Loyalsock State Forest

Loyalsock State Forest is a 114,552-acre working Pennsylvania forest in the Endless Mountains, managed for water protection, recreation, wildlife habitat, sustainable timber, and natural gas development. Its landscape bears the legacy of late 19th-century clear-cutting, wildfire, and the state’s later effort to restore depleted lands, including purchases begun in 1929. Former logging railroads and towns gave way to Civilian Conservation Corps camps, and the present district was formed in 2005. Known for extensive trails, scenic overlooks, and protected natural and wild areas, the forest also stands at the center of continuing debate over Marcellus Shale gas leasing and the balance between conservation and resource extraction.

Hillsgrove, Pennsylvania · United States