Tioga State Forest is a Pennsylvania State Forest in District #16, in the

Allegheny Plateau The Allegheny Plateau , in the United States, is a large dissected plateau area of the Appalachian Mountains in western and central New York (state), New York, northern and western Pennsylvania, northern and western West Virginia, and eastern Oh ...

region within

Tioga County, Pennsylvania Tioga County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 41,045. Its county seat is Wellsboro. The county was created on March 26, 1804, from part of Lycoming County and later organized in 1812. ...

. The main offices are located in Wellsboro in Tioga County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The state forest was named for the Tioga

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

of the

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

, a Native American people, whose homeland was in the region. The Seneca language word "Tioga" means 'the meeting of two rivers' in English. Prior to the July 1, 2005 realignment of Pennsylvania State Forest Districts, Tioga State Forest included almost all state forest lands in Tioga County and Bradford County, and encompassed . After realignment, the state forest tracts in Bradford County became part of the new

Loyalsock State Forest 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 . The Loyalsock is a “working forest” and is managed for ...

. Currently, the forest is mostly located in Tioga County and only includes small areas within Bradford and Lycoming Counties.

History

Tioga 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 like Dr.

Joseph Rothrock Joseph Trimble Rothrock (April 9, 1839 – June 2, 1922) 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 o ...

became concerned that the forests would not regrow if they were not managed properly. Lumber and iron companies harvested the old-growth forests, clearcutting the forests and leaving behind nothing but dried tree tops and rotting stumps. The sparks of passing

steam locomotives A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

ignited

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...

s that prevented the formation of

second growth forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. I ...

s. 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. The changes began to take place in 1895 when Dr. 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 Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), established on July 1, 1995, is the agency in the U.S. State of Pennsylvania responsible for maintaining and preserving the state's 124 state parks and 20 state forests; ...

. 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. Most of the land acquired by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was purchased from land holding and lumber companies. The lumber companies had stripped the land of vast stands of old growth

Eastern hemlock ''Tsuga canadensis'', also known as eastern hemlock, eastern hemlock-spruce, or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as ''pruche du Canada'', is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It is the state tree of ...

and

white pine ''Pinus'', the pines, is a genus of approximately 111 extant tree and shrub species. The genus is currently split into two subgenera: subgenus ''Pinus'' (hard pines), and subgenus ''Strobus'' (soft pines). Each of the subgenera have been further ...

during the lumber era that swept throughout the mountains of Pennsylvania during the mid-to-late 19th century. The harvested timber was floated down Pine Creek and its tributaries to the Susquehanna Boom on the

West Branch Susquehanna River The West Branch Susquehanna River is one of the two principal branches, along with the North Branch, of the Susquehanna River in the Northeastern United States. The North Branch, which rises in upstate New York, is generally regarded as the exten ...

near Williamsport. The lumber companies left behind a land that was stripped of most of its trees and was scattered with tree stumps and the dried tops of trees that easily igniting causing wildfires that slowed the growth of the now thriving

of hardwoods. The establishment of the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

during the Great Depression by President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

was vital to the recovery of the forests of Tioga State Forest. Several CCC camps were scattered throughout Tioga State Forest. The young men of the CCC worked to clear the forest and streams of dried underbrush. They cleared roads and trails throughout the forest and built the recreation facilities found at Leonard Harrison and Colton Point State Parks along the

Pennsylvania Grand Canyon Pine Creek Gorge, sometimes called The Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, is a gorge carved into the Allegheny Plateau by Pine Creek in north-central Pennsylvania. It sits in about of the Tioga State Forest. The canyon begins south of Ansonia, nea ...

Birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains ...

trees in Tioga State Forest were used during the mid-20th century in the birch oil industry. Birch stills were built throughout the forest to produce the oil, which was used as an industrial lubricant. The last birch still in Tioga State Forest was shut down in 1972.

Neighboring state forest districts

The

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

of New York is to the north *

(east and southeast) *

Tiadaghton State Forest Tiadaghton State Forest (; ) is a Pennsylvania State Forest (Forest District #12) in the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Forestry. The forest is primarily in western and southern Lycoming County, with small ...

(south) * Susquehannock State Forest (west)

Nearby state parks

* Leonard Harrison State Park (Tioga County) * Colton Point State Park (Tioga County) *

Hills Creek State Park Hills Creek State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Charleston Township, Tioga County, Pennsylvania in the United States. Hills Creek Lake, a man-made lake, is the focal point of the park. It is open for year-round recreation. Hills Creek ...

(Tioga County)

References

* ''Note: As of July 2006, this web page has not been updated to reflect the Pennsylvania State Forest Districts realignment.'' * * ''Note: Map showing districts after the July 1, 2005 realignment''

External links

Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Nature−DCNR.pa: official Tioga State Forest website
{{Authority control Pennsylvania state forests Protected areas of Tioga County, Pennsylvania Allegheny Plateau Protected areas established in 1900 1900 establishments in Pennsylvania Civilian Conservation Corps in Pennsylvania