A portion of the Allegheny National Forest has been added into The Old-Growth Forest Network.

The announcement was made earlier this week regarding the Tionesta Scenic and Research Natural Area in McKean County. A plaque was presented to Forest Service representatives.

The area, not to be confused with the town of Tionesta, is located just over the Warren County line in McKean County off of Route 66.

According to the Forest Service, the trailhead “offers access to over 2,000 acres of old-growth timber with significant stands of northern hemlock.

The tract was purchased in 1934 along with what is now the Tionesta Research Area “which was set aside for monitoring and research of a natural unmanaged old-growth forest.”

Brian Kane, Mid-Atlantic Regional Manager, added

“Pennsylvania is leading the nation in the quantity of old-growth forests dedicated to the Network,” Brian Kane, Mid-Atlantic regional manager for the Network explained. “With 23 now in the national old-growth network, Pennsylvania shows a strong commitment to the preservation of old-growth forest within its boundaries.

“USDA has shown remarkable support of the protection of these valuable national resources by supporting Tionesta Natural Area in the Network”

According to The Old-Growth Forest Network, the area has been ” traditional homelands of numerous indigenous peoples and Nations.

“These people include the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), and the historic Erie and Susquehannock peoples, many whom were incorporated into the great Haudenosaunee Confederacy. The ancestors of these people are current members of the Cayuga Nation, the Oneida Nation of New York, the Oneida Nation in Wisconsin, the Onondaga Nation, the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, the Seneca Nation of Indians, the Seneca-Cayuga Nation, the Tonawanda Band of Seneca, and the Tuscarora Nation.”

This tract is the largest single old-growth forest in Pennsylvania and also the largest between the Adirondacks and Great Smoky Mountains, according to the Network.

“Dominant tree species in the areas are eastern hemlock and American beech, some more than 400 years old, as well as birch, oak, maple, ash, and black cherry,” they explain.

The Network was founded in 2012 and “intends to preserve at least one forest in every county in the US that can sustain a forest” and “works to identify forests for the Network, ensure their protection from logging and inform people of the forest locations.”