Economic Development

October 25, 2024

Forest Fridays: The working forest

National Forest Products Week is celebrated the third week of October, annually. Today we recognize, while acknowledging their innumerable other values, the benefits of working forests. Seeing a forest tract “at work” can mean different things. The forest is always working to provide habitat and clean water, and mostly does so without human influence. However,
producing a steady yield of timber and recreational opportunities like trails requires human work.

October 8, 2024

Hierarchy in the lumber camps of history

During their hey-day, whether company-owned or “jobber” operated, lumber camps were generally run in much the same way. They were bastions of the pre-industrial workplace, as they defied modern management practices and instead built a culture around masculinity. Camps could include 50-100 diverse and often unacquainted men living and working in close quarters. Preventing fights and keeping the men on-task was the job of the Camp Boss.

August 22, 2024

Four remote workers dive into Saint Marys’ Wilds Are Working: Remote Lifestyle Experience

The community of Saint Marys, in the Elk Country Landscape of the PA Wilds, welcomed four remote workers and their families to the area this August. During their stay, they’ll be fully immersing themselves in the PA Wilds-lifestyle. Now in its third and final grant-funded year, the Wilds Are Working: Remote Lifestyle Experience, has brought remote workers from near and far to the region to experience truly rural living.

August 19, 2024

Here’s what remote workers had to say about their stay in Williamsport this July

Now in its third and final grant-funded year, the Wilds Are Working: Remote Lifestyle Experience, has brought remote workers from near and far to the region to experience truly rural living. The program seeks to tackle challenges associated with the outmigration of residents from the region. Here's what the participants in Williamsport had to say about their experience.

August 15, 2024

New PA Wilds Conservation Shop opens in former train depot in Marienville, Forest County

There’s a new shop in Marienville, supporting local artisans and celebrating the Pennsylvania Wilds region’s unique history! In Forest County, a PA Wilds Conservation Shop has opened within an historic train depot in Marienville, along the nearly 74-mile Knox and Kane Rail Trail. Operated by the nonprofit PA Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship (PA Wilds Center), these mission-driven gift shops help improve market access for rural entrepreneurs by sourcing 90 percent of their inventory from rural makers and businesses in the 13-county PA Wilds region, while also accomplishing other mission points.

August 12, 2024

Creators in the Wilds

Driving through the scenic Pennsylvania Wilds is an incredible experience all on its own, but once you pick up a camera, you begin to notice all of the small breathtaking details all around you. We’ve come to learn that we should always have a camera in hand and ready, because you never know when you’ll come across a moment you want to document.

July 30, 2024

Williamsport hosts remote workers during July Wilds Are Working initiative

Three individuals traveled — one even internationally — this summer to experience all that life in Williamsport, in the I-80 Frontier Landscape of the PA Wilds, had to offer. The group was hosted as part of the 2024 Wilds Are Working: Remote Lifestyle Experience, now in its third year in the Pennsylvania Wilds region. 

July 9, 2024

A look inside Xtreme Wear: Who prints your t-shirts in the PA Wilds

Let’s take an inside look at who is behind the process of printing your favorite PA Wilds-themed t-shirts! Many of the shirts you see at the PA Wilds Conservation Shops are printed by Xtreme Wear in DuBois, Clearfield County, along the I-80 Frontier landscape of the PA Wilds. Hear directly from the staff at Xtreme Wear about the printing process, who their clients are, and their favorite things about the PA Wilds region.

June 19, 2024

More than a market – An inside look at buying local food at farmers markets

With the idea of summertime fresh on our minds, many of us find ourselves daydreaming of the glorious days ahead. For some this might mean trips to greenhouses, maybe planting a garden or getting some of those renovations knocked off of that to-do list. For many, this is market season. Weekly farmers markets have forever served as the direct connection between producer and consumer.

April 24, 2024

Clearfield County stone – “The rock of ages”

The legacy and history of stone quarried from the Pennsylvania Wilds is legendary. One of the key players in the PA Wilds stone industry is Russell Stone Products based in Curwensville, Clearfield County, in the I-80 Frontier landscape of the PA Wilds region. Russell’s varieties of stone have been used at hundreds of locations throughout Pennsylvania, New York — and the world – since the late 1800s.