Two Groups Support Proposed
Snowmobile Connector in ANF

Two agencies have voiced their support of the proposed snowmobile connector that will once again link the northern section of the Allegheny Snowmobile Loop to the rest of the snowmobile trails within the Allegheny National Forest.

The Allegheny National Forest Visitors Bureau and the Pennsylvania State Snowmobile Association support the proposed Allegheny Snowmobile Loop Marshburg Connector Project.

The project will designate 5.8 miles of snowmobile trail that will connect to 2.6 miles of newly designated snowmobile trail on private land that belongs to the Forest Investment Associates. Both trails are located in McKean County, Pennsylvania. The ANF is the only national forest in Pennsylvania.

The Forest Service will have to construct .3 miles of snowmobile trail to connect Forest Roads 637 and 176.

The previous connector was shut down during the 2010-2011 snowmobile season due to a right-of-way dispute.

Both Linda Devlin, representing the ANF Visitors Bureau, the official tourism promotion agency for McKean County, and Kevin Kost, regional director of the PSSA, attended a meeting in May with representatives from the Allegheny National Forest and Ken Kane from the Forest Investment Associates. The purpose of the meeting was to review new options to reconnect “The Loop”. It was a consensus from both the ANF Visitors Bureau and PSSA that this would be the best plan to connect trails.

“Having this trail connection will be a huge boost for tourism in our area,” Devlin said. “It was quite a challenge this past year when an important part of the snowmobile trail was not usable.

“My office gets literally hundreds of phone calls from people seeking a great place to ride their snowmobiles. It’s a shame we had to steer them away from this section in what was one of the best snowmobile seasons we’ve had in a long time. It is great that PSSA proactively worked with private landowners and the Allegheny National Forest to develop a solution that will improve legal riding opportunities in the region,” Devlin said.

The closed trail effectively shut off traffic between the Westline Inn and the Willows Restaurant. The lack of snowmobile traffic hurt both businesses during the winter months.

The approximately 23-mile section of trail from the Willows Restaurant to the New York State border was open, but not groomed.

The proposed new connection is located in Hamilton Township, McKean County, and crosses Forest Investment Associates property.

Comments

Anonymous said…
This is a waste of whomever's money the "last of the big spenders" decide to spend. I'm told that there are more than ten miles of trail re-route propased, with some on the old Texas Gulf/Sulfur property (now owned by FIA) which will only get a year to year agreement. On top of that, someone will have to reconstruct the road on the FIA property. What's to keep the same thing happening like what happened with Beck"s property? The cost to build this fantasy will be huge. All that needs to be done is to cross Route 59 where the trail crosses now, hang a right along the highway to the Ailleo property to where the A#1 left Beck's property and you are back on the A1 again--total of a couple of hundred feet on a more than 100 foot highway ROW, with the local politicians arranging it thru PennDOT. The idea should be to do it as reasonably, and as permanently as possible. If FIA sells--the snowmobiler and the businesses are right back where they started. Devlin and PSSA are a freaking joke--they need to mind their own business. Half of the northern extension was plowed so bad this past season, between Rt. 346 and the state line there could be no grooming--I know; I rode it. We were just lucky we had heavy snow. This is possibly the dumbest idea ever.

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