May
29, 2003
For Immediate Release
Contacts: Jim Kleissler or Ryan Talbott, (814) 223-4996
Conservation Group Introduces Science-based
Management Plan for Allegheny National Forest
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Documents or Download The
Maps
Clarion, PA - Today, the
Allegheny Defense Project (ADP) issued a 66 page
report that recommends significant changes in the 513,000
acre Allegheny National Forest - Pennsylvania's only
national forest. Titled "Allegheny Wild! A Citizen
Vision for the Allegheny National Forest", the report
reviews the U.S. Forest Service's 1986 management
plan's emphasis on even-aged logging and calls for
a publicly
supported, major re-balancing of priorities, values,
and uses.
The Allegheny Defense Project
points to scientific research on watersheds, wildlife,
and soils as well as existing statutory conservation
requirements in support of its proposal. The Allegheny
Wild! plan would protect an additional 45,000 acres
as federal Wilderness Study Areas while providing jobs
doing conservation-oriented restoration work in the
national forest. The plan also phases out industrial
practices such as clearcutting and oil & gas drilling
to provide improved recreation opportunities and scenic
management. Over 200 miles of new hiking, bicycle,
cross-country ski and horse trails are proposed.
"The landscape of the
Allegheny has been drastically altered over the last
120 years by continuous commercial logging. Few remnants
of our original Allegheny hemlock-beech forests remain.
These remnants are a repository of biological information
that gives the forest its ability to weather ecological
crises," explained Jim Kleissler, Forest Watch Director
for the ADP. "Strong protections are vital to this
forest's ability to respond to continuing threats imposed
by air pollution, elevated deer populations, and invasive
species. By protecting and expanding our elder forest
remnants as biological databases we are providing a
tool for restoration of our native Allegheny forests."
"People look to the National
Forest System to provide wilderness-quality recreation.
These opportunities are currently more limited on the
Allegheny than on most other eastern National Forests," said
Karen Wood-Campbell, an ADP board member based in Pittsburgh,
PA. "Under the Allegheny Wild! Proposal, the Allegheny
National Forest would give hikers, backpackers, mountain
bikers, horseback riders, and cross-country skiers
more trails to use, more wilderness areas to explore,
and fewer blights upon the landscape. This in turn
will bring more people - and more money - to the economies
surrounding the Allegheny."
The Allegheny Wild! management
plan was released today as the delayed revision of
the Allegheny National Forest's 1986 management plan
has finally begun. Under federal law each national
forest must have a management plan which must be revised
every 10 to 15 years. The Allegheny Defense Project's
report stresses the fact that Allegheny forests are
managed predominantly for clearcut logging practices
which should be eliminated. The report recommends the
designation of a 17,000-acre Wilderness area surrounding
the Tionesta Scenic and Research Natural Areas - a
National Natural Landmark and the largest old growth
forest in Pennsylvania.
"While over 90% of the Allegheny
National Forest is open to logging, less than 2% is
managed for federally designated Wilderness. The Allegheny
is also host to more oil and gas wells than the other
154 national forests combined. There is a need for
immediate action to protect the few wild areas remaining
in the Allegheny National Forest," said ADP Forest
Watch Coordinator Ryan Talbott.
The Allegheny Defense Project's
plan would return the Allegheny to its roots, by restoring
the original mission of this national forest as it
was established in 1923 by President Calvin Coolidge:
to protect watersheds. The Allegheny Wild! proposal
would also set aside important habitats for endangered
species while implementing a modified version of a
1995 U.S. Forest Service plan to manage 100-year old
forest areas as future old growth. The Forest Service
stopped implementing the old growth plan in 1999.
"The Allegheny National
Forest is important as a refuge for numerous rare and
endangered plants and animals including the Indiana
bat and Northern Water Shrew," said Ron Cook, an ADP
supporter and board member living outside of Jamestown,
New York. "Soils, watershed, and wildlife conservation
are largely ignored although they are part of the Forest
Service's mission as mandated by the U.S. Congress."
"The Allegheny Wild! vision
is a crucial step towards conserving this region's
natural heritage," explained Tom Bachelder, a school
teacher from Ohio. "The Allegheny is home to a remarkably
beautiful mix of northern hardwoods and eastern hemlock
trees growing amidst large, stunning rock outcroppings
and boulders. If we do not act today to protect this
special piece of America we will be doing a great disservice
to future generations."
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Download the Allegheny Wild! Report
| Cover Page |
|
| Executive Summary |
|
| Allegheny Wild Main Report Body |
|
| Allegheny Wild! supplement - Area
by Area Descriptions |
|
| Attachment 1 - 1923 Proclamation
establishing the Allegheny National Forest |
|
| Attachment 2 - A Proposal for Tionesta
Wilderness Designation in the Allegheny National
Forest, Pennsylvania, USA |
|
| Attachment 3 - A Landscape Approach
to Providing Late-Successional Forests and Associated
Functions and Values on the Allegheny National
Forest |
|
| Attachment 4 - Petition for Critical
Summer Habitat for the Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) |
|
| Attachment 5 - Incidental Take Permits
Issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for
the Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) |
|
| Attachment 6 - U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service 90-Day Finding on a Petition to List the
Cerulean Warbler (Dendroica Cerulea) as
Threatened with Critical Habitat |
|
| Attachment 7 - Citizens' Call for
Ecological Forest Restoration: Forest Restoration
Principles and Criteria |
|
| Attachment 8 - U.S. Forest Service
Freedom of Information Act filing dated September
13, 2001 |
|
| Attachment 9 - Petition to Enhance
and Expand Regulations Governing the Administration
of Recreational Off-Road Vehicle Use on National
Forests |
|
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Download
the Allegheny Wild! Maps
Proposed Allegheny Wild! Map
|
This map demonstrates what special
areas management of the Allegheny National Forest
would look like upon full implementation of the
Allegheny Wild! Citizen's Alternative. View
this map |
Allegheny National Forest Today
|
This map shows special areas management
under the existing 1986 Forest Plan. View
this map |
Comparison Map
|
This page shows the Allegheny Wild!
Vision map and the Allegheny National Forest Today
map side-by-side. View
this map |
Proposed
Management Area
|
html
|
pdf
|
| Management Areas 3.1 and 3.2 - Forest
Restoration Areas |
|
|
| Management Area 5.0 - Wilderness
Areas |
|
|
| Management Area 5.1 - Wild & Scenic
River Corridors |
|
|
| Management Area 5.2 - Wilderness
Trout Streams |
|
|
| Management Area 6.1 - Watershed
Protection Management |
|
|
| Management Area 6.2 - North Country
National Scenic Trail Corridor |
|
|
| Management Area 6.3 - Waterfowl
Management Areas |
|
|
| Management Area 6.4 - National Recreation
Areas |
|
|
| Management Area 6.5 - Forest Recreation
Areas |
|
|
| Management Area 6.6 - Dispersed
Recreation Areas |
|
|
| Management Area 6.7 - Motorized
Recreation Areas |
|
|
| Management Area 7.0 - Kane Experimental
Forest |
|
|
| Management Area 8.0 - Scenic Areas |
|
|
| Management Area 8.1 - Research Natural
Areas |
|
|
| Management Area 8.2 - Old Growth
Management Corridors |
|
|
| Management Area 9.1 - Forest Natural
Areas |
|
|
| Management Area 9.2 - Forest Historic
Areas |
|
|
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