Pennsylvania's only national forest, a rolling hardwood landscape shaped by logging history and second-growth recovery.
Allegheny National Forest
The Allegheny National Forest is a large federally protected forest in northwestern Pennsylvania, situated roughly one hundred miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Spanning more than half a million acres across Warren, McKean, Forest, and Elk counties, it lies within the Allegheny Highlands forests ecoregion and is dominated by second-growth hardwoods that grew back after intensive logging at the turn of the twentieth century.
Today the forest is known for its rolling plateau topography, extensive forest cover, and notable pockets of surviving old-growth hemlock and beech stands. Its landscape also includes the Allegheny Reservoir, created by the Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny River, and a network of streams, scenic areas, and designated wilderness.
As Pennsylvania's only national forest, it plays an important role in conservation, watershed protection, timber management, and outdoor recreation. The forest is managed under the "Land of Many Uses" philosophy, balancing wood production, wildlife habitat, recreation, and ecological recovery across a region that remains one of the least densely populated parts of the eastern United States.