Pennsylvania: A request for more Algenny Wilderness

Stephen Robar, a political science professor at the University of
Pittsburgh at Bradford, enjoys hiking and snowshoeing in the Allegheny
National Forest. The six-page letter signed by Dr. Robar and a host of
botanists, biologists, herpetologists, ecologists and economists
supports the wilderness designation proposal of the Friends of
Allegheny Wilderness, a group formed eight years ago to advocate for
more wilderness in the state’s only national forest, 100 miles
northeast of Pittsburgh.

Wilderness designation, according to the
letter, would help improve ecological diversity and health on the
entire Allegheny Plateau, protect endangered species and preserve
forest landscapes threatened by timbering, expanding oil and gas
drilling and road building. The 513,000-acre forest has just two
wilderness areas totaling 8,979 acres, or less than 2 percent. On
average, 18 percent of all national forest land in the U.S. is
designated wilderness and protected from road building and development
in the National Wilderness Preservation System. That system includes a
total of 107 million acres, but very little — two-tenths of 1 percent
— is located in the Northeast.

The proposal by Friends of Allegheny
Wilderness would increase the amount of wilderness designated in the
Allegheny to 63,619 acres, about 12 percent of the forest and in line
with other national forests in the eastern part of the nation. “This
bold statement from the scientific community underscores the need to
bring real balance to the multiple uses of the Allegheny National
Forest,” said Kirk Johnson, executive director of the Friends of
Allegheny Wilderness.

“We know that there will always be logging,
motorized recreation and oil development here, but the continuing
integrity of our remaining wild areas is very much in jeopardy and
requires the swift action of the Congress to alleviate the threat.”
The letter and a new 15-minute video produced by the group and
highlighting the forest’s proposed wilderness areas were sent to the
state’s congressional delegation and are part of a reinvigorated
effort to gain congressional support for wilderness expansion in the
forest. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09026/944561-85.stm

To keep this blog going it has to keep growing! Please often click
below to: email, repost, share this…