer Population
The immediate challenge was nurturing the young trees to begin the regeneration process. But with low deer populations, a new forest grew quickly. Shade-tolerant, long-lived trees like eastern hemlock and American beech gave way to sun-loving, shorter-lived species like black cherry, red maple, black birch and sugar maple. In the 1940s, the Forest Service gradually resumed timber harvesting under strict research-based guidelines to ensure sustainability for future generations.
ANF Forest Plan
Seventy-five years of scientific and sustainable management by the U.S. Forest Service has created a vibrant new forest of light-loving hardwood trees. Today the ANF boasts some of the world’s finest hardwood forests, as well as public access to outdoor recreation and habitat for wildlife and fisheries.
As required by law, the land and resource management of the Allegheny National Forest by the U.S. Forest Service is guided by a Forest Plan, which is updated every 10-15 years. ANF is in the process of revising the plan with an expected completion date in 2006.
Go to the next article, WPC and the Allegheny National Forest.
