Issues > Wilderness

Allegheny Wilderness   This area north of the Hickory Creek Wilderness Area is one potential Wilderness addition.

The Wilderness Act of 1964 defines Wilderness as "an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is managed so as to preserve its natural conditions."

Today there are more than 105 million acres of Wilderness protected in the National Wilderness Preservation System.

There are only two designated Wilderness areas in the Allegheny National Forest, totaling just over 9,000 acres. This equates to less than 2% of the 513,000-acre Allegheny. This is far less proportionally than all but one other eastern national forest.

The Allegheny Defense Project urged the Forest Service to consider approximately 45,000 acres of the Allegheny National Forest for additional Widlerness protection as part of our Allegheny Wild! campaign. While only Congress can designate Wilderness under the 1964 Wilderness Act, the Forest Service has the ability to set aside "Wilderness Study Areas" and to recommend new areas for Wilderness designation as part of their forest plan revision process.

The Forest Service released its Final EIS for the revised Forest Plan in March 2007. In it, the Forest Service only recommends two areas for Wilderness protection - Minister Valley and Chestnut Ridge. This would increase Wilderness on the Allegheny by just 12,000 acres.

Download the ADP's "A Proposal for Tionesta Wilderness Designation in the Allegheny National Forest, Pennsylvania, USA" as published in the Natural Areas Journal (PDF - 700 Kb)

Read article "Wilderness Proposal Published" from the Summer/Fall 2001 issue of the Hellbender Journal

Read article, "Allegheny Wild! What's Your Vision of a Wild Allegheny?" from the Summer/Fall 2001 issue of the Hellbender Journal

View map of the proposed Tionesta Wilderness Area

Note: This photo has been modified.

Photo art by Rachel Martin