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Quehanna Wild Area is the largest state forest wild area in Pennsylvania at 48,186 acres. It hosts herds of native elk and was once heavily logged. In the 1950s, a nuclear reactor facility contaminated parts of the area with radioactive isotopes like strontium-90 during weapons research. Pennsylvania established Quehanna as a wild area in 1965 but retained the contaminated industrial complex. Cleanup of the reactor and radioactive waste sites took over 8 years and $30 million to complete, though some areas still contain waste unearthed by local wildlife.

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34 views1 page

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Quehanna Wild Area is the largest state forest wild area in Pennsylvania at 48,186 acres. It hosts herds of native elk and was once heavily logged. In the 1950s, a nuclear reactor facility contaminated parts of the area with radioactive isotopes like strontium-90 during weapons research. Pennsylvania established Quehanna as a wild area in 1965 but retained the contaminated industrial complex. Cleanup of the reactor and radioactive waste sites took over 8 years and $30 million to complete, though some areas still contain waste unearthed by local wildlife.

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Quehanna Wild Area is a wildlife area in Cameron, Clearfield, and Elk counties in the U.S.

state of
Pennsylvania. At 48,186 acres (75 sq mi; 195 km2), it is the largest state forest wild area in
Pennsylvania, and hosts herds of native elk. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the logging industry
cut the area's virgin forests. In 1955 the Curtiss-Wright Corporation bought 80 square miles (210 km2)
of state forest for a facility developing nuclear-powered jet engines. A succession of tenants further
contaminated the nuclear reactor facility and its hot cells with radioactive isotopes, including
strontium-90 and cobalt-60. Pennsylvania reacquired the land in 1963 and 1967, and in 1965
established Quehanna as a wild area, but retained the nuclear facility and industrial complex. The
facilities were used to treat hardwood flooring with radiation until 2002. The cleanup of the reactor and
hot cells took over eight years and cost $30 million. Quehanna Wild Area has many sites with
radioactive and toxic waste; some have been cleaned up, but others have been dug up by black bears
and white-tailed deer.

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