Although the Pennsylvania Wilds initiative is less than a decade old, it really launched 100 years ago when north central Pennsylvania began its recovery to honor its outdoor resources.
Today, the region’s once-exploited natural resources offer bountiful recreation, sustainable forestry and unparalleled natural beauty, opening new and different opportunities for tourism and economic growth. The region’s state forests, state parks, state game lands and national forest make up the largest block of public land between New York City and Chicago. Included within these lands are:

• The world’s most valuable hardwood forest
• 74 specially-designated areas, such as national landmarks and Wild & Scenic Rivers
• 300,000 acres for hunting and wildlife on over 50 state game lands
• 29 state parks; 1.6  million acres of state forest and game lands
• The 513,000-acre Allegheny National Forest
• The largest elk herd in the Northeast
• More than 2000 miles of  hiking, equestrian, ATV and snowmobile trails
• The darkest skies in the East at Cherry Springs State Park
• Sites depicting the region’s rich lumber and oil heritage
• Scenic Route 6 and other beautiful driving routes
• Many quaint towns and villages

North central Pennsylvania is also surrounded by major tourism markets. More than 50 million people live within a day’s drive of the region – making it an attractive place to come bike, hike, camp, fish, hunt, canoe and more. I-80, one of the busiest east-west corridors in the country, runs through the southern portion of the region, providing easy access for visitors.

The idea to promote the region as a tourism destination really started at the grassroots level in the early 2000s when the Lumber Heritage Region, a non-profit, was established under Republican Gov. Tom Ridge as one of Pennsylvania’s official Heritage Park Areas. This tremendous effort, years in the making, paved the way for funding and planning resources to help study tourism issues, including how to interpret and promote the region’s rich lumber and railroad history.

In 2001, the Lumber Heritage Region teamed up with several partners – DCNR, the PA Game Commission, the Appalachian Regional Commission and North Central Regional Planning and Development Commission – to fund the Elk Watching and Nature Tourism study. The study revealed the tremendous potential of the region, not only for elk-based tourism, but for a wide variety of outdoor recreation experiences being sought by today’s traveler.

When Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell came to the region to campaign in 2002, he was struck by the area’s beauty, rich history and small town charm. Tourism officials, business owners, legislators and many others who lived in the area understood the region’s potential and shared these thoughts with the governor. Rendell told the Philadelphia Inquirer:

“I came away thinking, it’s amazing: Pennsylvanians will drive all the way down to Skyline Drive in Virginia, or fly out to the Rockies or the Pacific Coast Highway, and they can have the same experiences (here) at one fifth of the cost and a fifth of the time it takes.”

In 2003, the state launched the Pennsylvania Wilds Marketing Initiative to expand on the work of the Lumber Heritage Region and the Elk Watching and Nature Tourism Study. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) spearheaded the effort, working in concert with the Department of Community and Economic Development. The initiative had four main goals:

• Ensure stewardship of the public lands and character of the region’s communities
• Support and grow private businesses such as accommodations, services and locally-made products
• Promote the renewal of the region’s communities and appropriate community planning
• Invest in public infrastructure to enhance the visitor experience in the Pennsylvania Wilds

Soon, community leaders from the 12 counties of the PA Wilds signed an official agreement to work together with the state to promote and protect the region’s natural and cultural assets in a way that would benefit locals and tourists alike.

The state has since spent millions upgrading trails, bathrooms and other facilities in the region – improvements enjoyed by residents and tourists alike. Several state-of-the-art nature visitor centers and inns are being built or are in the design phase. Millions more has been awarded to the business community in the form of low-interest loans and grants. And the state Tourism Office has spent more than $5 million reaching out to potential visitors through television, radio, and print advertising.

The state’s financial commitment is only part of the story. The real success of the initiative lies with local communities: the shopkeepers and lodge owners, commissioners and Main Street managers, trail riders and history lovers. Without their ideas and hard work the PA Wilds initiative would not be where it is today. It is very much a grassroots effort – and one encouraged by county commissioners across the region, as demonstrated by the resolution the commissioners passed at their annual conference in August 2008 in support of the PA Wilds initiative.
The PA Wilds is a work in progress. But the results are encouraging: recent studies show increases in several tourism categories for the region including state park attendance, overnight leisure travel, leisure trip lengths, visitor spending, tourism employment, sales tax revenue from tourism categories, hotel tax revenues and the number of hotel establishments in the region.

“At a time and place in which demographics and economics would seem to suggest stagnation, tourism-driven economic growth in the Pennsylvania Wilds region has been a bright spot,” one of the 2009-2010 reports says.

Here’s to building on all these efforts in the years to come!