Allegheny National Forest - Multiple Benefits, Sustainability and The Future

Multiple Benefits, Sustainability and The Future

Today, the Forest Service carries out a variety of management and research activities, providing multiple benefits with a strong scientific basis. Sometimes managers must designate different locations for activities that are not compatible, such as wilderness hiking and snowmobiling. It is difficult to actually manage forest while benefiting vegetation, wildlife, recreationists, and industry. For example, those in the timber industry might argue harvesting timber provides wood products that we all use and creates openings which allow sunlight to reach the forest floor to stimulate seedlings, berries and other plants that wildlife need, thus this provides opportunities for berry pickers, birdwatchers and hunters. Environmental and conservation groups may describe this activity as greenwashing logging practices and creating patches of clearcut forests that hurt forest health. The logging and road building for the logging vehicles can pollute streams, destroy habitat, and create vectors for non-native species.

Defining the way a National Forest is to be managed can be controversial. The National Forest Management Act of 1976 required each National Forest to implement a Forest Plan with extensive public involvement, outlining a vision for how and where management activities will be emphasized. The ANF's initial Forest Plan, which was approved in 1986, is currently undergoing revision. The revision process began in the fall of 2003, and was expected to be complete by early 2007. Additional parcels of the ANF are expected to be recommended to Congress for permanent protection as wilderness areas under the Wilderness Act of 1964 as a result of the Forest Plan revision process. (In a related connection, the Wilderness Act was authored in 1956 primarily by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Society, who grew up in the ANF town of Tionesta.) As we turn toward the 21st century, forest managers, scientists and people who value National Forests must continue to work together to care for and sustain the forest today and for the future.