Pennsylvania’s state forests are working forests, meaning DCNR’s Bureau of Forestry manages them for many uses including sustained yields of quality timber.

On September 9, the Pennsylvania Forest Products Association hosted Acting Secretary Ellen Ferretti on a tour through the Pennsylvania Wilds to learn about forest products from start to finish.

First stop—an active harvest site in the Susquehannock State Forest in Potter County, where the average age of the standing trees is about 80 years. The 265,000 acre Forest District 15 derives its name from the Susquehannock tribe that once inhabited the region. It’s a northern hardwood forest—sugar maple, red oak, red maple, birch—that also grows some of the most productive stands of black cherry trees in the world.

District Forester Chris Nicholas explained how sustainable timber harvesting provides a steady flow of wood products to the economy, creating wildlife habitat and enhancing health and diversity for the forest of tomorrow.

“DCNR Bureau of Forestry’s work with the timber industry is a long-standing partnership, and it’s now evident to me how closely we work together for our mutual benefit,” Acting Secretary Ferretti said. “When forester Chris Nicholas showed us twigs emerging at his feet that would become future cherry trees the patch of duff at our feet was no longer unremarkable—it represented the future of Pennsylvania’s forests!”

Nicholas noted that the annual goal in the Susquehannock is to regenerate about 1,100 acres annually.

“We make sure that regeneration is already occurring before we lay out a timber sale,” Nicholas said. “Now that the habitat is much more in balance with the deer herd, deer are having less of an impact on the next generation of forest. Where we used to be doing 20 or 30 fences a year to keep deer out, now we do 2 or 3.”

“Many citizens tell us that one of the things they value most about the state forest is wildlife habitat and watching,” State Forester Dan Devlin said. “What they may not realize is how closely wildlife habitat is connected to a forest of different ages of trees made possible through timber harvesting.”

DCNR has a harvest allocation goal of about 14,300 acres annually across its 2.2 million acre system. A harvest allocation model is used to set those goals for about a 10 year period.

Pennsylvania’s state forest has been independently certified for more than 15 years, validating that the department is managing in a way that protects its long-term health.

This certification allows removed timber to be sold as sustainably harvested, giving an edge to our timber and wood product industries.

According to the Pennsylvania Forest Products Association, the timber and forest products industry operates in all 67 counties with more than one billion board feet of timber produced in Pa each year – enough to circle the globe seven times.

"Pennsylvania hardwood products are exported around the globe, and are famous for their beauty and quality,” said association Executive Director Paul Lyskava. “The commonwealth leads the U.S. in production of hardwoods.”

The second stop on the tour was at Pine Creek Lumber in Mill Hall, a hardwood sawmill that cuts more than 6 million board feet annually.

Pine Creek Lumber is one of the primary manufacturing sites for Bingaman and Son Lumber that utilizes the locally grown timber, modern manufacturing techniques, and highly skilled employees to produce the fine quality hardwoods.

On a tour through the mill the group learned how the sawyer looks for the most valuable lumber and tries to avoid defects in the log being cut, and how lumber graders examine the wood as it passes on a conveyor belt for defects to mark each board with the grade as determined by the standards established in the industry.

The final stop was Bingaman and Son Lumber dry kilns and yard in Kreamer, where Max Bingaman told the acting secretary how he started work in the lumber business with his father, and now works side by side with his son in a profession that is clearly a labor of love for both of them.

Industry representatives did express concerns about road maintenance cost issues related to increased traffic in the region from the natural gas industry.

Also on the tour were state Rep. Fred Keller (R-Snyder) and staff from the offices of Sen. Joe Scarnati (R-Jefferson), Sen. John Wozniak (D-Cambria) and Rep. Mike Hanna (D-Centre).

For more information, visit DCNR State Forest Management Plan webpage.

(Reprinted from the September 18 DCNR Resource newsletter.)

9/23/2013