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Clear cutting is a type of logging where all trees in an area are cut down).

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Clear cutting is a type of logging where all trees in an area are cut down).

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Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars.

In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used narrowly to describe the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard. In common usage, however, the term may cover a range of forestry or silviculture activities.

Illegal logging refers to what in forestry might be called timber theft by the timber mafia. It can also refer to the harvesting, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission or from a protected area; the cutting of protected species; or the extraction of timber in excess of agreed limits.

Clearcut logging is not necessarily considered a type of logging but a harvesting or silviculture method, and is simply called clearcutting or block cutting. In the forest products industry logging companies may be referred to as logging contractors, with the smaller, non-union crews referred to as "gyppo loggers."

Cutting trees with the highest value and leaving those with lower value, often diseased or malformed trees, is referred to as high grading. It is sometimes called selective logging, and confused with selection cutting, the practice of managing stands by harvesting a proportion of trees.

Logging usually refers to above-ground forestry logging. Submerged forests exist on land that has been flooded by damming to create reservoirs. Such trees are logged using underwater logging or by the lowering of the reservoirs in question. Ootsa Lake and Williston Lake in British Columbia, Canada are notable examples where timber recovery has been needed to remove inundated forests.

Clearcutting

Clearcutting, or clearfelling, is a method of harvesting that removes essentially all the standing trees in a selected area. Depending on management objectives, a clearcut may or may not have reserve trees left to attain goals other than regeneration, including wildlife habitat management, mitigation of potential erosion or water quality concerns. Silviculture objectives for clearcutting, (for example, healthy regeneration of new trees on the site) and a focus on forestry distinguish it from deforestation. Other methods include shelterwood cutting, group selective, single selective, seed-tree cutting, patch cut, and retention cutting.

Logging methods

The above operations can be carried out by different methods, of which the following three are considered industrial methods:

Tree-length logging / Stem Only Harvesting (SOH)

Trees are felled and then delimbed and topped at the stump. The log is then transported to the landing, where it is bucked and loaded on a truck. This leaves the slash (and the nutrients it contains) in the cut area, where it must be further treated if wild land fires are of concern.

Whole-tree logging (WTL)

Trees and plants are felled and transported to the roadside with top and limbs intact. There have been advancements to the process which now allows a logger or harvester to cut the tree down, top, and delimb a tree in the same process. This ability is due to the advancement in the style felling head that can be used. The trees are then delimbed, topped, and bucked at the landing. This method requires that slash be treated at the landing. In areas with access to cogeneration facilities, the slash can be chipped and used for the production of electricity or heat. Full-tree harvesting also refers to utilization of the entire tree including branches and tops. This technique removes both nutrients and soil cover from the site and so can be harmful to the long term health of the area if no further action is taken, however, depending on the species, many of the limbs are often broken off in handling so the end result may not be as different from tree-length logging as it might seem.

Cut-to-length logging

Cut-to-length logging is the process of felling, delimbing, bucking, and sorting (pulpwood, sawlog, etc.) at the stump area, leaving limbs and tops in the forest. Harvesters fell the tree, delimb, and buck it, and place the resulting logs in bunks to be brought to the landing by a skidder or forwarder. This method is routinely available for trees up to 900 mm (35 in) in diameter. Harvesters are employed effectively in level to moderately steep terrain. Harvesters are highly computerized to optimize cutting length, control harvesting area by GPS, and use price lists for each specific log to archive most economical results during harvesting.

Transporting logs

Felled logs are then generally transported to a sawmill to be cut into lumber, to a paper mill for paper pulp, or for other uses, for example, as fence posts. Many methods have been used to move logs from where they were cut to a rail line or directly to a sawmill or paper mill. The cheapest and historically most common method is making use of a river's current to float floating tree trunks downstream, by either log driving or timber rafting. (Some logs sink because of high resin content; these are called deadheads.) To help herd the logs to the mill, in 1960 the Alaskan Lumber and Pulp Mill had a specially designed boat that was constructed of 1 inch (38 mm) steel. In the late 1800s and the first half of the 1900s, the most common method was the high-wheel loader, which was a set of wheels over ten feet tall that the log or logs were strapped beneath. Oxen were at first used with the high-wheel loaders, but in the 1930s tractors replaced the oxen. In 1960 the largest high wheel loader was built for service in California. Called the Bunyan Buggie, the unit was self-propelled and had wheels 24 feet (7.3 m) high and a front dozer blade that was 30 feet (9.1 m) across and 6 feet (1.8 m) high. Log transportation can be challenging and costly since trees are often far from roads or watercourses. Road building and maintenance may be restricted in National Forests or other wilderness areas since it can cause erosion in riparian zones. When felled logs sit adjacent to a road, heavy machinery may simply lift logs onto trucks. Most often, special heavy equipment is used to gather the logs from the site and move them close to the road to be lifted on trucks. Many methods exist to transport felled logs lying away from roads. Cable logging involves a yarder, which pulls one or several logs along the ground to a platform where a truck is waiting. When the terrain is too uneven to pull logs on the ground, a skyline can lift logs off the ground vertically, similar to a ski lift. Heli-logging, which uses heavy-lift helicopters to remove cut trees from forests by lifting them on cables attached to a helicopter, may be used when cable logging is not allowed for environmental reasons or when roads are lacking. It reduces the level of infrastructure required to log in a specific location, reducing the environmental impact of logging. Less mainstream or now for the most part superseded forms of log transport include horses, oxen, or balloon logging.

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Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used narrowly to describe the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard.

