Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

Two people accused of being heroin dealers were picked up in Warren Monday. Police say Shane Williams and Shauna Hanson, both of Warren, were arrested following a four-month investigation by the Warren County Drug Task Force into heroin trafficking. Hanson was arrested at the couple’s Hemlock Street home, while Williams was taken into custody outside his workplace. The task force says the pair sold heroin to undercover agents. One of the members of the task force is the US Forest Service. Williams and Hanson are jailed on $35,000 bail each. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

The Allegheny National Forest’s Bradford Ranger District has received a proposal to install, operate and maintain a natural gas pipeline on national forest system land. Minard Run Oil Company has requested a 30-year special use permit for a 19,369-foot pipeline to be buried along Forest Roads 173 and 176 and under a portion of Linn Brook in McKean County. The total size of the project is less than five acres. Additional information about this project can be found at: http://go.usa.gov/6mcA. The Bradford Ranger District is seeking comments about this project. Comments may be submitted in several different ways: Mail: Macario J. Herrera, District Ranger; USDA Forest Service; Bradford Ranger District; 29 Forest Service Drive, Bradford, PA 16701 Fax: 814.362.2761 E-mail: comments-eastern-allegheny-bradford@fs.fed.us. Please reference the Minard Run Oil Co. Special Use Stickney Pipeline on the subject line and include your name and physical mailing address with your correspondence. ...

Two men have been sentenced for growing marijuana on the Allegheny National Forest. 59-year-old William Kamholz of Frewsburg was sentenced in federal court to time served, and was fined $2,000. 62-year-old James Leach of Randolph was sentenced to one day in jail and nine months of home detention. He was fined $3,000. The McKean County Drug Task Force arrested Kamholtz in September of 2012 after stopping his vehicle and finding duffel bags containing marijuana he had harvested from the forest. In October of 2012, Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s deputies and the US Forest Service searched Leach’s home and found a drying room with about 23 pounds of marijuana in it. According to information presented to the court, Kamholtz and Leach conspired to manufacture and possessed with intent to distribute marijuana plants. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Washington, DC - Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) urged the U.S. Forest Service to conduct a study to determine whether a successful strategy in place in the southern U.S. to combat an invasive species, the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA), could be used in the northern U.S. as well. If effective this strategy could help the Allegheny National Forest (ANF) which is battling the HWA. The HWA is rapidly destroying hemlock trees which are a major part of the ANF’s ecosystem. The ANF is a key source of Pennsylvania’s timber industry which accounted for $7.2 million in sales in 2012 that have been as high as $25.6 million in the last decade. The new strategy, in place in West Virginia, has deployed a beetle to biologically control the HWA. “The Allegheny National Forest is one of Pennsylvania’s great natural treasures and an important element of Northwestern Pennsylvania’s economy,” Senator Casey said in a news release sent to WESB. “Conducting this study has the potential to determi...

The Nature Conservancy, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) and the United States Forest Service (US Forest Service) are organizing a workshop aimed at training volunteers to identify and report new hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) infestations in northwestern Pennsylvania and southwestern New York. The workshop will be held on Tuesday, March 25, 2014, from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. at the University of Pittsburgh-Bradford, Fisher Hall Room 107. The training will take place at 300 Campus Drive, Bradford, Pennsylvania. The workshop will feature presentations by Dale Luthringer of DCNR about eastern hemlock values and threats, by Rick Turcotte of US Forest Service on the adelgid’s biology and the threat it poses to local hemlock forests, and by Sarah Johnson of The Nature Conservancy on the High Allegheny Plateau Conservation Strategy. Participants will gain experience in detection, monitoring, and reporting protocols for hemlock woolly adelgid. Par...

