Specifically, visitors using Minister Creek Trail in Forest County may be affected.
Visitors can expect to see equipment-- including trucks, excavators, and workover rigs-- along the trail and staged in the parking lot, as well as selective widening of the trail.
Portions of the trail and nearby campsites may be closed temporarily to keep visitors safe.
[The Allegheny National Forest is located in Elk, Forest, McKean and Warren counties and has approximately 12,000 conventional oil and gas wells, of which about 8,000 are considered active. Read more here.
[The National Forest has thousands of conventional wells abandoned by their owners-- 1,600 wells by just one owner [Read more here]-- that must be plugged at taxpayer expense.
[The US Forest Service does not own the oil and gas mineral rights to land in the Allegheny National Forest.]
The well plugging work is funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which created new programs for plugging, remediation, and restoration on federal, state, private, and tribal lands.
Partnerships with states remain essential because most legacy wells sit on lands where surface and mineral ownership is split.
In Pennsylvania, we are working with the Department of Environmental Protection to plug wells within federal lands where minerals are held by private entities. This collaboration is vital to protecting the public and natural resources.
For more information about field operations or temporary closures, contact Richard Hatfield, Bradford District Ranger, at richard.hatfield@usda.gov or 814-363-6098.
Click Here for the US Forest Service announcement.
(Photo: Pattern of conventional oil and gas well pads in the Allegheny National Forest from Google Earth.)
Related Articles This Week:
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-- UGI Energy Services, Prime Data Centers Announce $100 Million Partnership To Develop New Natural Gas Infrastructure For A Power Plant To Feed A.I. Data Center Development, Likely In Cameron, Potter Or Tioga Counties [PaEN]
-- Clean Air Board Of Central PA To Host May 21 Community Forum On A.I. Data Centers - What Citizens Should Ask Of Data Centers In Carlisle, Cumberland County And Online [PaEN]
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-- DEP: Penneco Environmental Replacing Tubing, Other Equipment At Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Well In Plum Boro, Allegheny County Due To Leak, Corrosion [PaEN]
-- DEP Issues 12 Violations To Delta Inland Oil Res LLC For Abandoning, Not Plugging Conventional Oil & Gas Wells In Warren County; 223 Abandonment Violations Issued In 2026, So Far [PaEN]
-- Environmental Groups Request DEP Do A Science-Based Assessment Of Health, Environmental Risks From Landfill Leachate Contaminated By Radioactive Oil & Gas Drilling Wastes [PaEN]
-- Guest Essay: Lessons From A Children's Story: If You Give The Oil & Gas Industry A Wellpad, It Will Lead To An Escalating Chain Of More Polluting Gas Infrastructure - By Melissa Ostroff, EarthWorks [PaEN]
-- ‘Emergency’ Upset Natural Gas/Chemical Flares At Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County Burned Overnight From At Least 8:52 p.m. May 10 to 3:30 a.m. May 11 - Breathecam
-- ‘Emergency’ Upset Natural Gas/Chemical Flares At The MarkWest Harmon Creek/Energy Transfer Revolutions Cryogenic Natural Gas Processing Plants Burned All Night Again In Washington County - Live Breathe Project Cameras [May 12]
-- Philadelphia Energy Authority Energy Campaign Achieves $2 Billion In Economic Impact, Creates 11,000 Jobs, Over $1.4 Billion In Energy Savings In First 10 Year, Exceeding Initial Goals [PaEN]
[Posted: May 14, 2026] PA Environment Digest
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