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Deforestation is when forests are destroyed by cutting trees (logging) and not replanting them. The most common reason is to clear the land to make farms

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Deforestation is when forests are destroyed by cutting trees (logging) and not replanting them. The most common reason is to clear the land to make farms

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Deforestation is when forests are destroyed by cutting trees ( logging) and not replanting them. The most common reason is to clear the land to make farms, ranches, and cities. Trees are also cut for firewood and lumber.

Deforestation destroys the habitat of many animals, leading to their death and possible extinction. The loss is more severe in primary forests, which are forests that have yet been untouched by humans. Deforestation also releases sequestered carbon.

Restoring trees in deforested places is called reforesting.

Benefit of forests

Forests are often planted to protect against natural disasters. They also help the water cycle function properly. When forests are lost, very often the soil they protected is also lost. This loss of soil is called erosion.

Trees are also important for carbon sequestration. They are important in keeping the proper balance of oxygen (O ₂) and carbon dioxide (CO ₂) on earth. They take in carbon dioxide that humans exhale (breathe out) and release oxygen that humans inhale (breathe in).

Forests have the following functions:

regulating the water cycle

producing soil

preventing soil erosion

providing habitat for animals

providing most of our oxygen

maintaining the proper oxygen (O₂) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels

balancing the atmosphere

regulating the temperature

Global deforestation suddenly increased around 1852. As of 1947, the planet had 5.8 million to 6.2 million sq. mi. (15 million to 16 million km ²) of mature tropical forests (forested landscapes in tropical regions), but by 2015, it was estimated that about half of these had been destroyed. Total land coverage by tropical rainforests decreased from 14% to 6%. Much of this loss happened between 1960 and 1990. Scientists have calculated that at this rate, the extinction of such forests could happen by the mid-21st century.

Causes of deforestation

Land has other uses besides growing trees. The biggest uses of land that was once forested are for farming and ranching. Some land is also used for roads and buildings, especially in urban areas. As the population grows, people need to remove more trees. They also use the wood from the trees as lumber to make buildings and other things, or they burn the trees as firewood.

Environmental effects

Atmospheric

Further information: Deforestation and climate change

Deforestation is ongoing and is shaping climate and geography.

When the trees burn or rot, the small amount of carbon that is not absorbed by the soil can return to the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. Scientists believe that since carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, deforestation can cause global warming. They have estimated that tropical deforestation is responsible for about 20% of world greenhouse gas emissions.

Hydrological

The water cycle is also affected by deforestation. Trees play an important part in the proper working of the water cycle.

Their canopies catch precipitation, which is then evaporated back to the atmosphere (canopy interception). Without canopy interception, the air would be drier and less precipitation would fall.

Their litter (plant material on the ground around the tree), stems, and trunks slow down surface runoff. Without these, flash flooding would be more likely.

Their roots create macropores - large pipe-like trails - in the soil that increase infiltration of water. Without these trails, water would not flow through the soil as easily.

They absorb groundwater from the soil and transpire moisture into the atmosphere. Without transpiration, the air would be drier and trees would not get the moisture they need because of the lack of precipitation.

Tropical rainforests produce about 30% of our planet's fresh water.

Deforestation changes normal weather patterns, creating hotter and drier weather. This results in more drought, crop failures, melting of polar ice caps, and coastal flooding.

Undisturbed forests do not have much erosion because of plant litter on the ground. Plant litter protects from surface runoff. Forestry operations also increase erosion because of the roads and mechanical equipment they use.

Deforestation in China's Loess Plateau many years ago led to soil erosion. This erosion caused valleys to open. The increase of soil in the runoff causes the Yellow River to flood and makes it yellow-colored.

Erosion is not always a consequence of deforestation. An example would be the southwestern regions of the United States. The loss of grass due to the presence of trees and other shrubbery leads to more erosion than when trees are removed.

Soils are reinforced by the presence of trees, which secure the soil by binding their roots to soil bedrock. When trees are removed on sloped lands, those lands are more likely to have a landslide.

Biodiversity

Forests support biodiversity, providing a habitat for wildlife. Forests also produce medicinal plants. Tropical rainforests are the most diverse ecosystems on Earth and about 80% of the world's known biodiversity could be found in tropical rainforests. When humans remove or destroy large areas of forest cover, the soil degrades and biodiversity is lessened. Some species of plants and animals can become extinct. Some scientists predict that more than 40% of the animal and plant species in Southeast Asia could be wiped out in the 21st century. Other scientists show data that disagree with this prediction.

Health effects

Public health context

Some scientists believe that deforestation exposes people to zoonotic diseases (diseases that can be passed from an animal to a human). Dieseases that are associated with the forest include malaria, Chagas disease (also known as American trypanosomiasis), African trypanosomiasis ( sleeping sickness), leishmaniasis, the Nipah virus, Avian flu, Swine Flu, Lyme disease, HIV, and Ebola.

General overview

According to the World Economic Forum, 31% of emerging diseases are linked to deforestation. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 75% of emerging diseases in humans came from animals.

In 2016, the United Nations Environment Programme published the UNEP Frontiers 2016 Report. The report shows the causes of emerging diseases:

The latest appearing diseases and their causes are listed on page 23 of the report:

Economic impact

According to the World Economic Forum, half of the global GDP depends on nature. For every dollar spent on nature restoration, there is a profit of at least 9 dollars.

People in both developed and developing countries use wood for building, wood for fuel, and wood pulp for paper. In developing countries, almost three billion people rely on wood for heating and cooking. The economy does well in the short term when trees are cut to make products, but usually, not enough trees can be planted in their place in time for more to be cut down again when they are needed. This causes the economy in the long term to suffer.

Illegal logging causes billions of dollars of losses to national economies each year. The European Union is one of the largest importers of products made from illegal deforestation.

