Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

WARREN – The Warren-based non-profit organization Friends of Allegheny Wilderness (FAW) teamed up Thursday with the U.S. Forest Service, and inmates from FCI McKean to plant 200 white pine (Pinus strobus) trees in the Allegheny National Forest (ANF). The planting took place at three specific sites as part of ongoing cooperative ecological restoration work between FAW and the agency: · At the head of an abandoned road near the North Country National Scenic Trail in the proposed Minister Valley Wilderness. · At the head of an abandoned road leading from the Hearts Content Campground into the Hickory Creek Wilderness. FAW and the ANF have been working to restore this site since 2001. · At the head of an abandoned road at the Hickory Creek Wilderness trailhead. FAW and the ANF have been working to restore this site since 2006. The objective of this restoration work is ultimately to for all intents and purposes erase from the landscape all evidence that there were e...

WASHINGTON -- Planning efforts for the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act marked an important milestone today at a signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to raise awareness of the benefits and values of wilderness. Leaders of federal land management joined national wilderness organizations in formally committing to spotlighting and celebrating the nation’s wilderness in the months leading up to the anniversary -- September 3, 2014. "We have been fortunate to have lived 48 years of the vision proclaimed by the Act that it is 'the policy of the Congress to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness,'" said Chad P. Dawson of the Society for Wilderness Stewardship (SWS), the organization representing wilderness NGOs that are part of the 50th Anniversary National Planning Team. "Our celebration is a renewal of that vision and our promise to those generations yet unborn....

Members of the non-profit Warren-based Friends of Allegheny Wilderness ( http://www.pawild.org ) visit the west side of the Allegheny Reservoir at North Branch Hodge Run in Warren County on Saturday afternoon, February 11th, 2012 during an overnight winter backpacking trip deep into the interior of the forest. The group is working to have a 4,752-acre portion of the Allegheny National Forest, known as the proposed Scandia National Recreation Area, protected by law in perpetuity in its natural condition from all forms of development. Photo by Kirk Johnson, Friends of Allegheny Wilderness The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Would you like to experience the wild backcountry of the largest Roadless Area in the Allegheny National Forest first-hand? Friends of Allegheny Wilderness turns ten years old this June, and as part of our decennial celebration we are planning an overnight backpacking trip into the proposed Tracy Ridge Wilderness Area in the Allegheny National Forest for the weekend of June 11th and 12th. Why not come and join us? You won't regret it! In addition to containing a nine-mile segment of the spectacular North Country National Scenic Trail (NCT), Tracy Ridge also has a self-contained network of trails providing numerous options for day hikes, loops trails, and connections to the NCT. For our hike, we will be leaving from the Tracy Ridge Campground parking lot on the morning of Saturday, June 11th and hiking down the trail along Johnnycake Run to the Allegheny Reservoir, where we will pick up the NCT and head south from there. We will camp overnight Saturday in the wild backcountry of Tra...

This past weekend, Friends of Allegheny Wilderness participated in the 10th annual Kinzua Outdoor and Travel Show in Bradford, facilitated by the Bradford Area Chamber of Commerce. Having an informational wilderness table at this event has become an annual ritual for FAW as we have now participated in our 9th consecutive KOTS (missing only the first year). This is a great way to meet a lot of local outdoors-oriented people in a short period of time, and introduce them to the wilderness preservation idea. For the first time FAW also held a drawing during the show, in order to give away a professionally matted & framed 12" x 16" photograph taken within the proposed Tracy Ridge Wilderness Area (framed by Kinzua Country Frameworks in North Warren). Titled "Johnnycake Run Sunset," the photo depicts the mouth of Johnnycake Run, looking west out across the Allegheny Reservoir. This proved to be quite a popular drawing with a great deal of interest and entries. Unfortun...

