Michaux sets hearing on managing state forest

(Mont Alto) — The state wants to know from users how one of the Pennsylvania’s most popular state forests should be managed.

The Bureau of Forestry is revising the Michaux State Forest Resource Management Plan. About 330,000 people annually visit Michaux, part of which is located in eastern Franklin County.

“The Michaux supports more, and more intense recreational use than any other state forest system,” according to the draft management plan. “Nearly one million people reside in the four counties within the district itself; and the mountain serves as an easily accessed backyard playground for many local hikers, trail runners, birders, hunters, anglers, bikers, equestrians, and motorized sports enthusiasts who know its roads, trails, and terrain and feel a high degree of ownership its forests.”

The plan calls for designing an improved shared-use trail system, improving the facilities for overnight horse camping at Big Pine Flats and Piney Mountain parking areas.

The plan provides a framework for making decisions about managing the forest and for communicating that management to the forest owners, the citizens of Pennsylvania.

The Michaux staff will go over the draft plan during a public meeting 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 2, at the Mont Alto Fire Department, 517 S. Main Street, Mont Alto. The bureau is collecting public comment on issues that are important to forest users. After a brief formal presentation of the plan, round-robin discussions on a variety of topics will be held so staff can collect comments from those attending.

Comments can be submitted at the public meeting, or via mail, email, or an online survey.  Comments will be accepted until two months after the public meeting date.

Questions or comments about the public meeting or the Michaux SFRMP can be directed to the district office at fd01@pa.gov or 717-352-2211.

A district-level plan is written for each of the bureau’s 20 forest districts across the state.  A plan gives an overview of district resources and priorities for managing the state forest land.

Michaux’s draft plan is to be available online after technical difficulties have been resolved.

The plan’s goals for Michaux’s include:

• Seek creative ways to sustain a high-quality deer herd and high-quality hunting experience.
• Diversify the forest through annual commercial timber harvesting, non-commercial microsite management, prescribed burning and restoring stands hit with invasive species.
• Restore transitional ecologies, such as glade, meadow and savannahs or Pitch, Shortleaf and other fire-dependent oak stands.
• Restore the tree canopy and floral diversity along streams.
• Manage threatened and ecologically significant wild plant populations in designated plant sanctuaries.
• Improve habitat conditions around vernal ponds and pond complexes.
• Encourage the recovery of the grouse population.
• Engage existing trail users and district staff to develop a capacity to design, build and sustain a world-class shared-use trail system.
• Create parity across the  leased campsite program participants while improving administrative efficiency.

This article is part of a content-sharing partnership between WITF and Public Opinion Online.