Many countries have taken steps to control deforestation. They have begun programs that they hope will help with the problem.

Reducing emissions: The United Nations and the World Bank have begun to develop programs to reduce deforestation. Because trees take in carbon dioxide, the more trees we have, the less CO₂ will be emitted into the air. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) is a program that offers money or other incentives (good consequences as a result of an action) to developing countries if they use different ways to build than using the forest's trees.

Government and private policies: In the government area, laws could be made to protect forests, making it illegal to cut trees down without special permission. Private companies could promise to use the land they own the best way they can and to buy products only from companies that do not use deforestation. The Paris Agreement is an example of this.

Land rights: Another way to conserve forests is to change the right to use the land from the public domain to the indigenous inhabitants.

Farming practices: New ways to farm are being developed to get more use out of a single piece of land rather than having to use many pieces of land for different purposes. For instance, in cyclic agriculture, cattle are grazed on farmland that is resting and rejuvenating. The cattle help the land prepare for future plantings by dropping nutrients (from their feces) into the soil.

Monitoring deforestation: Satellite images can help scientists know where on the earth they need to concentrate their efforts in fighting deforestation.

Forest management: Planning ahead by planting more trees than we think will be necessary for future generations is one way to manage our forests well. Reforestation in areas where trees have been cut is another way to manage our forests well. In the areas where "slash-and-burn" is practiced, switching to "slash-and-char" would make the soil rich and healthy for future trees.

Sustainable practices: Bamboo grows and is ready for use faster than trees. Using bamboo rather than wood for building and making products would reduce the need to cut down trees.

Forest plantations: Some places have forest plantations, which are large plots of land that have trees planted on them in an orderly way. They produce more healthy trees per acre than a natural forest.

Interesting facts about deforestation

More than half the world's tropical forests have been destroyed since the 1960s.

In 2019, the world lost an entire soccer field worth of primary rainforest every six seconds.

Forests release carbon dioxide when they are cleared or burned. About 12 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from deforestation.

It is estimated that within 100 years, there will be no rainforests.

20% of the world's oxygen is produced in the Amazon forest.

Almost half of the world's timber and up to 70% of paper is consumed by Europe, the United States, and Japan alone.

Worldwide, more than 1.6 billion people rely on forest products for all or part of their livelihoods.

Related pages

Images for kids

In Spanish: Deforestación para niños

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When this happens, the organisms could die. Some might move to other places. Habitat loss can happen naturally.

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When this happens, the organisms could die. Some might move to other places. Habitat loss can happen naturally.

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Habitat destruction is when a habitat is no longer able to support the plants, animals, or other organisms that live in it. When this happens, the organisms could die. Some might move to other places.

Habitat loss can happen naturally. Wildfires can destroy plants that animals need to live in or to eat. Lava flows from volcanoes can do the same thing.

Habitat loss can also be caused by the actions of people. For example, when trees are cut down, birds who nested in the trees can no longer live there. Clearing grassland to make room for buildings can take away habitat.

Biodiversity hotspots are chiefly tropical regions that feature high concentrations of endemic species and, when all hotspots are combined, may contain over half of the world's terrestrial species. These hotspots are suffering from habitat loss and destruction. Most of the natural habitat on islands and in areas of high human population density has already been destroyed (WRI, 2003). Islands suffering extreme habitat destruction include New Zealand, Madagascar, the Philippines, and Japan. South and East Asia - especially China, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Japan - and many areas in West Africa have extremely dense human populations that allow little room for natural habitat. Marine areas close to highly populated coastal cities also face degradation of their coral reefs or other marine habitat. These areas include the eastern coasts of Asia and Africa, northern coasts of South America, and the Caribbean Sea and its associated islands.

Regions of un sustainable agriculture or unstable governments, which may go hand-in-hand, typically experience high rates of habitat destruction. Central America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Amazonian tropical rainforest areas of South America are the main regions with unsustainable agricultural practices and/or government mismanagement.

Areas of high agricultural output tend to have the highest extent of habitat destruction. In the U.S., less than 25% of native vegetation remains in many parts of the East and Midwest. Only 15% of land area remains unmodified by human activities in all of Europe.

Ecosystems

Tropical rainforests have received most of the attention concerning the destruction of habitat. From the approximately 16 million square kilometers of tropical rainforest habitat that originally existed worldwide, less than 9 million square kilometers remain today. The current rate of deforestation is 160,000 square kilometers per year, which equates to a loss of approximately 1% of original forest habitat each year.

Other forest ecosystems have suffered as much or more destruction as tropical rainforests. Farming and logging have severely disturbed at least 94% of temperate broadleaf forests; many old growth forest stands have lost more than 98% of their previous area because of human activities. Tropical deciduous dry forests are easier to clear and burn and are more suitable for agriculture and cattle ranching than tropical rainforests; consequently, less than 0.1% of dry forests in Central America's Pacific Coast and less than 8% in Madagascar remain from their original extents.

Plains and desert areas have been degraded to a lesser extent. Only 10-20% of the world's drylands, which include temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands, scrub, and deciduous forests, have been somewhat degraded. But included in that 10-20% of land is the approximately 9 million square kilometers of seasonally dry-lands that humans have converted to deserts through the process of desertification. The tallgrass prairies of North America, on the other hand, have less than 3% of natural habitat remaining that has not been converted to farmland.

