Thousands of people visit the Allegheny National Forest each year.

To provide another thing for those people to do, the Forest Service has waded into a series of interpretive programs.

And early returns have been positive.

“It’s starting to take off,” Bradford District Ranger Rich Hatfield told the Warren County Council of Governments on Wednesday. “We haven’t made a big deal out of it.”

Earlier this summer that included an animal myth program at Kinzua Beach and an “Allegheny Legends” program at Willow Bay.

“We had some pretty good success this summer,” Hatfield said.

The most recent event – a night skies program at Kinzua Beach – drew 50 people.

“That’s something we’re going to continue,” he said.

TIMBER MARKET CHANGES

Hatfield also told the COG that the Forest Service’s 2023 fiscal year started on Oct. 1 and that the first timber sale of the year sold on Tuesday.

He said it’s named Forest Road 547 and located south of Austin Hill Rd.

“(What we’re) kind of seeing and hearing is a softening timber market,” he said, especially when it comes to black cherry.

Hatfield said there was just one bid on the sale which he called “somewhat unusual…. I can’t explain why that is. Prices have come down quite a bit. (The) sale had quite a bit of black cherry.”