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by Curt Ashenfelter, Executive Director
On Thursday, October 25th I had the opportunity to represent your interests and the interests of Pennsylvania's 3.5 million hikers at a FracTracker Alliance Media Tour of the Loyalsock State Forest and the Old Logger's Path. The tour, entitled "Framing Forestry and Wildlife Concerns Related to Unconventional Natural Gas Extraction," was designed to highlight specific, lesser-known impacts of the drilling industry and familiarize reporters and journalists about shale gas issues.
The Old Logger's Path is a 27.8-mile circuit through remote areas in northeastern Lycoming County. Highlights of the trail are Rock Run, one of the prettiest streams in Pennsylvania, vistas over McIntyre Wild Area, Pleasant Stream, and the Loyalsock Trail region.
The media tour began in an area of spectacular waterfalls along the exceptional-value waters of Rock Run. We had the opportunity to explore the area with journalists representing the Philadelphia area and the Chesapeake Bay Watershed area.
We then continued our travels on Rock Run Road to Yellow Dog Road, and then on to Ellenton Road. There, we saw extensive ribboning and survey work that indicated soon-to-be constructed expansion of the forest road to accommodate heavy trucking, gas pipelines, and water pipelines. The forest road cut will explode from 10 or 20 feet, to 200 to 300 feet.
Our tour continued to the ghost town of Masten, Hills Grove Road, John Merrell Road, and to Sharp Top Vista. All along the two forest roads we saw evidence of the location of future five-acre gas drill pads and further forest road expansion. Most of the proposed five-acre pad sites were enclosed in deer wire protective areas, examples of recent timbering operations and the ensuing forest regeneration efforts.
Natural gas development in this area does not have to happen. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) has the legal power to keep the drilling rigs out of this beautiful section of the Loyalsock State Forest, by refusing to sign a surface-use agreement.
By virtue of pre-existing deeds, DCNR is in a unique legal position to protect 18,870 acres from development by not allowing Anadarko Petroleum, owner of the mineral rights on 6,841 acres, to develop in this unique and remote forest.
In order to vividly contrast the pristine Old Logger's Path of the past, with the 'developed' trail of tomorrow, the tour traveled to a two-mile construction site along Bodine Mountain Road on the west side of Route 14. On our way to the "scenic vista" identified on our map, we saw huge cuts in the mountain to accommodate new pipelines, pipeline trenches and mountaintop leveling to prepare for five-acre gas drilling pads.
While media outlets in the Philadelphia area and the Chesapeake Bay area now have the story, please consider writing a personal letter to DCNR Secretary Richard Allan. Tell him that you understand the situation, and, given the ecological sensitivity and recreational significance of this area of the Loyalsock State Forest, that any gas extraction or transmission operations in the forest would immediately and permanently impair pristine areas containing Exceptional Value streams and wetlands. Additional talking points might include:
- Your personal experiences in the area and/or your desire for you and future generations to enjoy this unique area undisturbed by industrial gas development.
- DCNR must hold public meetings on the issue to afford the stakeholders a meaningful opportunity to participate in DCNR's decision-making.
- For those who cannot attend public meetings, there should be a 60-day public comment period.
- The public resources at stake are the very heart of the Pennsylvania Wilds. The public's ecological, recreational, and economic interest in them is simply too important for decisions to be made without input from the public and sound science to document species at risk and harm to the environment.
Send your letter to:
Richard J. Allan, Secretary
Department of Conservation & Natural Resources
Rachel Carson State Office Building
P.O. Box 8767
400 Market Street
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8767
Also send a copy of your letter to both of your PA legislators, and let us know here at the Keystone Trails Association who you have contacted (we will keep a list of all KTA member contacts). Thank you!
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