'WILDS' FUNDS APPROVED

State funding has been approved to support the Pennsylvania Wilds tourist promotion strategy and development or protection of open space in the region.

Some $150,000 has been designated for Potter County to support the Pennsylvania Wilds Planning Team. A separate allotment of $100,000 will go to the Northcentral Greenways and Open Space Plan.

A portion of the funds comes from the voter approved "Growing Greener" $625 million bond issue to clean up rivers; protect natural areas, open spaces and working farms; and shore up programs to improve quality of life and revitalize communities.

Pennsylvania Wilds Planning Team is a group of county and regional planning agencies and other stakeholders in the 12-county region who formed in 2006 to help communities with planning and infrastructure improvements to support tourism.

Pennsylvania Wilds covers Cameron, Potter, McKean, Elk, Clinton, Clarion, Clearfield, Forest, Jefferson, Lycoming, Tioga and Warren counties.

The two grants come on the heels of another allotment in December of $39.4 million statewide for recreation and conservation projects, including more than $3 million in the Pennsylvania Wilds. Two heritage areas in the region -- Lumber and Pa. Route 6 - received $466,450.

The abandoned 19-mile rail line leading from Emporium to St. Marys is being studied for development of a recreation trail. A grant of $15,000 was approved for the West Creek Recreational Trail Association to prepare that feasibility study.

A $105,000 allotment will be used to prepare a watershed conservation plan for the headwaters of the Allegheny River in Potter and McKean counties. The plan will encompass 570,400 acres along the river as it flows from its origins near Ulysses through McKean County.

Tourist promotion and historic preservation along the U.S. Rt. 6 corridor will be supported with a $208,000 grant. Included in that multi-county project is $4,500 to help pay for a mural to be painted on the wall of the Penn-York building in Coudersport. The wall is located across from the Coudersport Post Office at the corner of Third Street and North Main Street (Pa. Rt. 44- 49).

Also included in the Rt. 6 grant is $100,000 for continued administration and management of the Pa. Route 6 Heritage Corporation; and $30,000 to develop marketing strategies by analyzing travelers and to create a unified message across the Rt. 6 corridor. Snowmobiling in the region got a boost. God's County Black Forest Snowmobile Club received $94,000 to purchase a groomer to be used on 28 miles of trail in Potter and Tioga counties.

A separate $5,900 allotment went to the Pa. State Snowmobile Association for signs in Potter, Erie and Somerset counties to mark designated snowm obile trails.

Develo pment of horse riding trails in Elk County received a boost in the form of a $167,000 grant to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation for development of equine trailhead, with a parking area and horse stalls.

Another $35,000 grant will allow the Bureau of Forestry to install three bridges on the Thunder Mountain Equestrian Trail to mitigate stream and wetland damage.

A separate $32,000 allotment was approved for the Forestry Bureau in Cameron and Clearfield counties to develop trailhead parking along Chestnut Draft Road. Location is an undeveloped, wooded location on the eastern edge of the Quehanna Wild Area. The parking area will improve access to the area for equestrian loading and unloading, hikers, and mountain bikers.

Largest Growing Greener grant in the region was the $258,500 designated for the Pa. Lumber Heritage Region, including $100,000 to cover costs of operating and managing the region. Another $18,000 will be used to create and place 10 chainsaw-carved sculptures in the region.