From Curiosity to Conservation
Brian Kane, the Mid-Atlantic regional manager for the Old-Growth Forest Network, presents a sign to Galen Scheufler, a park ranger for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District, at a ceremony in Friendsville, Maryland, to celebrate two old-growth forests discovered at Youghiogheny River Lake, Dec. 3, 2024. Youghiogheny River Lake now has two forests registered into the Old-Growth Forest Network, which is a nationwide nonprofit with volunteers across the country who find the last remnants of old-growth forests in North America. The two newly-discovered forests are Klondike Ridge forest in Pennsylvania and the Mill Run forest in Maryland. Less than one percent of all forests east of the Mississippi River are considered old-growth, containing trees older than 70 or 80 years old. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District photo by Michel Sauret)