WARREN -- Warren-based Friends of Allegheny Wilderness (FAW) executive director Kirk Johnson has been invited to attend the second annual wilderness stewardship conference facilitated by the fledgling National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance (NWSA). This year's conference will take place from March 10th through March 13th in Las Vegas, Nevada. The mission of the recently-established NWSA is to "develop a growing network of volunteer-based organizations to provide stewardship for America's enduring resource of wilderness." The NWSA vision is to see each wilderness area in the National Wilderness Preservation System adopted by a wilderness organization dedicated to protecting the area through partnerships with government agencies charged with their management. In addition to FAW's ongoing primary mission of seeking to protect substantial additional portions of the Allegheny National Forest (ANF) under the Wilderness Act of 1964, the non-profit organization has over ...

Audubon Pennsylvania has joined with six other conservation organizations as part of the fledgling Pennsylvania Wilderness Coalition, which was formed earlier this year. The mission of the coalition is to support the Citizens’ Wilderness Proposal for Pennsylvania’s Allegheny National Forest. National Audubon Society opened its Pennsylvania State Office in 1997 as the organization’s tenth state office. Today, Audubon Pennsylvania has more than 24,000 members across the Commonwealth. Its mission is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and biological diversity in Pennsylvania. “The Allegheny is located in the northwest corner of the state, but as Pennsylvania’s only national forest, it belongs to all of us,” said Phil Wallis, executive director for Audubon Pennsylvania. “Wilderness designation, under the Wilderness Act of 1964, for the most unbroken forest canopy tracts in the Allegheny will leave a p...

Group Will Work to Permanently Protect Parts of the Allegheny National Forest WARREN – Six conservation organizations, representing nearly 65,000 Pennsylvanians, have joined to form the Pennsylvania Wilderness Coalition. The new group will advocate for wilderness designation on the Allegheny National Forest – the state’s only National Forest. “The Allegheny is located in the northwest corner of the state, but as Pennsylvania’s only National Forest, it belongs to all of us,” said Adam Hostetler of Lebanon, vice president of the Pennsylvania Division, Izaak Walton League of America. “Wilderness designation for some of the most pristine and wild areas on the Allegheny will leave a permanent natural legacy for future generations, so they can forever hike, hunt, camp and explore here.” Wilderness designation by Congress is the highest level of protection that can be given to federal lands, adding them to the National Wilderness Preservation System as areas where nature reigns and people are...

The Ninth Annual Kinzua Outdoor and Travel Show, February 26th and 27th, offers a broad range of speakers and children’s programs with a wide variety of interests that appeal to all ages. The Show, held at the Bradford Mall, is scheduled for 4 pm to 9 pm Friday the 26th, and 10 am to 6 pm Saturday the 27th. “The 2010 speaker series and youth activity lineup will compel you to attend the event,” stated John Sullivan, event chair. “It is impossible to select just one to attend in either our main speaker area or the youth activity area.” The Speaker Series kicks off on Friday the 26th at 6:30 pm with Rick Esch and John Shinaberger of the Tuna Valley Trail Association to discuss Tuna Valley Trail Association: Past, Present, and Future. At 7:15 pm, Kirk Johnson of the Friends of Allegheny Wilderness – Warren will present Preserving Wilderness Areas in the Allegheny National Forest. Both programs appeal to all ages interested in exploring and protecting the abundant natural resources thro...

Dianne Stanton, president of the Erie Outing Club, recently won an award from the Warren-based non-profit organization Friends of Allegheny Wilderness for choosing a new name for the organization's quarterly newsletter. Her winning entry was "FAWN." Dianne is pictured holding her award at a recent FAW event at the Warren Public Library along with her husband Gary, who helped her choose the newsletter name. The award is a professionally matted and framed photograph of Nelse Run, taken by FAW executive director Kirk Johnson within the proposed Tracy Ridge Wilderness Area in the Allegheny National Forest. The photo was framed by Kinzua Country Frameworks in North Warren. More information about FAW can be found online at www.pawild.org ( Photo courtesy of FAW )