Hammersley Wild Area

{{Short description|Protected area in Pennsylvania, USA}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox protected area | name = Hammersley Wild Area | iucn_category = III | iucn_ref =  | image = Hammersly Wild Area Opinion.jpg | image_caption =  | map = USA Pennsylvania | image_map = | map_width = | map_caption = Location of Hammersley Wild Area in Pennsylvania | relief =  | location = [[Potter County, Pennsylvania|Potter]] and [[Clinton County, Pennsylvania|Clinton]], Pennsylvania, United States | nearest_city = | nearest_town = | coordinates = {{coord|41|30|47|N|77|52|48|W|display=inline,title}} | coords_ref =  | length = | length_mi = | length_km = | width = | width_mi = | width_km = | area_acre = 30253 | area_ref = <ref name = "resource">{{cite web | url = http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/news/resource/res2004/01-hammersley.aspx | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040309080825/http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/news/resource/res2004/01-hammersley.aspx | url-status = dead | archive-date = March 9, 2004 | title = The Resource: Hammersley Wild Area becomes official | date = January 2004 | publisher = [[Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources]] | access-date = 2009-04-29 }}</ref> | elevation = | elevation_avg = | elevation_min = | elevation_max = | dimensions = | designation =  | authorized = | created = | designated = | established = 2004<ref name = "resource"/> | named_for = [[Hammersley Fork]], a tributary of [[Kettle Creek (Pennsylvania)|Kettle Creek]] | visitation_num = | visitation_year = | visitation_ref = | governing_body = Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources | administrator = | operator = | owner =  | website = | module = }}

'''Hammersley Wild Area''' is a {{convert|30253|acre|adj=on}} wild area in the [[Susquehannock State Forest]] in [[Potter County, Pennsylvania|Potter]] and [[Clinton County, Pennsylvania|Clinton]] counties in north-central [[Pennsylvania]] in the United States.<ref name = "resource"/> It is the largest area without a road in Pennsylvania and the state's second largest wild area (the first being [[Quehanna Wild Area]]).<ref name= "backpack pa"/><ref name = "audubon">{{cite web | url = http://pennsylvania.sierraclub.org/moshannon/OTT/OTT02-05Hammersley.pdf | title = Road-Less Wild Area in Pennsylvania | publisher = Pennsylvania [[Audubon Society]] | date = May 2002 | access-date = 2009-04-29 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110720204100/http://pennsylvania.sierraclub.org/moshannon/OTT/OTT02-05Hammersley.pdf | archive-date = 2011-07-20 | url-status = dead }}</ref> The wild area is named for [[Hammersley Fork]], a tributary of [[Kettle Creek (Pennsylvania)|Kettle Creek]], which flows through the area. The wild area includes {{convert|10.78|mi}} of the [[Susquehannock Trail System]], an {{convert|83.4|mi|adj=on}} loop [[hiking trail]] almost entirely on state forest land.<ref name = "backpack pa">{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=whUI4-fytYEC&q=hammersley+wild+area&pg=PA149 | title = Backpacking Pennsylvania: 37 Great Trails | first = Jeff | last = Mitchell | publisher = Stackpole Books | date = 2005 | pages = 149–151 | isbn = 9780811731805 | access-date = 2009-04-29 }}</ref><ref name = "kta">{{cite web| url = http://www.kta-hike.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=146&Itemid=65 |title = Susquehannock Trail |publisher = [[Keystone Trails Association]] | access-date = 2009-04-28}}</ref>

The Hammersley Wild Area was last clearcut around 1900 and is a mature [[second growth forest]] today. The {{convert|1521|acre}} [[Forrest H. Duttlinger Natural Area]] is adjacent to the southwest corner of the wild area in Clinton County, and it contains {{convert|160|acre}} of [[old-growth forest]], mostly [[Eastern Hemlock]].<ref name = "fergus">{{cite book |title = Natural Pennsylvania: Exploring State Forest Natural Areas |last = Fergus | first = Charles |year = 2002 |publisher = Stackpole Books |location = Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania | pages = 189–193 | isbn = 0-8117-2038-1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/oldgrowth/duttlinger.aspx | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040302165450/http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/oldgrowth/duttlinger.aspx | url-status = dead | archive-date = March 2, 2004 | title = Forrest H. Duttlinger Natural Area | publisher = [[Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resources]] | access-date = 2009-05-01 }}</ref> The Hammersley Wild Area has been called "one of the state forest system’s jewels" and "a true state treasure" by the Pennsylvania [[Audubon Society]].<ref name = "audubon"/>

