June 2007

News from the PA Wilds

Please remember to register and make your reservations for the Pennsylvania Wilds Conference: Natural Assets, Natural Opportunities: Planning, Protecting and Investing in Rural Pennsylvania. The information-packed gathering is just around the corner and scheduled for September 13-14, 2007 at the Genetti Hotel in Williamsport. Join elected officials, planners, downtown manager, business owners, economic development leaders, recreation providers, conservation organizations and others from the 12-county region as they exchange ideas, learn about best practices and discover new tools for success. Registration brochures will be mailed next week. Registration details and more information on the conference is available at www.dcnr.state.pa.us/info/pawilds/conference.aspx.

	Investing in the PA Wilds Planning in the PA Wilds Marketing in the PA Wilds A PA Wilds Business Success Story: The Sky’s the Limit for Astronomy in Potter County A PA Wilds Community Success Story: Potter County: A Pennsylvania Route 6 Heritage Community Welcome to the Chuck Keiper Trail - The Wildest Trail in the Pennsylvania Wilds

Investing in the PA Wilds

The Commonwealth is committed to investing in the Pennsylvania Wilds in order to improve visitor experiences, help new and existing businesses grow and prosper, and create new opportunities for market growth. Since Fall 2004, $14.6 million in grants and $14.6 million in loans have been awarded to businesses in the Pennsylvania Wilds through programs administered by the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).

Most recently, the Commonwealth Financing Authority Board, at its May 25, 2007 meeting, awarded the following loans in the Pennsylvania Wilds:

Under the First Industries Small Business Loans, a loan program aimed at strengthening Pennsylvania’s agriculture and tourism industries:

• SEDA Council of Governments, $90,400 loan to David D. Bower, Lycoming County.
• The Progress Fund, $200,000 loan to Alleghany Valley Management, LLC dba Heritage Suites, McKean County.
• North Central PA Regional Planning and Development Commission, $200,000 loan to Timothy Haley dba Erway’s Restaurant and Market, Potter County.

Planning in the PA Wilds:
New Planning Resources for "Trail Towns"

Trail Towns are communities that use their location adjacent to a long distance trail corridor as part of their economic development strategy. In Pennsylvania, this is an approach becoming more and more popular and feasible as older communities along once active rail and river corridors are looking for new ways to revitalize their downtowns. This concept has really come into its own in southwestern Pennsylvania along the 150 mile Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) that extends from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Maryland, passing through many communities along the way.

Under the leadership of the Allegheny Trail Alliance and with support from a grant from DCNR, a guidebook entitled, Trail Towns - Capturing Trail Based Tourism, has been developed to assist communities interested in this approach. It provides a 4-step “how-to” process based upon the Main Street Program that helps communities understand and implement the concept, plus a self-assessment checklist to establish a baseline and determine on the ground readiness for becoming a trail town. Although the guidebook is designed with a long distance bicycle trail in mind, it can easily be adapted for water trails and their associated communities.

One trail town example in the PA Wilds region is Ridgway and the Clarion Little Toby Rail Trail. Each year Ridgway sees more and more visitors coming to their area to bike the trail. There is a great deal of synergy between the trail and the town's Main Street program.

Copies of the Trail Towns guidebook can be downloaded from the following website www.atatrail.org/trailtown.cfm. Other trail town resources include:

• An electronic newsletter available from the Great Allegheny Passage Trail Town Initiative managed by The Progress Fund. To subscribe contact Rebecca Robertson at rrobertson@progressfund.org.
• The Pennsylvania Downtown Center, (717) 233-4675, is an organization that helps towns implement the Main Street Program and can assist in the development of trail town plans.
• The Trail User Survey Workbook: How to Conduct a Survey and Win Support for Your Trail provides a template to assist those interested in undertaking trail economic impact studies, and is available at www.railtrails.org/wherewework/northeast/index.html Select from "Quick Links." Recently, this template was used to conduct a User Survey and Economic Impact Analysis for the Pine Creek Rail Trail. A copy of this study is also available at the website referenced above.

Marketing in the PA Wilds:
Marketing the Pennsylvania Wilds

The Pennsylvania Tourism Office has made effective regional tourism marketing a priority, supporting successful branding initiatives in six of the state’s seven tourism regions with regional marketing initiative grants and has aligned the statewide marketing program to promote the same region. Continued growth of tourism as an economic development strategy depends upon effective and efficient marketing, which requires state, local and regional marketing to be well-aligned.

Approximately 10-15 percent of this year's state tourism advertising budget had been allocated to promoting the Pennsylvania Wild’s outdoor recreation and its small towns’ charm and heritage. Advertising is targeted to two primary audiences: the enthusiast and the curious. The campaign focus is the New York, Buffalo and Toronto markets and will air this spring/summer and fall. Media tactics include:

• Cable T.V. – newly created spot specific to the PA Wilds will air in New York and Buffalo;
• Radio – New York, Buffalo, Toronto;
• Billboards/Transit – New York, Buffalo, Toronto (including wrapped buses);
• Print – Regional “high interest” magazines such as Audubon, Field & Stream, National Geographic Adventure, Bicycling, North American Hunter and Outdoor Life; and
• Internet – Keywords, email blasts and online marketing on targeted web sites.