The Allegheny National Forest has opened up a “tip line” to provide people another opportunity to help fight illegal activity on Pennsylvania’s only national forest. The new number is 814-927-5757 and callers can remain anonymous if they choose. The line is automated, but callers have an option to talk to a receptionist during regular business hours. Some examples of crimes that can be reported include, but are not limited to: marijuana cultivation, methamphetamine production or dump sites, poaching, illegal motor vehicle use, timber or other forest product theft, pollution, vandalism and dumping. The information provided through the tip-line will be referred to federal officers for follow-up and investigation. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

An 88-year-old hunter was missing for several hours Friday afternoon into early Saturday morning. Warren County sheriff’s deputies say they got a report that the man didn’t return home after hunting. The state Game Commission found his vehicle on a Forest Service Road in Mead Township. More than half a dozen agencies searched for the man, and finally found him at 2:10 a.m. Saturday about a mile off the road. He was taken to Warren General Hospital for evaluation. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Concession sites in the Allegheny National Forest – including Willow Bay and all other campgrounds – have been given 48 hours to close because of the federal government shutdown. The forest supervisor contacted Allegheny Site Management today about closing. Law enforcement and fire personnel are exempt from a shut down, but all so-called non-essential services in the ANF are closed down, or will be soon. Government employees are still manning the Kinzua Dam because it’s an essential operation of the US Army Corps of Engineers, but the dam will not be open to tourists during the government shut down. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

The federal program that mandates the US Forest Service to pay timber harvest receipts to the states to be used for roads and schools where national forests are located has been renewed by Congress. The forest service pays 25 percent as partial compensation for the tax-exempt status of federal lands. As a result of a significant decrease in timber harvesting on national forest lands during the 1990s, Congress created the Secure Rural Schools program to help compensate for the loss in revenue. The House on Wednesday and the Senate on Thursday voted to extend the program for one year. The bill now awaits the president's signature. “The Secure Rural Schools program has been and remains a critical resource for our local communities in the Allegheny National Forest region,” said Congressman Glenn “GT” Thompson. “This extension offers the certainty of knowing this funding will be available, and will help our local communities pay for schools, roads, and many other essential services.”...

The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford will host the 31st annual Law Enforcement Awareness and Familiarization Day on Wednesday, Sept. 18, giving people an opportunity to talk with law enforcement officers and learn more about what they do. The program will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Frame-Westerberg Commons and is free and open to the public. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and North Central Highway Safety Network will be in attendance with a driving simulator. Other participants are Bradford Township police, City of Bradford Police, the U.S. Army, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, U.S. Border Patrol, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Pennsylvania Game Commission, U.S. Forest Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Correctional Institution – McKean, New York State Police, Pennsylvania State Police, Pennsylvania Liquor Control Enforcement, McKean County District Attorney’s Office, McKean Count...

Warren, Pa. – The Allegheny National Forest announces the temporary closure of Forest Road 141 (Mudlick Road), effective September 3, 2013. This temporary closure will only affect the Forest Service section of Mudlick Road. Forest Road 141 will remain closed for approximately 30 days due to culvert replacement and road surfacing. If you have any questions regarding this closure, please contact the Supervisor’s Office at 814-723-5150. Image from Google Earth © The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

The Allegheny National Forest announces the seasonal closing of the following facilities: Dew Drop Campground – September 3, 2013 Kiasutha Campground and Day Use Area – September 3, 2013 Kinzua Beach Concessions – September 3, 2013 Wolf Run Marina – September 15, 2013 Please note that although the Kinzua Beach Concessions will be closing on September 3, the beach and picnic area are open year round. For more information about these closures or the recreation sites remaining open, please call the Bradford Ranger Station at 814-362-4613 or visit the following page on their website http://www.fs.usda.gov/recmain/allegheny/recreation . The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Washington, DC - Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) announced that he has sent a letter to the Chief of U.S. Forest Service, Tom Tidwell, urging the agency to develop a plan to combat a new threat of invasive species in the Allegheny National Forest (ANF). Right now the ANF is beset by Hemlock Woolly Adelgid and the Emerald Ash Borer, threatening Pennsylvania’s timber industry in Northwestern Pennsylvania, which last year alone saw $7 million in timber sales. In his letter, Casey asked the U.S. Forest Service to model any efforts to combat the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid and the Emerald Ash Borer after other efforts to confront the growth of the Gypsy Moth. “The Allegheny National Forest is one our state’s treasures and a key part of the economy in Northwestern Pennsylvania,” Senator Casey said. “The health of the Allegheny National Forest is directly related to the health of Northwestern Pennsylvania’s timber industry and the jobs it supports. I’m urging the Forest Service to tak...

