{{Short description|Protected area in Pennsylvania}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox protected area | name = Alan Seeger Natural Area | alt_name = | iucn_category = | image = AlanSeegerNA2.jpg | image_alt = | image_caption = A footbridge and hiking trail in Alan Seeger Natural Area | image_size = | map = USA Pennsylvania | map_alt = | map_caption = Map of [[Pennsylvania]] | map_width = | location = [[Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania|Huntingdon County]], [[Pennsylvania]] | nearest_town = [[Boalsburg, Pennsylvania|Boalsburg]] | coordinates = {{coord|40|41|41.1|N|77|45|27.1|W|region:US-PA|display=inline, title}} | area = {{Convert|390|acre}} | established = 1921 | named_for = [[Alan Seeger]] | visitation_num = | visitation_year = | governing_body = | url = | module = }} '''Alan Seeger Natural Area''' is located in [[Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania|Huntingdon County]], [[Pennsylvania]], United States, approximately nine miles south of [[Boalsburg, Pennsylvania|Boalsburg]], within [[Rothrock State Forest]] in the [[Appalachian Mountains]].<ref name="Fergus">{{Cite book |last=Fergus |first=Charles |title=Natural Pennsylvania: Exploring the State Forest Natural Areas. |publisher=Stackpole Books |year=2002 |location=Mechanicsburg, PA |pages=63–67}}</ref> It is traversed by the long-distance [[Standing Stone Trail]], and includes other short trails. The natural area is known for [[old growth]] trees and extensive copses of giant [[rhododendron]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Alan Seeger Natural Area |url=http://elibrary.dcnr.pa.gov/GetDocument?docId=3816713&DocName=FD05%20Rothrock%20Alan%20Seeger%20Natural%20Area%20factsheet.pdf |publisher=Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources |access-date=1 October 2022}}</ref>
== Description == Alan Seeger Natural Area was founded in 1921. It was named after [[Alan Seeger]], a noteworthy American poet who died in action while serving with the [[French Foreign Legion]] during [[World War I]] in 1916. The name was bestowed as a tribute by Colonel Henry Shoemaker, an early Pennsylvania forestry commissioner, though Seeger is not known to have ever visited the region.<ref name="Thwaites">{{cite book|last1=Thwaites|first1=Tom|title=50 Hikes in Central Pennsylvania|date=2001|publisher=Backcountry Publications|isbn=088150372X|edition=Fourth|location=Woodstock, Vermont|page=70}}</ref> A loop trail of about three-quarters of a mile in length visits most of the natural area, with several footbridges over upper tributaries of [[Standing Stone Creek]]. The eastern half of this trail is also a segment of the 84-mile [[Standing Stone Trail]].<ref name=":1">{{cite book |title=Standing Stone Trail (map and guide) |date=2018 |publisher=Standing Stone Trail Club |location=Huntingdon, PA}}</ref> The natural area features extensive copses of giant [[rhododendron]].<ref name="Fergus"/>
[[File:Alan Seeger Natural Area (4) (8110978935).jpg|thumb|left|An old growth white pine in Alan Seeger Natural Area|250x250px]] The eastern portion of the natural area features several groves of large [[old growth]] [[Tsuga canadensis|hemlock]] and [[Pinus strobus|white pine]] trees of a stature once seen throughout Pennsylvania. Some specimens here are more than 500 years old. These old trees may have survived the Pennsylvania [[logging|logging era]] in the late 1800s due to an undefined boundary; two adjoining logging firms would not dare to accidentally fell each other's trees near the boundary between their holdings, thus creating a [[no-man's land]] where the trees survived.<ref name="Thwaites72">Thwaites, p. 72-73</ref> It is also possible that one or both companies went out of business before these groves of trees were felled, given known logging company practices of the time.<ref name="Fergus67">Fergus, p. 67</ref> Regardless, the natural area now hosts one of the few remaining groves of old-growth trees in Pennsylvania.<ref name="Cramer">{{Cite book |title=Pennsylvania Hiking Trails |publisher=Stackpole Books |year=2008 |isbn=9780811734776 |editor-last=Cramer |editor-first=Ben |edition=13th |location=Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania |page=75}}</ref>
==See also== *[[List of old growth forests]]
== References == {{reflist}}
{{Protected Areas of Pennsylvania}}
[[Category:Old-growth forests]] [[Category:Protected areas of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania]]