A PA Wilds Business Success Story:
The Sky’s the Limit for Astronomy in Potter County

by Tim Morey

Why would anyone start an astronomy business in Potter County? Ten years ago, no one would have. Things have certainly changed.

Cherry Springs State Park began its rise from normalcy after being rediscovered as a dark sky park. Light pollution, or adverse man-made lighting, is rapidly taking the night away from astronomers and our future generations. Some astronomers recognized the park as a quality stargazing location in the late 1990s, and the park took notice as well.

In 2000, Cherry Springs was designated the first official dark sky park in Pennsylvania. By 2005, the park boasted a newly-formed educational and interpretive program and a small arsenal of telescopes. Park staff and a core of dedicated volunteers provided night sky programming to an ever-increasing crowd of visitors, effectively capturing the newly recognized activity of stargazing.

Today, astronomers, both the dedicated and the mildly curious, flock to the park one or two weekends a month when the moon is “dark” as it’s called. Without the moon or man-made light pollution in the sky, telescope buffs aim their lens skyward under pristine night skies.

Besides embracing astronomy, the park also supports partnerships with local business. One of those partnerships that is quickly on the rise is the newly formed “Crystal Spheres: Adventures in Stargazing”. Owned and operated by local resident and astronomy guru, Stash Nawrocki, the business is finding success by partnering and expanding on the success of the park and the Pennsylvania Wilds initiative.

Nawrocki is a local astronomer who has been a DCNR program volunteer for Cherry Springs’ popular 'Star-n-Parks' and other public programs. He is also an active member of the park’s Dark Sky Fund Advisory Board. Nawrocki has been studying astronomy and the night skies of Potter County for over five years and has been passing along this information in his popular Beginning Astronomy classes held at the Potter County Education Council.

Nawrocki recently formed "Crystal Spheres: Adventures in Stargazing" to provide one-on-one astronomy experiences for area tourists and to any local groups who would like to have a program or presentation on stargazing. His sky tours occur at the park, local bed-and-breakfasts of your choice, or even at your own home, creating your own star party!

This up and coming astronomy business has also been the astronomy portion of the Bureau of State Parks "Discovery Weekend" program, a pre-paid program that includes lodging, meals and participation in monarch butterfly tagging at Sinnemahoning State Park, saw whet owl banding with area bird-bander Dave Hauber, and a Sky exploration program by Nawrocki's Crystal Spheres, at Cherry Springs State Park. Information on these Discovery packages is available from Lyman Run State Park at lymanrunsp@state.pa.us or (814) 435-5010.

For more information or to set up your own sky tour, contact Stash Nawrocki and Crystal Spheres at loghome@juno.com or (814) 848-5037.

Tim Morey is the environmental education specialist for Lyman Run and Cherry Springs state parks and a member of the Pennsylvania Wilds Recreation Team.

A PA Wilds Community Success Story:
Potter County: A Pennsylvania Route 6 Heritage Community

by David Brooks

The Potter County communities of Coudersport, Galeton and Austin are in the process of developing a Heritage Tourism Work Plan as the third Pennsylvania Route 6 Heritage Community. The Heritage Community program is being overseen by the Pennsylvania Route 6 Heritage Corporation, which is funded through the Pennsylvania Heritage Park Program.

The Route 6 Heritage Community Program is a unique and highly individualized planning process. The overall goal of this planning effort is the refinement of a multi-county and multi-community based strategy that balances the conservation of the special characteristics of Route 6 Corridor and applies it to its local communities. The program is based on the premise that changes within a community to enhance the quality of an experience for the visitor simultaneously enhance the quality of life for its residents. Communities who seize the opportunity are able to guide and develop the changes themselves from the local level. In 2004, Smethport, McKean County, was selected as the first Heritage Community, followed by the Corry/Union City, Erie County, in 2005.

The Potter County Heritage Community project has been underway since August of 2006. The project was based around four assets within the county that have been the focus of recent investment; Cherry Springs State Park, Lyman Run State Park, PA Lumber Museum, and the Austin Dam Memorial Park. Those assets combined with all or part of 6 other state parks, the massive Susquehannock State Forest, and the historic downtowns of the respective communities, make this project both unique and practical when considering the heritage tourism aspects of Potter County. The project is also timely, due to the nearly $30 million dollars that DCNR is investing within the county over the next several years. The three communities will need to be prepared to support those investments when they begin to have an impact.

Spearheading the effort within the community is a local stakeholders group made up primarily of private citizens, and business owners. The chairperson for the group is Karen Stann, a private citizen who became involved in the process after attending a Rt. 6 Workshop held last year. “I became involved to give something back to the community. I’m at a point in my life where I am able to do so,” Stann said. The Route 6 Heritage Community program appeals to her way of thinking. She explained, “I believe we need new business and industry, but I believe development can be controlled in a manner that maintains the sense of place and exceptional quality of life which we enjoy.”

