Rothrock State Forest
Allensville Road

The reward for traveling over Allensville Road in Rothrock State Forest is great. On the Huntingdon County side of the summit, you can park at a switchback and look out over the beautiful Standing Stone Creek Valley. But if you looked down before April 15, 2000, you saw (and, probably, smelled) a trash dump.

Nearly seven tons of trash are now gone, thanks to 33 dedicated volunteers, Rothrock State Forest staff, PA CleanWays of Huntingdon County, and a determined team of contractors. In two and a half hours, the volunteers filled 500 bags of trash, piling them up for the contractors to remove for proper disposal.

The slope had been used for years by illegal dumpers for everything from household trash to roofing shingles. Due to the nature of the rocky, steep slope, PA CleanWays of Huntingdon County coordinated a two-phase cleanup.

The volunteers bagged the small debris and left the bags on the slope. Then, the team of contractors -- Park's Garbage Service, Captain Hook Transport, and Bousum's Transport Inc. -- took over. Having fabricated a large "bucket" at the end of a crane, they lowered it over the side of the slope, and then manually loaded it with the bagged trash and other, larger debris. The crane then lifted the bucket up the hill and emptied it into an awaiting roll-off container for transport to the landfill.

Local birdwatchers have long agonized over this dumpsite because it is very near a favorite hawk-watch, and the site is sometimes used for birding. One birder, Nick Bolgiano from State College, was concerned enough about the trash to phone the Forest Lands Beautification Program hotline (1-877-7PA-FOREST). Nick's call and commitment helped prioritize the cleanup, and today trash no longer mars the natural beauty of the Standing Stone Creek Valley.

This cleanup is one of ten pilot sites cleaned during 2000, the first year of the Pennsylvania Forest Lands Beautification Program. Learn more about other cleaned sites or scheduled cleanups.

Rothrock State Forest is located in Central Pennsylvania.

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