Friends of Allegheny Wilderness

09/06/2026

Democrat or Republican, Americans Want Their National Forests Kept Intact

"Roadless areas are havens for wildlife, keeping habitats intact and free of industrial development. These backcountry forests protect the homes of threatened species such as California condors, grizzly bears and wolves in the Yellowstone area, native trout in the Pacific Northwest, migratory songbirds in the Appalachian hardwoods and more."

Mike Dombeck served as U.S. Forest Service chief from 1997 to 2001. Dale Bosworth served as U.S. Forest Service chief from 2001-2007. Tom Tidwell served as U.S. Forest Service chief from 2009 to 2017 and Vicki Christiansen served as U.S. Forest Service chief from 2018 to 2021.

Repealing the Roadless Area Conservation Rule would not be in the long-term interest of the American people.

09/06/2026

American Whitewater: What does the Roadless Rule have to do with rivers? Everything.

The Roadless Rule is not just about forests. Forests on public lands are the mothers to our rivers. When rain and snow fall on the forests in our nation's headwaters protected by the Roadless Rule they turn into clean and cool water flowing into our canyons and communities. The places we love to boat and the water we need to drink.

Protect our rivers by protecting their headwaters on public lands! We make it super simple to make your voice heard using the easy-action link below 👇

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has taken the final step before permanently repealing the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, and we need your voice to push back against this decision during the public comment period open now!

The Roadless Rule has protected popular backcountry recreation across 45 million acres of Forest Service lands and water quality in rivers across the country since 2001.

Your voice is needed now to help protect rivers in or below Roadless Areas like the SF Salmon, Upper Chattooga, Cooper, and 100s more.

09/05/2026

Photo of the Week: This photo of flowers along the National Wild & Scenic Allegheny River in Forest County was taken by Farley Wright.

Photo of the Week
This photo of flowers along the Wild & Scenic Allegheny River in Forest County was taken by Farley Wright.

09/05/2026

When it comes to managing for wildfire risk, if we build more roads, we will have more wildfires; simple as that. Nine out of ten wildfires are caused by people.

The prohibits new road construction and commercial timber harvest in approx. 58.5 million acres of pristine National Forests.

Across the country, over ninety percent of all wildfires occur within a half mile of a road. Research shows that wildfires were four times as likely to start in areas with roads than in roadless forest tracts.

Please click here in order to take action and defend the Roadless Rule now:

https://act.americanrivers.org/page/101689/action/1

Thank you!

09/05/2026

Friends of Allegheny Wilderness doesn't have any proposed wilderness areas along Farnsworth Road (Forest Road 154) in the Allegheny National Forest, nevertheless this is one of the more scenic drives in the Allegheny. And there are a number of good places to stop and go fishing or camping along the way.

Many of you may already be aware that Farnsworth Road is currently closed to through traffic in order to completely replace a bridge over the Farnsworth Branch of Tionesta Creek roughly halfway through between Clarendon and Cherry Grove.

The project started on August 17th, and was expected to take about six weeks to complete. These photographs were taken yesterday afternoon. What do you think? Does it look like this job will be done before the snow flies? To the untrained layman's eye it doesn't appear so, but maybe the work goes quickly after the demolition phase is complete?

Well, whenever it's done it will be an improvement. They are utilizing the most current methods to design a bridge that will restore more natural hydrology and support a healthier stream ecosystem.

Do we have any bridge engineers following this page? 🤔

09/05/2026

Rainy evening this past Tuesday along the National Wild and Scenic Clarion River. It is lovely weather. Thankful for all of the rain we've been getting lately! 💦 🌫️

09/05/2026

ALERT: There are a series of large trees down across Forest Road 119 along the southern tier of the Hickory Creek Wilderness in the Allegheny National Forest.

These trees completely block vehicular passage, and begin at approximately 4.6 miles in from Forest Road 116 (Mayburg Road). Presumably they came down during one of the recent storms we've experienced this week.

Condition of Forest Road 119 coming in from the west end off of Economite Road is unknown.

It doesn't look like anyone is going to be able to use Forest Road 119 this holiday weekend in order to get from one end to the other.

09/04/2026

Protecting the Roadless Rule means protecting wildlife. 💪🏻 🐻

Roads can be dangerous for animals. Not only are speeding vehicles a major killer, but roads also fragment habitats and cut off migratory routes. Thankfully, the Roadless Rule has protected nearly 60 million acres of continuous wildlife habitat in national forests across the country.

But this rule is at risk of being rescinded and we need your voice!

✍️ Click the link below to leave a public comment on the proposed rule and tell the USDA to keep the Roadless Rule and stop threatening one of our country’s most promising and popular approaches to wildlife and habitat protection.

https://nature.ly/4cYK7oN. (Click on the rectangular blue "Comment" button.)

🐺 Meet a few of the animals that depend on the Roadless Rule.

09/04/2026

The Allegheny River Cleanup Crew will hold its 18th annual river cleanup this month on the 17th, 18th, and 19th, offering several opportunities for volunteers to help remove debris and protect the river's ecosystem.

Organizers are seeking about 40 volunteers each day to make the cleanup a success. Registration is required and can be completed at www.alleghenyrivercleanup.com/volunteer.html

In addition to the river cleanup, organizers will collect recyclable material at the AutoZone parking lot on Market Street in North Warren from Sept. 11 through 20. A dumpster will be available at the site.

https://www.timesobserver.com/news/local-news/2026/09/river-roundup-allegheny-river-cleanup-seeking-volunteers-for-september-events/

The Allegheny River Cleanup Crew will hold its 18th annual river cleanup this month, offering several opportunities for volunteers to help remove debris and protect the river’s ecosystem.. The cleanup gives residents an opportunity to give back to their community while helping to preserve the Alle...

09/03/2026

Cool photo of black bear (Ursus americanus) cubs within the 9,705-acre proposed Tracy Ridge Wilderness Area in the Allegheny National Forest!

This was shared with us by Sam Trombetti who was recently hiking one of the side trails off of the North Country National Scenic Trail within the proposed wilderness when he happened upon the scene.

Sam describes his photograph this way:

"There are (at least) 3 cubs in the trees. Mama was in the brush (not visible) to the right of the trail. I heard her command the cubs into the trees. Then she growled at me (like the worst scariest dog growl you'll ever hear), and tore through the forest in the opposite direction. For those wondering, I was basically moving the entire time. I was shocked the pic came out so well!"

🐻