The project also holds high hopes for some local groups like the Austin Dam Memorial Association, which maintains the 76-acre park surrounding the ruins of the 1911 flood disaster. Up until now the group has relied primarily on support from the local community to complete projects. Tracie Gordnier, president, said, “This is an opportunity to tie in the park more directly with the Route 6, PA Wilds and Lumber Heritage initiatives.” She continued, “We hope this project and the others like it, will allow us to better share our story with the rest of the world, and become a premier draw that can help sustain our community.”

Currently, the Potter County Heritage Community project is finishing up the inventory phase. To gather information, a public meeting, various inventories and, most recently, a business survey have been conducted to identify both the commonalities and individual needs of the communities, which will then be organized into the community work plan.

To learn more about the Potter County Heritage Community, visit www.visitpottercounty.com.

To learn more about the Pennsylvania Route 6 Initiative, visit www.paroute6.com.

David Brooks is the executive director of the Potter County Visitors Association.

Welcome to the Chuck Keiper Trail - The Wildest Trail in the Pennsylvania Wilds

by Brook Lenker

Remote. That’s the word that comes to mind on this glorious road to nowhere. Route 144 rides the Allegheny Plateau as carefree as the roaming elk I might see on this Elk Scenic Drive. Civilization evaporates with every mile traveled as I plunge deeply into the more than 300,000 acres of Sproul State Forest - Pennsylvania’s first and largest state forest.

I’m searching for the Chuck Keiper Trail, named after Charles F. Keiper, an area wildlife law enforcement officer, whose dedication to nature lives on in the 50 spirited miles of his namesake trail. Local experts claim it as the wildest trail in the Pennsylvania Wilds. There’s not a soul around to refute that claim.

In the northernmost reaches of Centre County, the western loop traverses Route 144 just a quarter mile shy of Clinton County. A fiberglass post sporting a trail emblem shyly marks the crossing. The woods smell like heat and feel like a convection oven turned on slow bake. Even at 2,200 feet, there is no respite. The June sun fuels the land and the vegetation almost seems to celebrate the steamy lushness.

I follow the orange blazes down a softly-used access road to rendezvous with two cabins - neat and tidy amongst the rugged chaos of the endless forest. My companions are secretive critters hidden amongst the sea of plants - an ocean full of remarkable characters: false hellebore and false Solomon’s seal; blueberry and partridge berry; Indian pipes and Indian cucumber root; white oak and white pine. Solitude need not be lonely.

The route of the Chuck Keiper moves through the Two Rock Run fire area where the largest wildfire in Pennsylvania in over 50 years burned over 9,000 acres in April 1990. More than 400 firefighters fought the blaze, but only 1 out 10 trees survived. The shrubby, regenerating forest found there today is home to a variety of songbirds and other wildlife that prefer such habitats. From apparent ruination has come renewal.

Two Rock Run is several miles afoot but I soon discover a different stream. Yost Run rolls down a shady glen, prattling aqueously. Other freestone streams join the flow. Neither rocks nor logs can contain it as it surges toward the West Branch of the Susquehanna. It tumbles over tall, graceful falls that I graciously accept as a reward for taking the trail less traveled.

In those cool, glistening waters, shy phantoms shoot for cover - native brook trout, our state fish and arguably the most handsome. On the nearby slopes, mountain laurel, our state flower, is preparing for its June pageant - a show sure to inspire a state of euphoria.

The taste of my peanut butter and blackberry jam sandwich satisfies my inner grumbling, but all around is an assortment of natural flavors. Sassafras and sorrel, teaberry and birch, sweetfern and maple…this place begs to be savored.

A homemade fire ring and small clearing are clues to a past campsite. The tranquility calls for an overnight stay. But time limits the modern explorer, so I begrudgingly retrace my steps. A raven rebukes me for leaving so soon. Then I’m scolded by a chipmunk, probably with the same gripe. He dashes under bushes and leaves as if he’s too disgusted to even look at me. His startling shriek was punishment enough.

This piece of Chuck is amply wild and natural to satisfy the whims of most hikers, yet along the coursing way of the trail are two Wild Areas (Burns Run and Fish Dam) and two Natural Areas (Branch Swamp and Cranberry Swamp). All are destinations worth discovering.

For its get-away-from-it-all grandeur and austere rigors, the recreation plan for the Pennsylvania Wilds has honored the Chuck Keiper Trail as one of six signature backpacking trails for this vast region. The plan was prepared by Texas-based Fermata Incorporated, internationally-known nature tourism consultants who know a good trail when they see one. And this one is great, thanks in part to the volunteers of the Keystone Trails Association and the men and woman of the Bureau of Forestry who care for it.

The trail bisects a refreshing fern-covered glade, an open savanna with scattered trees, before my boots touch pavement. I’m back on the road to dizzying reality and the distractions of everyday. I guess civilization in moderation isn’t so bad, but neither is wilderness, especially along the Chuck Keiper Trail.

For more information on the Chuck Keiper Trail including a detailed map, visit www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/hiking/keiper.aspx.

Brook Lenker is Manager of Education and Outreach, DCNR Office of Education, Communications, and Partnership.

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