Wetlands and marine areas have endured high levels of habitat destruction. More than 50% of wetlands in the U.S. have been destroyed in just the last 200 years. Between 60% and 70% of European wetlands have been completely destroyed. In the United Kingdom, there has been an increase in demand for coastal housing and tourism which has caused a decline in marine habitats over the last 60 years. The rising sea levels and temperatures has caused soil erosion, coastal flooding, and loss of quality in the UK marine ecosystem. About one-fifth (20%) of marine coastal areas have been highly modified by humans. One-fifth of coral reefs have also been destroyed, and another fifth has been severely degraded by overfishing, pollution, and invasive species; 90% of the Philippines' coral reefs alone have been destroyed. Finally, over 35% mangrove ecosystems worldwide have been destroyed.

Natural causes

Habitat destruction through natural processes such as volcanism, fire, and climate change is well documented in the fossil record. One study shows that habitat fragmentation of tropical rainforests in Euramerica 300 million years ago led to a great loss of amphibian diversity, but simultaneously the drier climate spurred on a burst of diversity among reptiles.

Human causes

Habitat destruction caused by humans includes land conversion from forests, etc. to arable land, urban sprawl, infrastructure development, and other anthropogenic changes to the characteristics of land. Habitat degradation, fragmentation, and pollution are aspects of habitat destruction caused by humans that do not necessarily involve over destruction of habitat, yet result in habitat collapse. Desertification, deforestation, and coral reef degradation are specific types of habitat destruction for those areas ( deserts, forests, coral reefs).

Global warming

Rising global temperatures, caused by the greenhouse effect, contribute to habitat destruction, endangering various species, such as the polar bear. Melting ice caps promote rising sea levels and floods which threaten natural habitats and species globally.

Images for kids

In Spanish: Destrucción de hábitat para niños

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Learn Habitat destruction facts for kids

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Habitat fragmentation happens when large habitats are divided into smaller ones , separating all the species that lived there and depended on each other.

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Habitat fragmentation happens when large habitats are divided into smaller ones , separating all the species that lived there and depended on each other.

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A landfill is a place where waste is kept. Waste is usually buried in landfills, but it may first be sorted to remove any recyclable materials. 

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A landfill is a place where waste is kept. Waste is usually buried in landfills, but it may first be sorted to remove any recyclable materials. 

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Pennsylvania is a northeastern commonwealth located in the United States of America. It was one of the 13 original colonies. Pennsylvania is home to a population of 12,802,503 individuals and various different types of environments. Pennsylvania is known for its many hills, plateaus, mountains and valleys. In fact, Pennsylvania is 50 percent forest land with the only lowlands located in the southeast.

Pennsylvania has many different mountain ranges with the highest point being at 3,213 feet on Mt. Davis. The main mountain ranges include the Appalachian, Allegheny and Pocono Mountains. The Appalachian Mountain Range runs throughout Pennsylvania and seventeen other states, creating the largest mountain range in Pennsylvania. The Allegheny Mountain Range connects to the Appalachian Mountains in west and central Pennsylvania. The Pocono Mountain Range runs throughout northeastern Pennsylvania. The Allegheny and Pocono mountains are the two largest subranges in Pennsylvania. Other mountain ranges in Pennsylvania include the Bear Pond Mountains, the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Conewago Mountains, Music Mountains, Town Hill Mountain Range, and the Endless Mountains. To find a full list of mountains in Pennsylvania look at Category:Mountain ranges of Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania also has more significant waterways than any other US state. In fact, Pennsylvania has more than 83,000 miles of rivers, creeks, and streams. The main waterways are the Delaware River, Allegheny River, Ohio River, Monongahela River and the Susquehanna River. Every Pennsylvania river is categorized into five classifications by the Pennsylvania Scenic Rivers. The classifications are wild, scenic, pastoral, recreational, or modified recreational. Any individual river can have more than one classification, but they all have at least one. For a full list of river go to List of rivers of Pennsylvania.

Landfills in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania also has a vast amount of landfills. In total, Pennsylvania has 45 municipal waste landfills, 3 construction/demolition waste landfills, 4 residual waste landfills, and 6 resource recovery/waste to energy landfills. Below is a table of the 45 municipal landfills and their daily volume of trash entering the landfills daily. These landfills are not only holding the trash of the citizens of Pennsylvania, but they also hold the trash of other states. Pennsylvania is one of the main states that imports waste. Much of Pennsylvania's waste comes from neighboring states such as New Jersey and New York. In fact, Pennsylvania has more trash per person at 34.5 tons of trash per person than every other sate except Nevada in 2016. However, this process of importing waste is very lucrative for the Pennsylvania counties by providing labor market opportunities and helps increase the municipality's budgets by fees paid by these exporting states. For example, Throop, Pennsylvania $6 million budget is made up of $4 million from the host feels paid from importing other state's waste.

Recycling in Pennsylvania

One way to reduce the amount of waste going to the Pennsylvania landfills is to have a recycling campaign. Recycling statewide began with the instatement of the Municipal Waste Planning Recycling and Waste Reduction Act, also known as Act 101 in July 1988. Act 101 at this time had four major goals:

1. Recycle 25 percent of PA's solid waste stream by January 1997

2. Reduce waste going to landfills

3. Increase the use of products that are recyclable or made from recycled material

4. Educate each person in the commonwealth as to the value of recycling and waste reduction

These plans were going to be implemented throughout several phases within each municipality over the following years. A county's responsibilities were to manage the municipalities recycling efforts. In efforts to manage the municipalities the county would have to have a solid waste plan in place by March 1991, which would be revised every 3 years, and to submit annual reports to the state based on the efforts of each municipality's recycling efforts. These annual reports would then be combined to create a statewide report of its recycling efforts and the benefits gained by doing so. This act was funded by the Recycling Fund which created a $2-per-ton fee on all waste entering the landfills known as the recycling fee. In addition to the Recycling Fund they also received other grants such as the household hazardous Waste Collection and Disposal Grants, Host Municipality Inspector Grants, and Independent Permit Application Review Grants.