==History== The Hammersley Wild Area and Susquehannock State Forest are on the [[Allegheny Plateau]], which was formed, along with the [[Appalachian Mountains]] in the [[Alleghenian orogeny]], some 300 million years ago, when [[Gondwana]] (specifically what became Africa) and what became North America collided, forming [[Pangaea]]. Although the region appears mountainous, these are not true mountains: instead millions of years of [[erosion]] have made this a [[dissected plateau]], causing the "mountainous" terrain seen today. The hardest of the ancient rocks are on top of the ridges, while the softer rocks eroded away, forming the valleys.<ref name = "roadside">{{cite book |title= Roadside Geology of Pennsylvania |last= Van Diver |first= Bradford B. |year= 1990 |publisher= Mountain Press Publishing Company |location= Missoula, Montana |isbn= 0-87842-227-7 |page= 115}}</ref><ref name = "geology">{{cite book |editor-last1=Shultz |editor-first1=Charles H. |date=1999 |title=The Geology of Pennsylvania |type=Print book |publication-place= Harrisburg |publisher= Pennsylvania Geological Survey and Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Geological Society |isbn= 0-8182-0227-0|oclc=39313624 }}</ref>

Almost all of Potter County and Pennsylvania were [[clearcutting|clearcut]] in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1897 the [[Pennsylvania General Assembly]] passed legislation which authorized the purchase of "unseated lands for forest reservations" and the first [[List of Pennsylvania state forests|Pennsylvania state forest lands]] were acquired the following year.<ref name="vfsfhistory">{{cite web|url=http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/stateforests/valleyforgehistory.aspx |title=History of the William Penn State Forest |access-date=2009-03-04 |publisher=[[Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517175907/http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/stateforests/valleyforgehistory.aspx |archive-date=May 17, 2008 }}</ref> The first land for the Susquehannock State Forest was acquired in 1901; the cost for the major acquisitions was an average of {{convert|2.50|$/acre|$/ha|2}}. The land that became Hammersley Wild Area was last clearcut around 1900.<ref name = "audubon"/> About the same time there were logging railroads throughout the area and a small town at the [[confluence (geography)|confluence]] of the Nelson Branch with the Hammersley Fork.<ref name="hikes">{{cite book |last= Thwaites |first= Tom |title= Fifty Hikes in Central Pennsylvania |year= 1992 |edition= Fourth updated printing |publisher= Backcountry Publications |location= [[Woodstock, Vermont]] |isbn= 0-942440-24-2 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/fiftyhikesincent0000thwa/page/165 165–168] |url= https://archive.org/details/fiftyhikesincent0000thwa/page/165 }}</ref>

The Emporium Lumber Company sold the land which became the wild area to the state in the 1930s, but retained the mineral rights.<ref name = "resource"/> During the [[Great Depression]] the [[Civilian Conservation Corps]] (CCC), a work relief program established in 1933 as part of [[President of the United States|President]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s [[New Deal]] legislation, operated ten CCC camps in the Susquehannock State Forest, of which eight were in Potter County. The young men of the CCC built roads and parks, fought forest fires, and planted trees.<ref name = "cssp">{{cite web | url = http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/Parks/cherrysprings.aspx | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040212202313/http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/cherrysprings.aspx | url-status = dead | archive-date = February 12, 2004 | title = Cherry Springs State Park | access-date = 2008-04-29 | publisher = Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources }}</ref><ref>{{cite map| title = CCC Camps in Pennsylvania 1933–1942 | url = http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/ccc/images/cccmap.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110610004833/http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/ccc/images/cccmap.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = June 10, 2011 | publisher = [[Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources]] | access-date = 2009-04-29 }}</ref> As of 2003, the Susquehannock State Forest covered {{convert|265000|acre}}, chiefly in Potter County with small tracts in [[Clinton County, Pennsylvania|Clinton]] and [[McKean County, Pennsylvania|McKean]] counties.<ref name = "susquehannock map">{{cite map | title = A Public Use Map for Susquehannock State Forest | publisher = Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Forestry |date = July 2003 }} ''Note'': This is a map on one side, with a guide to the state forest and its resources on the other side</ref>

