Clear Creek State Forest in western Pennsylvania spans 16,716 acres in three separate tracts and is administered from Clarion. Known as Kittanning State Forest until August 2007, it grew from land purchases begun in 1919 after decades of destructive logging on the Allegheny Plateau. From 1883 onward, sawmills cut hemlock and white pine, and repeated fires sparked by steam locomotives left much of the region stripped and slow to recover. As part of Pennsylvania’s conservation response, advocated by reformers such as Dr. Joseph Rothrock, the land was brought under public management. Second-growth hardwood forest later returned, and the area is now managed for recreation, resources, and wildlife.