Act 101 in its essence is still in place today for all municipalities and has only been revised twice to help strengthen and grow the program. The most recent change to Act 101 happened in May 2010 which is the extension of the collection of the recycling fee of $2-per-ton to 2020. Other changes to Act 101 are Act 140 which established requirement for the spending of grants over 10,000 given to communities by Act 101. Act 140 also gave municipalities requirements such as:

"All residents must be required by ordinance to have waste and recycling services

Must have an implemented residential curbside recycling program

Must facilitate a commercial recycling program

Must provide semi-annual residential and commercial recycling education

Enforcement program

Special Materials Program- for the collection of special waste such as tires, white goods, HHW, etc. Must have provision for or participate in county, multi-municipal, or private sector collection efforts

Anti-Littering Program-through practice and/or education; sponsor, facilitate, or support programs that address anti-littering and illegal dumping

Recycling Coordinator-just have a designated person or entity responsible for recycling data collection and reporting"

The most recent results of these acts are as followed:

In 2014, Pennsylvania recycled over 16.84 million tons of resources with benefits of having 15.88 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions removed from the air.

In 2013, Pennsylvania recycled over 6.12 million tons of resources with benefits of having 7.5 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions from the air.

In 2012, Pennsylvania recycled over 8.5 million tons of resources.

EcoTourism in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania's beautiful landscapes can be seen through its many national parks. In fact, Pennsylvania has 19 National Parks throughout the state. However, Pennsylvania has an additional 9 park sites that are either affiliated or managed by the National Park Service. This allows for a number of different avenues to bring in revenue throughout the parks within Pennsylvania that receive 9,935,361 individuals visiting them each year. These visitors create an overall economic benefit of $453,100,000 from tourism at these sites. This economic benefit can be the result of entrance fees, food purchases, and souveniors. Below is a table of the 19 National State Parks in Pennsylvania and their yearly operation costs and personal costs from the 2017 fiscal year. These operating costs are what are deducted from the parks revenue to find the total profit of each park. These operations costs include things such as maintenance of the parks and wages for park workers. The yearly personal costs are the costs of entrance for the parks. In addition, the table includes the yearly visitation of the parks to show the number of visitors that went through during the 2014 year. To begin to see a portion of the revenue made by these parks is the revenue made by entrance fees. To find this portion of the revenue, multiply the yearly visitation and the yearly personal costs. This will result in only one small portion of the yearly revenue that these parks produce.

National State Parks in PA

Location in PA

Yearly Operation Costs (Hundreds)

Yearly Visitation

Yearly Personal Costs

Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network

Towanda, PA to

York, PA

9,577

4,925,582

Free to Public

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

Bushkill, PA *

9,832

4,314,085

Cars: $7.00

Bikes: $1.00

Walking:$1.00

Steamtown National Historic Site

Scranton, PA

5,709

81,802

Entrance Fee: $7.00

Train Ride:$5.00

Since the affiliated and parks managed by the National Park Service do not have use the National Park Service's budget therefore they were not reported in the budget justification of the 2017 fiscal year. Hence, we do not have their operation costs, but we do still have the yearly personal costs.

Affiliated or Managed by National Park Service within PA

Location in PA

Yearly Personal Costs

Lower Delaware National Wild and Scenic River

Philadelphia, PA

Free to Public

Oil Region National Heritage Area

Oil City, PA

Free to Public

Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area

Homestead, PA

Free to Members

$1 for Kids

$3 for Adults

Schuylkill River Valley

Pottstown, PA

Free to Public

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Environment of Pennsylvania Facts for Kids

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Pennsylvania is a northeastern commonwealth located in the United States of America. It was one of the 13 original colonies. Pennsylvania is home to a population of 12,802,503 individuals and various different types of environments. Pennsylvania is known for its many hills, plateaus, mountains and valleys.

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logging:  It is sometimes called selective logging, and confused with selection cutting, the practice of managing stands by harvesting a proportion of trees.

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logging:  It is sometimes called selective logging, and confused with selection cutting, the practice of managing stands by harvesting a proportion of trees.

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Cutting trees with the highest value and leaving those with lower value, often diseased or malformed trees, is referred to as high grading. It is sometimes called selective logging, and confused with selection cutting, the practice of managing stands by harvesting a proportion of trees.

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Jim Thorpe is a borough and the county seat of Carbon County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The population was 4,781 at the 2010 census. The town has been called the "Switzerland of America" due to the picturesque scenery, mountainous location, and architecture; as well as the "Gateway to the Poconos." It is in eastern Pennsylvania about 80 miles (130 km) north of Philadelphia and 100 miles (160 km) west of New York City. This town is also historically known for burying the body of Native American sports legend Jim Thorpe.

Jim Thorpe was founded as Mauch Chunk , a name derived from the term Mawsch Unk (Bear Place) in the language of the native Munsee-Lenape Delaware peoples: possibly a reference to Bear Mountain, an extension of Mauch Chunk Ridge that resembled a sleeping bear, or perhaps the original profile of the ridge, which has since been changed heavily by 220 years of mining. The company town was founded by Josiah White and his two partners, founders of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (LC&N). The town would be the lower terminus of a gravity railroad, the Summit Hill & Mauch Chunk Railroad, which would bring coal to the head of the Lehigh Canal for transshipment to the Delaware River, 43 kilometres (26.7 mi) downstream. It would thereby connect LC&N's coal mines to Philadelphia, Trenton, New York City, and other large cities in New Jersey and Delaware, and by ocean to the whole East Coast.

