Funding
- Lumber Heritage Region: $5,000
- Total Project Cost: $12,805.51
Type of Project
The Allegheny Forest Alliance (AFA) and the Allegheny Hardwood Utilization Group (AHUG) partnered in the production of an educational video titled, “ANF – A History of Sustainable Forest Management”, and in the production and deployment of two informational kiosks within the Lumber Heritage Region. The hardwood kiosks contain touchscreen hardware, enabling viewers to access both the ANF video and a companion video titled, “Forest To Home”. The completed project provides interactive educational tools to inform LHR residents and visitors about the Allegheny National Forest and the robust hardwood industry that supports the sustainable, healthy management of this and other forest lands in PA.
Project Details
With over 900,000 annual visitors, the Allegheny National Forest (ANF) spans 517,000 acres across Elk, Forest, McKean, and Warren Counties, playing a vital role in the history, economy, and forest products industry of the Lumber Heritage Region (LHR). As Gifford Pinchot, the “Father of American Forestry,” emphasized, natural resources are essential to life and prosperity—an idea that remains central to both the ANF’s legacy and modern sustainable forestry practices.
To promote awareness and appreciation for the ANF’s past, present, and ongoing impact, this project introduced interactive touch-screen kiosks featuring two engaging videos. These kiosks highlight the forest’s rich history, its role in the LHR, and the hardwood industry’s contributions to conservation and economic sustainability.
The kiosks have been placed in two high-traffic locations within the ANF region:
📍 Forest County Historical Society (Forest County) – Home to an 1800s lumber camp replica, enriching visitors’ understanding of the region’s timber heritage.
📍 Lazy River Canoe Rental (Elk County) – Featuring historical displays of the Clarion River, connecting recreation with the history of the forest and waterways.
All filming locations, businesses, and individuals featured in the videos are from the four ANF counties, as are the videographer, woodworker, and hardwood supplier for the kiosks—ensuring a truly local project that supports regional industry and storytelling.
Each kiosk is equipped with counters to track visitor engagement, providing measurable data on outreach impact. The videos and kiosks debuted at several forest resource and industry events, receiving strong support for their blend of historic and modern perspectives, use of local industry professionals as narrators, and focus on sustainable forestry.
With interest from additional LHR sites, the kiosks will be available for rotating displays during winter and spring months when the current host locations have limited hours. Furthermore, both the AFA (Allegheny Forest Alliance) and AHUG (Allegheny Hardwood Utilization Group) have published the videos on their websites and are incorporating them into educational presentations across the LHR region and beyond.
This initiative ensures that visitors and residents alike gain a deeper understanding of the ANF’s significance, the value of Pennsylvania’s hardwood industry, and the importance of sustainable forest management for future generations.
