MARIENVILLE — Marienville District Ranger, Rob Fallon, has approved the Allegheny National Forest’s 10,555-acre Pine Bear Supplemental Environmental Assessment Project. In the final decision notice and finding of no significant impact, Fallon selected the modified proposed action alternative because it will address a number of forest health concerns within the project area and provide for more young-aged forest.
The original decision for the Pine Bear Project was signed in 2012. The Allegheny National Forest has been experiencing a number of forest health issues including defoliation by cherry scallopshell moth and fall webworm, infestations of beech bark disease, emerald ash borer, and hemlock woolly adelgid.
“As we began implementation of the Pine Bear Project, several forest health concerns have developed,” said District Ranger Rob Fallon. Marienville staff conducted forest surveys in 2016, and found that mortality and crown dieback of black cherry, white ash, and American beech were reducing healthy tree stocking levels. Fallon said that reforestation activities are needed to ensure that desirable tree seedlings can be established and successfully become the next generation of healthy forest.
“We are concerned that seed tree abundance and distribution is declining within this project area to the point that it will become more difficult to successfully regenerate forest stands to desirable tree species that include red maple, black cherry, yellow-poplar, cucumber tree, sugar maple and other species,” said Fallon. “Regeneration of these areas should occur now while there are still viable seed trees within these hardwood stands.”
This decision to modify the original Pine Bear Project is the third and final decision related to the Marienville Restoration initiative to address new and developing forest health concerns. This initiative previously modified the original decisions for the DeYoung and Porkey Projects.
Project documents and additional information on the project are available on the Allegheny National Forest website or by contacting Kevin Treese, Marienville District Planning Team Leader, at (814) 927-5759.
