Public intervention appears to have saved some amenities at the Dewdrop campground in the Allegheny National Forest.

ANF officials had floated the idea of turning existing restrooms that need to be replaced into vault toilets and demolishing the existing shower building. Nearly 150 people voiced their disapproval.

Plans aren’t final, but Rich Hatfield, Bradford district ranger, said services at Dewdrop should remain the same.

That doesn’t mean the forest doesn’t have needs, nor does it mean services in other areas won’t be decreased as time goes on.

The Allegheny National Forest has $5 million in maintenance that has been delayed over the years — and that’s after the forest had four of its projects selected to receive money from the Great American Outdoors Act. As much as we’d like to think that the Allegheny National Forest should get a blank check for all the projects that need funding, area residents shouldn’t get used to the idea that their opposition to changes in the Allegheny National Forest will mean change to their preferred area in the forest won’t happen.

Resources are limited, no matter how much some Democrat lawmakers in Washington, D.C., believe otherwise as they debate how many trillions of dollars should be spent on infrastructure projects. Locally, that means we must come to grips with the idea that some of the things we have come to enjoy in the Allegheny National Forest will change, no matter how much we don’t want them to.