The town grew slowly in its first decade, then rapidly became larger as a railroad and coal-shipping center. (The other large city with coal mining was Scranton, with a population of over 140,000.) Mauch Chunk is on a flat at the mouth of a right bank tributary (facing downstream) of the Lehigh River at the foot of Mount Pisgah.

The left bank community East Mauch Chunk, which has more of the houses of modern Jim Thorpe, was settled later to support the short-lived Beaver Creek Railroad, the mines which spawned it, and the logging industry. It only came into its growth when the Lehigh Valley Railroad pushed up the valley to oppose LC&N's effective transportation monopoly over the region, which extended across to northwest Wilkes-Barre at Pittston on the Susquehanna River/Pennsylvania Canal. (See Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad, a subsidiary of LC&N.)

After the Pennsylvania Canal Commission smoothed the way, LC&N built the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad (L&S) from Pittston to Ashley, building the Ashley Planes inclined railway and linked that by rail from Mountain Top to White Haven at the head of the canal's upper works-referred to as the "Grand Lehigh Canal"-which navigations shortened the Lehigh Gorge (now located in the Lehigh Gorge State Park) route, cutting the distance from Philadelphia to Wilkes-Barre and the Wyoming Valley coal deposits by over 100 miles (160 km). This placed Mauch Chunk in the center of a nexus of transportation in country tough to travel through. When floods wiped out many of the upper Lehigh Canal works in 1861, the L&S Railroad was extended through the gap, and the so-called switchback-twisted backtrack through Avoca, with the improved engines of the day, enabled two-way steam locomotive traction and traffic despite the steep grades. The LC&N headquarters was built across the street from the stylish passenger station that was soon boarding passengers onto trains from New York and Philadelphia to Buffalo.

The population of the borough in 1900 was 4,020; in 1910, it was 3,952.

Following the 1953 death of renowned athlete and Olympic medal winner Jim Thorpe, Thorpe's widow and third wife, Patricia, was angry when the government of Oklahoma would not erect a memorial to honor him. When she heard that the boroughs of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk were desperately seeking to attract business, she made a deal with civic officials. According to Jim Thorpe's son, Jack, Patricia was motivated by money in seeking the deal. The boroughs merged, renamed the new municipality in Jim Thorpe's honor, obtained the athlete's remains from his wife and erected a monument to the Oklahoma native, who began his sports career 100 miles (161 kilometres) southwest, as a student at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The monument site contains his tomb, two statues of him in athletic poses, and historical markers describing his life story. The grave rests on mounds of soil from Thorpe's native Oklahoma and from the Stockholm Olympic Stadium in which he won his Olympic medals.

On June 24, 2010, one of Jim Thorpe's sons, Jack Thorpe, sued the town for his father's remains, citing the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which is designed to return Native American artifacts to their tribal homelands. On February 11, 2011, Judge Richard Caputo ruled that Jack Thorpe could not gain any monetary award, nor any amount for attorney's fees in the lawsuit and that for the lawsuit to continue other members of the Thorpe family and the Sac and Fox Nation would have to join him as plaintiffs. Before Jack Thorpe could respond to the ruling he died at the age of 73 on February 22, 2011. Because of his death his representatives were given more time to respond to the ruling. On May 2, 2011, William and Richard Thorpe, Jim Thorpe's remaining sons and the Sac & Fox Nation of Oklahoma joined the lawsuit, allowing it to continue. On April 19, 2013, Federal Judge Richard Caputo ruled in favor of William and Richard Thorpe, ruling that the borough amounts to a museum under the law. This ruling was reversed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on October 23, 2014. The US Supreme Court refused to hear their appeal on October 5, 2015 assuring that Jim Thorpe's remains will stay in Carbon County.

The history of the borough is reflected in the architecture that makes up its many 19th century styles. A former resident and architectural historian, Hans Egli, noted the vast range of styles: Federalist, Greek Revival, Second Empire, Romanesque Revival, Queen Anne, and Richardsonian Romanesque. Most of these architectural examples remained intact beneath aluminum or vinyl siding that has since been removed.

Robert Venturi, a renowned Philadelphia architect, conducted a little-known planning study in the 1970s that attempted to understand the dynamics of historicism and tourism, notions that have come into their own in contemporary times. While Venturi's planning study was unique at the time, it has since become a critical factor in Jim Thorpe's rebound as a functioning and economically stable community. Jim Thorpe tourism is based on its old architecture, and recreation such as hiking, paintball and white water rafting.

The Carbon County Section of the Lehigh Canal, Old Mauch Chunk Historic District, Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway, Asa Packer Mansion, Harry Packer Mansion, Carbon County Jail, Central Railroad of New Jersey Station, and St. Mark's Episcopal Church are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Mauch Chunk Switchback Gravity Railroad

Main page: Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway

In 1827, the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, a coal mining and shipping company with operations in Summit Hill, Pennsylvania, constructed an 8.7-mile (14.0 km) downhill track, known as a gravity railroad, to deliver coal (and a miner to operate the mine train's brake) to the Lehigh Canal in Mauch Chunk. This helped open up the area to commerce, and helped to fuel the Industrial Revolution in the United States. By the 1850s, the "Gravity Road" (as it became known) was providing rides to thrill seekers for 50 cents a ride (equal to $11.4 today). It is often cited as the first roller coaster in the United States. The Switchback Gravity Railroad Foundation was formed to study the feasibility of preserving and interpreting the remains of the Switchback Gravity Railroad on top of Mount Pisgah.

