Michaux State Forest

Last updated
Michaux State Forest
IUCN category VI (protected area with sustainable use of natural resources)
Michaux State Forest.JPG
Long Pine Run Reservoir in Michaux State Forest
USA Pennsylvania location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of Michaux State Forest in Pennsylvania
LocationPennsylvania, United States
Coordinates 39°54′43″N77°33′49″W / 39.91194°N 77.56361°W / 39.91194; -77.56361
Area85,000 acres (340 km2)
Named for André Michaux
Governing body Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Website Michaux State Forest

Michaux State Forest is a Pennsylvania State Forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #1. The main offices are located in Fayetteville in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, USA.

Contents

The Michaux State Forest is in several tracts covering more than 85,000 acres (34,400 ha) located in Adams County, southern Cumberland County, eastern Franklin County, and northwestern York County. The Appalachian Trail also runs through Michaux State Forest.

History

Michaux State Forest is named for André Michaux, a French botanist. He was dispatched in 1785 by King Louis XVI of France and his Queen Marie Antoinette to gather plants for the Royal Gardens.

Michaux State Forest was formed as a direct result of the depletion of the forests of Pennsylvania that took place during the mid-to-late 19th century. Conservationists such as Joseph Rothrock became concerned that the forests would not regrow if they were not managed properly. Lumber and iron companies had harvested the old-growth forests for various reasons. They clear cut the forests and left behind nothing but dried tree tops and rotting stumps. The sparks of passing steam locomotives ignited wildfires that prevented the formation of second growth forests. The conservationists feared that the forest would never regrow if there was not a change in the philosophy of forest management. They called for the state to purchase land from the lumber and iron companies and the lumber and iron companies were more than willing to sell their land since that had depleted the natural resources of the forests. [1] The changes began to take place in 1895 when Rothrock was appointed the first commissioner of the Pennsylvania Department of Forests and Waters, the forerunner of today's Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. The Pennsylvania General Assembly passed a piece of legislation in 1897 that authorized the purchase of "unseated lands for forest reservations." This was the beginning of the State Forest system. [1]

A map of the state forest showing forest boundaries and nearby highways. Michaux State Forest.png
A map of the state forest showing forest boundaries and nearby highways.

The land that is now Michaux State Forest was once owned by several large iron companies. The iron companies used the old growth forests of South Central Pennsylvania to fire their iron furnaces such as Pine Grove Furnace, Caledonia, and Mont Alto. Colliers gathered the wood and created charcoal by slowly burning the logs in massive charcoal kilns that dotted the landscape of what is now Michaux State Forest.

Michaux State Forest is the location of several "firsts" in Pennsylvania Forestry. The first state nursery was established at Mont Alto in 1902. Rothrock opened the first forestry school in Pennsylvania and the second in the United States at what is now Penn State Mont Alto. Ralph E. Brock, the first academically trained African American forester in the United States, supervised the seed nursery at the state forest from 1906 to 1911. Michaux State Forest saw the first wooden fire tower in 1905 as well as the first steel fire tower in 1914.

Michaux State Forest is now a thriving second growth forest. It is open to recreational hunting, fishing, hiking and mountain biking. It is crossed by the Appalachian Trail. Remnants of the charcoal days can still be seen in the state forest as the land where the kilns burned for so many years has yet to fully recover. Visitors to the park will notice these areas as large grassy meadows that are surrounded by the woods of Michaux State Forest. [2]

Neighboring state forest districts

The U.S. state of Maryland is to the south

Michaux State Forest sign.JPG

Nearby state parks

Natural and wild areas

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rothrock State Forest</span> State forest in Pennsylvania, United States

Rothrock State Forest is a Pennsylvania state forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #5. The main offices are located in Huntingdon in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bald Eagle State Forest</span> State forest in Pennsylvania, United States

Bald Eagle State Forest is a Pennsylvania state forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #7. The main office is located in Laurelton in Union County, Pennsylvania. The forest is found in Centre, Clinton, Mifflin, Snyder, and Union Counties. Bald Eagle shares a common border on its western extent with Rothrock State Forest and on its northern extent with Tiadaghton State Forest.

Tuscarora State Forest is a Pennsylvania state forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #3. The main office is located in Blain in Perry County, Pennsylvania in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moshannon State Forest</span> State forest in Pennsylvania, United States

Moshannon State Forest is a Pennsylvania State Forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #9. The main offices are located in the unincorporated village of Penfield in Huston Township, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susquehannock State Forest</span> State forest in Pennsylvania, United States

Susquehannock State Forest is a Pennsylvania state forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #15. The main office is located in Coudersport in Potter County, Pennsylvania in the United States.

