Allegheny National Forest

Management Areas, Intensive Use Areas and Equestrian Use Areas of the Land and Resource Management Plan

Management Areas are spatially identified areas within the Allegheny National Forest that are assigned sets of Forest Plan decisions.

Intentive Use Areas are where motorized off-highway vehicle trails can be constructed.

Equestrian Use Areas pertain to horseback riding for recreational purposes.

Special Areas: Existing and Recommended (except WSR)

National Forest System lands that contain outstanding examples of plant and animal communities, geological features, scenic grandeur, or other special attributes. SA's are nationally designated by the Forest Service or by legislation. SA's are managed to emphasize recreational and other specific related values.

Special Areas: Wild and Scenic Rivers (WSR)

RECREATION RIVER - Wild and Scenic Rivers Act Usage: Classification applied to rivers or sections of rivers that are readily accessible by road or railroad, that may have some development along their shorelines, and that may have undergone some impoundment or diversion in the past.

SCENIC RIVER - Wild and Scenic Rivers Act Usage: Classification applied to rivers, or sections of rivers, that are free of impoundments; where shorelines or watersheds are still largely primitive and shorelines are largely undeveloped, but accessible at places by a road.

Scenic Integrity Levels

A management goal for the scenery resource that is based on physical and sociological characteristics of an area and on the degree of acceptable alteration of the natural appearing landscape.

Scenic Integrity Levels (SIL) - The state of naturalness or disturbance created by human activities or alteration. SIL is used to inventory the existing condition and to describe objectives during alternative development.

VERY HIGH - The valued landscape character is intact with only subtle, if any, deviations.

HIGH - The valued landscape character appears intact.

MODERATE - The valued landscape character appears slightly altered.

LOW - Deviations from the valued landscape character may begin to dominate the landscape being viewed.

VERY LOW - The valued landscape character appears heavily altered.

UNACCEPTABLY LOW - The valued landscape character being viewed appears extremely altered.

Scenic Integrity: Concern Levels 1 and 2

A measure of the degree of public importance placed on landscapes viewed from travelways and use areas.

Concern Level 1 (CL1) travelways and use areas include nationally and regionally important locations including primary roads, scenic byways, trails, wild and scenic rivers and other special designation areas. These CL1 areas have the highest concern for scenery based on heavy recreation traffic and the perception that scenery is one of the primary objectives for traveling these corridors.

Concern Level 2 (CL2) travelways and use areas include locally important locations including secondary roads, hiking trails, streams, and all motorized trails. These CL2 areas may have high to low use, and may be traveled for dispersed recreation activities with a moderate interest in scenic viewing.

Thirteen Percent Area

A term used to describe Forest Service land that drains directly into the unimpounded section of the Allegheny River between Kinzua Dam and Tionesta Dam. The area makes up 13% of the total land base managed by the ANF, and is important to aquatic species in the Allegheny River.

Classified Streams

REMOTE Trout Stream - An Allegheny National Forest designation of a stream that provides an experience in a remote, natural and unspoiled environment with minimal human activities.

CLASS A Trout Stream - A Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission designation based on biomass criteria. Class A is the highest level given for a trout stream.

WILDERNESS Trout Stream - A Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission designation of a stream that provides an experience in a remote, natural and unspoiled environment with minimal human activities.

Identified and Mapped Potential Old Growth Areas

Previously identified areas to be managed for future old growth.

Colluvial Slides

Mapped landslide areas.

Desired Recreation Opportunity Spectrum

The Recreation Opportunity Setting (ROS) desired by the Land and Resource Management Plan. ROS is a classification system designed to delineate, define, and integrate outdoor recreation opportunities in land and resource management planning. ROS classes are used to describe all recreation opportunity settings, from natural, undisturbed, and undeveloped to heavily used, modified and developed. ROS designations attempt to describe the kind of recreation experience one may expect to have in a given part of the National Forest. The ROS classes include:

RURAL - The natural environment is substantially modified by land use activities. Opportunity to observe and affiliate with other users is important as is convenience of facilities. There is little opportunity for challenge and risk and self-reliance on outdoor skills is of little importance. Recreation facilities designed for group use are compatible. Users may have more than 20 group encounters per day.

ROADED NATURAL - Resource modification and utilization are evident, in a predominantly naturally-appearing environment generally occurring within ½ mile (greater or less depending on terrain and vegetation, but no less than ¼ mile) from better-than-primitive roads and other motorized travel routes. Interactions between users may be moderate to high (generally less than 20 group encounters per day), with evidence of other users prevalent. There is an opportunity to affiliate with other users in developed sites but with some chance for privacy. Self-reliance on outdoor skills is only of moderate importance with little opportunity for challenge and risk. Motorized use is allowed.

SEMI-PRIMITIVE NON-MOTORIZED - A natural or natural-appearing environment generally greater than 2,500 acres in size and generally located within ½ mile (greater or less depending on terrain and vegetation, but no less than ¼ mile), but not further than 3 miles from all roads and other motorized travel routes. Concentration of users is low (generally less than 10 group encounters per day), but there is often evidence of other users. There is a high probability of experiencing solitude, freedom, closeness of nature, tranquility, self-reliance, challenge, and risk. There is a minimum of subtle on-site controls. No roads are present in the area.

Roadless Area Conservation Rule

Inventoried Roadless Areas identified in a set of inventoried roadless area maps in the Forest Service Roadless Area Conservation Final Environmental Impact Statement Volume 2 dated November 2000.