Our Working Forest – Section Coming Soon!
Background: There are things that have been learned on our landscape, and continue to be learned here, that have informed public lands management and sustainable forestry practices far beyond our borders. The first PA game lands ever purchased are here. The first PA state forest lands ever purchased are here. PA’s only National Forest is here. Our region has more Civilian Conservation Corps camps than most states. It was here that Howard Zahniser drew inspiration to pen the nation’s still standing Wilderness Act of 1964. It is here that today you’ll find America’s largest block of FSC-certified public forestland, and many people still making their living from the woods — as loggers and sawmill operators, outfitters and artists, biologists and gas drillers.
Balance is not something you hear a lot about these days, but here it is a way of life because that’s what being a publicly managed working forest is all about – striving for balance. It is not an easy path, but it is one that has paid off. It’s a big part of the reason we have a $1.7 billion dollar annual tourism industry, the reason we are home to 70 percent of the state’s finest headwaters, the reason our landscape is able to act as the living filter for so many municipal water supplies, the reason we are able to help fund our kids’ schools through timber harvests, the reason more families are coming here to get away from their phones and back to their roots.