Cornplanter State Forest is a Pennsylvania State Forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #14. The main office is located in North Warren in Warren County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is named for Chief Cornplanter of the Seneca Nation, one of the tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forbes State Forest</span> State forest in Pennsylvania, United States

Forbes State Forest is a Pennsylvania state forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #4. The main offices are located in Laughlintown in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania in the United States. Mount Davis, the highest peak in Pennsylvania, is located in the forest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gallitzin State Forest</span> State forest in Pennsylvania, United States

Gallitzin State Forest is a Pennsylvania State Forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #6. The main offices are located in Ebensburg in Cambria County, Pennsylvania in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clear Creek State Forest</span> State forest in Pennsylvania, United States

Clear Creek State Forest is a Pennsylvania State Forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #8. The main offices are located in Clarion in Clarion County, Pennsylvania in the United States. Until August 2007, it was named Kittanning State Forest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Penn State Forest</span> State forest in Pennsylvania, United States

William Penn State Forest is a Pennsylvania State Forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #17. The main offices are located in Elverson in Chester County, Pennsylvania in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiadaghton State Forest</span> State forest in Pennsylvania, United States

Tiadaghton State Forest is a Pennsylvania State Forest in the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Forestry. The forest is primarily in western and southern Lycoming County, with small portions in Clinton, Potter, Tioga, and Union Counties. The district's topography consists of narrow, flat to sloping plateaus cut by deep, steep-sloped valleys carved by fast moving mountain streams, including Pine Creek, Slate Run, and their tributaries. The Tiadaghton district extends south across the lowland along the west branch of the Susquehanna River to the narrow crests of Bald Eagle Mountain and North and South White Deer Ridge. The majority of forest cover is dominated by mixed oak forests, with some areas of northern hardwoods. The Tiadaghton State Forest is one of eight forest districts in the Pennsylvania Wilds region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sproul State Forest</span> State forest in Pennsylvania, United States

Sproul State Forest is a Pennsylvania state forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #10. The main offices are located in Renovo, Pennsylvania in Clinton County in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tioga State Forest</span> State forest in Pennsylvania, United States

Tioga State Forest is a Pennsylvania State Forest in District #16, in the Allegheny Plateau region within Tioga County, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinchot State Forest</span> State forest in Pennsylvania, United States

Pinchot State Forest is a Pennsylvania State Forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #11. The main offices are located in Lackawanna State Park in North Abington Township in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weiser State Forest</span> State forest in Pennsylvania, United States

Weiser State Forest is a Pennsylvania State Forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #18. The main offices are located in Cressona in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delaware State Forest</span> State forest in Pennsylvania, United States

Delaware State Forest is a 85,114-acre (344.44 km2) Pennsylvania state forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #19. The main offices are located in Swiftwater in Monroe County, Pennsylvania in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loyalsock State Forest</span> State forest in Pennsylvania, United States

Loyalsock State Forest is a Pennsylvania state forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #20. The forest spans across the northern tier's "Endless Mountains" and is a total of 114,552 acres (46,358 ha). The Loyalsock is a “working forest” and is managed for pure water, recreation, plant and animal habitats, sustainable timber, and natural gas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buchanan State Forest</span> State forest in Pennsylvania, United States

Buchanan State Forest is a Pennsylvania State Forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #2. The main office is located in McConnellsburg in Fulton County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The forest also includes tracts in Franklin and Bedford Counties. It is named for James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, the fifteenth President of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mont Alto State Park</span>

Mont Alto State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on 24 acres (9.7 ha) in Quincy Township, Franklin County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is on Pennsylvania Route 233 one mile from Mont Alto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Rothrock</span> U.S. botanist. mycologist, lichenologist & conservationist (1839–1922)

Joseph Trimble Rothrock was an American environmentalist, recognized as the "Father of Forestry" in Pennsylvania. In 1895, Rothrock was appointed the first forestry commissioner to lead the newly formed Division of Forestry in the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. Two of his major accomplishments as commissioner were his land acquisition program and the creation of a forest academy to train foresters for state service.

References

  1. 1 2 "History of the William Penn State Forest". Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Archived from the original on 2007-08-23. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
  2. "History of the Michaux State Forest". Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Archived from the original on April 17, 2004. Retrieved 2007-06-17.