The Hammersley Wild Area was officially established in January 2004 when the DCNR acquired the mineral rights and rights for natural gas and oil from [[PPL (utility)|Pennsylvania Power and Light]] and Pennsylvania General Energy, who had held them for {{convert|13600|acre}} within the wild area. Prior to this acquisition, Hammersley was only a "proposed" wild area as gas and oil drilling were still possible.<ref name = "resource"/> Pennsylvania has 16 wild areas totaling more than {{convert|145000|acre}}, all within its state forests; the individual wild areas are each generally larger than {{convert|3000|acre}}. Wild areas are protected from development and open to recreation, with "hiking, hunting, fishing, primitive backpack camping, horseback riding, bicycling and wildlife watching" allowed, but "new public access roads, motorized vehicles, mineral development and new rights-of-way are prohibited".<ref name = "resource"/>

==Ecology and trails== The Hammersley Wild Area contains mature [[secondary forest|second growth forest]] in the [[Allegheny Highlands forests]] [[ecoregion]], with a few acres of scattered old growth trees, mostly hemlocks {{convert|3|to|4|ft}} in diameter. The DCNR has called the forests in the wild area "some of the best examples of mature woodland in the Commonwealth".<ref name = "resource"/> There are white pine and hemlock stumps—left from the logging operations—which have become rooting sites for [[birch]] trees. In some parts of the wild area deer browsing has led to the extirpation of all small plants in the [[understory]] except inedible ferns, though other areas have a more diverse mixture of "hardwoods, hemlocks and pines".<ref name = "audubon"/> Despite its protected status as a wild area, there are two rights of way for buried natural gas [[Pipeline transport|pipeline]]s which pass through the Hammersley: one across the southwest corner and through the Duttlinger Natural Area, the other running parallel to McConnell Road along the northwest edge of the area. There are also reports of illegal [[All Terrain Vehicle]] use in the southern part of the wild area.<ref name = "audubon"/><ref name="susquehannock">{{cite map | publisher = [[Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources]] | title = Susquehannock State Forest Map | url = http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/stateforests/maps/fd15_map.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120720071207/http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/stateforests/maps/fd15_map.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = July 20, 2012 | format = PDF | scale = 1 inch = 2 miles | access-date = 2009-03-03}}</ref> The wild area is home to [[white tailed deer]], [[Great blue heron]], [[beaver]], and [[rattlesnakes]].<ref name = "audubon"/><ref name = "hikes"/>

The wild area is crossed by eight named hiking trails, many of which follow old railroad grades. The most well-known and best marked and maintained trails are part of the Susquehannock Trail System (STS), which uses the Hammersley, Elkhorn, and Twin Sisters trails here. The STS trail travels {{convert|10.78|mi}} through the wild area, and is [[trail blazing|blazed]] with orange rectangles. It passes beaver meadows, stone bridge abutments from the lumber railroads, and apple trees said to have grown from apple cores discarded by lumberjacks. A popular spot on the trail is the Hammersley Pool, a waterfall and natural swimming area in the Hammersley Fork which has water "deep enough for swimming even in mid-summer".<ref name="hikes"/> There are vistas on McConnel Road in the north and on the Twin Sisters Trail in the south, which passes through thickets of [[Kalmia latifolia|mountain laurel]]. Hazards on the trails include having to ford the streams in several places, encountering rattlesnakes, and becoming lost {{convert|5|mi}} from any road. Other popular hikes are following the Hammersley Trail along the Hammersley Fork to its mouth on [[Kettle Creek (Pennsylvania)|Kettle Creek]] for {{convert|10|mi}} or starting at the mouth and then hiking into the old growth forest in the Dutlinger Natural Area for {{convert|2|mi}}.<ref name = "audubon"/><ref name="hikes"/>

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

==External links== *{{cite web | url = http://www.pbase.com/cwphoto/image/42106175 | title = Hammersley Wild Area (photograph) | publisher = Curt Weinhold | access-date = 2009-04-29 }} {{Protected areas of Pennsylvania}}

[[Category:Protected areas of Clinton County, Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Protected areas of Potter County, Pennsylvania]]