Stephanie Wein and Christopher Borgatti: Save our old growth forests

Deep in the Allegheny National Forest, a U.S. Forest Service sign announces the Hearts Content Scenic Area as “120 acres of 400 year old timber left undisturbed for inspiration and scientific study.” Hearts Content is a place outside of time, holding the remnants of a stand of centuries-old white pine, hemlock and beech trees.

There’s arguably no place like it anywhere else in Pennsylvania and few old growth stands of its age anywhere in the nation.

Yet Hearts Content — and millions of additional acres of some of America’s wildest national forestlands — face a far-reaching threat from the U.S. Forest Service.

The Roadless Rule

Enacted in 2001, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule - also known as the “Roadless Rule” - designated forests across the country as “inventoried roadless areas,”