In the deeps of the geologic timescale the two shorelines of the Lehigh River occupied by the 19th-century towns of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk were situated on the bottom of an ancient river-fed tarn, a mountain lake which filled the valley on the west bank and covered the relative flatlands on the east bank. The muddy bottom of that high tarn (the range then rivaling the Himalayas in size), where the waters pooled at a lower elevation amongst the twisted folds of four near-parallel ridgelines, created a level region whose settlements became the relatively flat lands on either bank of the Lehigh. The ridgelines, which run east-northeast to west-southwest, are (from north to south) Broad, Nesquehoning, Pisgah, and Mauch Chunk ridges (or Mountains)-each of which runs over 15 miles (24.1 km) west to the gaps cut by the Schuylkill River.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough of Jim Thorpe has a total area of 14.9 square miles (38.6 km ²), of which 14.6 square miles (37.8 km ²) is land and 0.3 square miles (0.8 km ²), or 2.15%, is water. Jim Thorpe is 3 miles (5 km) north and upstream of Lehighton, below the Lehigh Gap which sunders Bear Mountain on the east bank from the extended ridge of Mauch Chunk Mountain. The town is 4 miles (6 km) east of Nesquehoning, which is up a steep grade and around the bend along U.S. 209 South, and also butting up against the slopes of Mount Pisgah. This was a key element in the LC&N's planning, for the grade from the mountain ridge down to the river enabled them to fill barges quickly, using chutes and an elevated entry from a road down the ridge face. Jim Thorpe's developed elevations range between the river slack water at 540 feet (160 m) above sea level-720 feet (219.5 m) to the town's upper streets, all below the western peak of Mount Pisgah, which tops out at 1,519 feet (463.0 m) above sea level.

The elevation of the Borough of Jim Thorpe ranges from 540 feet (160 m) at Broadway and Hazard Square downtown to 1,700 feet (520 m) above sea level 3 miles (5 km) northeast of the borough center near the Penn Forest Township line.

Transportation

US 209, although signed as a north-south route, tends to follow an east-west route in Pennsylvania. In Jim Thorpe and Lehighton, U.S. 209 runs in directions opposite its signage-i.e., northbound U.S. 209 runs southwards and vice versa.

Intersects the Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension (Interstate 476) east of Lehighton, about 6 miles (10 km) southeast of Jim Thorpe.

Intersects PA 309 at Tamaqua, about 14 miles (23 km) west of town.

About 3 miles (5 km) west of town, intersects PA 93, a northwesterly route that intersects with Interstate 81 near Hazleton and with Interstate 80 in Sugarloaf Township. PA 903 has its southern terminus at U.S. 209 in Jim Thorpe. It is a north-south route that runs northeast of town.

Northern terminus 17 miles (27 km) northeast of town at PA 115 near the Pocono Raceway. (PA 115 intersects Interstate 80 about 2 miles (3 km) north of its junction with PA 903.)

Intersects PA 534 in Penn Forest Township, about 13 miles (21 km) northeast of town.

Has an E-Z-Pass-only interchange with Interstate 476 just north of the Hickory Run Service Plaza.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 4,781 people, 2,290 households, and 1,468 families residing in the borough. The population density was 332.1 people per square mile (128.2/km²). There were 2,193 housing units at an average density of 151.6 per square mile (58.5/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 98.36% White, 1.62% African American, 1.04% Native American, 1.27% Asian, 1.04% Pacific Islander, 1.04% from other races, and 1.62% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.83% of the population. A plurality of Jim Thorpe's residents are of Irish and Italian descent, typified by the connection to the Molly Maguires and the Italian immigrants who settled here in the 1800s. A large amount of Irish and Italian pride seen throughout the town (e.g. flags).

There were 1,967 households, of which 28.2% had children under the age of 18, 50.6% were married couples living together, 12.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.1% were non-families. 27.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.93.

In the borough, the population was spread out, with 21.0% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 28.8% from 25 to 44, 24.9% from 45 to 64, and 17.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.9 males.

The median income for a household in the borough was $35,976, and the median income for a family was $43,710. Males had a median income of $31,141 versus $23,490 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $17,119. About 7.8% of families and 10.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.3% of those under age 18 and 6.8% of those age 65 or over.

Recreation

In a poll conducted in 2009 by Budget Travel magazine, Jim Thorpe was awarded a top 10 spot on America's Coolest Small Towns. The town registered 3,920 votes to land the #7 spot on the list. In 2012, Jim Thorpe was voted the fourth most beautiful small town in America in the Rand McNally/ USA Today Road Rally series. Jim Thorpe is becoming a tourist destination, with many businesses catering to white water rafting, mountain biking, paintball and hiking. Trails in Lehigh Gorge State Park attract hikers from all over, with Glen Onoko Falls a top trail destination just north of downtown. Along with these sports, Jim Thorpe is popular among railroading fans and is known for its extraordinary architecture.

The town is home to the Asa Packer and Harry Packer mansions. Asa Packer founded Lehigh Valley Railroad and Lehigh University; Harry was his son. The mansions sit side by side on a hill overlooking downtown. The Asa Packer Mansion is a museum and has been conducting tours since Memorial Day of 1956. The Harry Packer Mansion is a bed and breakfast; it served as the model for the Haunted Mansion ride at Walt Disney World in Florida.

Jim Thorpe is home to the Anthracite Triathlon, an Olympic-distance triathlon open to amateur and professional triathletes. The swimming portion occurs in Mauch Chunk Lake. The bike course takes riders through the mining towns of Summit Hill, Nesquehoning, Lansford and Jim Thorpe. The running portion of the course is generally along the former alignment of a historic switchback railroad.