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...

The Bradford Ranger District of the Allegheny National Forest (ANF) is reviewing a proposal by Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, Inc., for a Special Use Permit (SUP) Renewal of Rights of Way (ROW) for 2 existing natural gas pipelines located within Warren County, Pennsylvania: 1) Located within Sheffield Township, Lot 318, this pipeline is 288 ft. in length and 30 ft. wide and 2) Located within Mead Township, USA Tract 202, pipeline D-4227 is 6,687 ft. in length and is presently 16 ft. wide. The request includes replacing the existing D-4227 pipeline and widening of the existing ROW by 14 ft. The purpose of the SUP renewal is for the transportation and supply of natural gas. In addition to the SUP renewal, there is a need is to upgrade the existing Mead Township gas line D-4227 due to its age and leakages of natural gas. The proposal falls within Category of Exclusion, 36 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 220.6(e) (3). It allows for the “Approval, modification, or continuation of minor ...

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has announced that payments totaling $308 million will be provided to states under the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program between now and the end of 2012. On June 29, 2012, Congress passed a one-year reauthorization of the SRS program (H.R. 4348), which was signed into law on July 2, 2012. “The Forest Service has announced that payments totaling $308 million will be provided to counties through Secure Rural Schools between now and the end of the year,” said U.S. Representative Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson, Chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy & Forestry. “For counties choosing to receive payments, these resources will become available beginning in December and paid out through the end of 2012.” Under the Weeks Act of 1911, counties located in national forests are entitled 25 percent of the total revenues collected through timber sales in the local national forests. In 2000, as a result of a significant de...

A judge has ruled that a preliminary injunction ordering the US Forest Service to resume processing drilling notice for the Allegheny National Forest did not give drillers the right to use surface or groundwater for fracking. Under Pennsylvania law, the federal government does not have the right to block the mineral owner's access to the minerals, but a 1980 federal court decision and U.S. District Judge Sean McLaughlin's 2009 decision give the agency some limited control on how the gas companies drill inside the forest. The Pennsylvania oil and gas industry had asked McLaughlin to find the agency in contempt because it is banning the use of the water and also taking more than 60 days to process the notices. In denying the motion, McLaughlin said neither the 1980 ruling nor his 2009 decision addressed water rights in the forest. On the second point, McLaughlin said the industry didn`t provide clear and convincing evidence the agency is deliberately dragging its feet. He added t...

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Representative Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson has nominated Ken Kane, a native of McKean County, Pa., to serve as a member of the National Advisory Committee for Implementation of the National Forest System Land Management Planning Rule. The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) announced its new forest planning rule in January, which included the formation of the committee to advise the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the USFS on implementation of the final rule. “I write today to nominate Mr. Ken Kane of Pennsylvania, to be a member of the National Advisory Committee for Implementation of the National Forest System Land Management Planning Rule,” wrote Thompson in a letter nominating Kane. “Living in a small town located within the boundaries of the Allegheny National Forest, Mr. Kane has a unique perspective of forestry and understands our nation’s need for healthy, well-managed forests.” Comprised of up to 21 members from across the country representing a range of pu...

39 people have been rounded up in a drug sweep throughout Warren County. Members of the Warren County Drug Task Force conducted early morning raids that targeted “petty drug dealers selling dangerous chemicals which wind up being injected into the veins of users.” Warren County District Attorney Ross McKeirnan added in news release that, "We are not talking about blowing around a little pot smoke. This stuff destroys lives." He said there would have been four additional arrests today, had it not been for four recent drug-related deaths. McKiernan also had a message for the drug dealers. He says the police know who they are, and are coming to get them. Sheriff Kenneth Klakamp served as incident commander of the operation. Special agent William Mickle developed the logistics and operational plan that involved Warren City Police, Youngsville Borough Police, the state attorney general's Bureau of Narcotics Investigation, US Marshals Service, state police, the Warren County S...