As traditional industries in rural PA have declined, sustainable tourism development has emerged as a way to create jobs, diversify local economies, improve quality of life and inspire stewardship of the region’s incredible natural and cultural assets. In the early 2000s, state and local leaders serving the Pennsylvania Wilds region formed a groundbreaking pact to work together to grow the region’s nature and heritage tourism industry. They called it the Pennsylvania Wilds Initiative.

The PA Wilds Initiative has many components: branding and marketing, community revitalization, planning, business development and infrastructure upgrades. All of them take place simultaneously by many different stakeholders.

At the state level, the PA Dept. of Conservation & Natural Resources, which manages much of the public lands in the region, spearheads the PA Wilds Initiative. They work in concert with the PA Dept. of Community and Economic Development, which houses the PA Tourism Office and many of the small business and community development programs that serve rural PA. Dozens of heritage and tourism professionals, county planners, public lands and waterway managers, small businesses, main street managers and others from across the region have joined forces to help guide the Initiative in a way that makes sense for their communities.

Regional partnerships, grassroots support, and strategic thinking and investing at the state and local level are hallmarks of the Pennsylvania Wilds Initiative. The results so far have been incredible. We’ve highlighted some of them in our recent “Making an Impact” report. We hope you’ll check it out.

Sustainable tourism development cannot solve all of rural Pennsylvania’s economic challenges, but it is part of the answer and making a real difference in communities across the region. We hope you’ll get involved.

-Ta Brant, PA Wilds Small Business Ombudsman

The North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission is the designated Local Development District for the counties of Cameron, Clearfield, Elk, Jefferson, McKean and Potter. Located in the heart of North Central Pennsylvania, the six-county region is known throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as an emerging forerunner in industrial site location, economic growth, workforce quality, and business opportunity.

The communities, businesses, industries, and workforce of this region work together with North Central, headquartered in Ridgway, Pennsylvania, to streamline state, federal and regional services, including transportation planning and economic development. Support for new ventures is available in funding community infrastructure projects, customized job training, technical assistance for export, government procurement, redevelopment, and networking - all working together to make our communities livable and viable. Access to North Central services is provided in conveniently located satellite offices in each of the six counties.