The Anita Shapolsky Art Foundation was established at 20 West Broadway, in a 10,000-square-foot (930 m ²) 1859 former Presbyterian church, in Jim Thorpe in 1998. There, through the non-profit 501(c)3 organization, Anita Shapolsky exhibits abstract artists and contemporary artworks during the summer, and provides educational programs for children.

Images for kids

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Jim Thorpe is a borough and the county seat of Carbon County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The population was 4,781 at the 2010 census. The town has been called the "Switzerland of America" due to the picturesque scenery, mountainous location, and architecture; as well as the "Gateway to the Poconos."

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Naima Montacer is an environmentalist adventurer. She strives to be as "green" as she can and encourages others to do their little bit. Her journey is full of thoughts, wildlife, food, conservation and adventures. Here she shares her advice for young conservationists of the future!
I love skyping with students from all over the country. It's exciting to get them jazzed and excited about the world in front of them, the opportunities that await, and the intrigue of wildlife from around the world. Just recently I skyped with some 6th graders (11-12 years old) from New Jersey who have a lot going for them already, a great teacher. Their teacher maintains a science website for her students giving them a chance to interact online and research links she posts. She does her own research and in that found my website and reached out to skype with her students. I am always happy to chat with students.

The students and teacher inspired me to type up a quick list of ideas and suggestions to take advantage of at their age if they are interested in animals, biology or conservation. After typing it up and sending it to their teacher I realized other students and teachers out there may want this list, so why not post it here. It's really things I wish I had access to when I was younger. Although, at that time in my life soccer was top priority. Funny enough, the students asked me a bit about my soccer days and why I stopped playing. My simple answer... I had more dreams than just soccer and I was ready to put those first.

Written after chatting with 6th grade students over skype: Some ideas/thoughts if you want to become a wildlife biologist or are interested in conservation.

General thoughts to make it happen:

Get hands on experience.

Be inquisitive. Ask questions. Take every opportunity to learn.

Be well rounded. One experience may not be exactly what you want but it will provide you with a different view.

What are your interests? Try them out!

One thing I easily wish I had right now: Knowledge of another language. If I had to choose one it would be Spanish. Many of the US population only speaks Spanish and making people feel more comfortable and confident by speaking their native language would be very helpful. Also, it would benefit my resume and is sometimes required on job applications. So, start early and learn another language!

Volunteer:

Do an internet search for conservation organizations in your area. What are the issues? What needs to be done?

Example: New Jersey: conservewildlifenj.org - they have several different opportunities out in the field.

Check age requirements.

Some zoos and museums have a Youth Volunteer Program. Do some research in your area to find programs for your age.

Boy Scout/Girl Scout projects: Take a look at these two Girl Scouts that have grown their project and taken it to the White House. Do you know what palm oil is and the problems associated with it? Check out an article in the New York Times on their project. Your project doesn't have to be that big. Start small.

Get outside! Find the parks in your area and explore. The only tool you need is a notebook and a pencil. A biologist always takes notes, those notes can help you identify wildlife, track changes in the environment, and makes you take a closer look at what's in front of you. Your adventure can be in your backyard.

Have fun - what are your passions? See if you can incorporate what you like into conservation? I love being outdoors and writing: I have managed to find a way to make all of these part of the work I do for conservation. Do you like computers? Or videos? Check out the National Geographic "Wild to Inspire" contest that allows amateur videographers to submit videos. Just watching some of the videos can be inspiring and seeing that there is a way to get your projects out there.

Need some money for your project? Raise it! Organize a thrift sale, bake sale, or start a crowdfunding website online (kickstarter.com). Try Terracycle! Terracycle is an organization that turns otherwise non recyclable items into useful products and PAYS you for them!

Camps - Get involved in zoo, aquarium, or museum camps. Testing it out as a participant will give you an opportunity to see if you want to do more. A lot of times participants can become volunteers and move up. Building relationships is key.

Citizen Science! Scientists cannot be all over the world at the same time so they rely on us, the general public, to be able to collect data for them! There are projects on so many different topics, pick one and have some fun. Many projects also send you information about what the scientists have gathered from the data you collected. You can do it in your class or at home. Some topics are backyard birds, 9-spotted ladybugs, sunflowers, clouds, project budburst, frogs, counting seals, etc. Google "citizen science" or start off at this website: www.citizensciencealliance.org

Interact with scientists! There are several research programs out there where you can read the blogs that scientists post of what they are doing right now, or ask them questions, or even send a postcard to them. Check out this one about penguin researchers in Antarctica: www.penguinscience.com

We live in an informational age. Just be careful because everything on the internet is not correct and there is a lot of bias. Do your research and check things out with adult guidance.

Not having much familiarity with travel or summer programs for middle school students I decided to google search what was out there. Here are some of the things I found. I do not know about any of these so they would need some further investigation. But just to give you an idea, if you are interested in something there are programs and opportunities out there for you. Start small in your local neighborhood to see what you like and dislike and then search for things you are interested in. These two are big trips that would take lots of planning and organizing, but just knowing that projects like this are out there can be inspiring!

visionsserviceadventures.com/teen-service-programs/

There it is. Things I wish I knew about when I was in sixth grade. I think this may become a series because in high school there are so many more opportunities and then in college the opportunities are endless! My list for college is endless, can't wait to share.

Conservation Careers Advice Map

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Careers Advice, Top Tips

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Tips for School-Children who want to be Conservationists | Conservation Careers

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Naima Montacer is an environmentalist adventurer. She strives to be as "green" as she can and encourages others to do their little bit. Her journey is full of thoughts, wildlife, food, conservation and adventures. Here she shares her advice for young conservationists of the future! I love skyping with students from all over the country.