Most of the 450 operational gas and oil wells in Pennsylvania forests are here in Sproul State Forest in Centre County. Pointing to one of the largest of those wells, District Forester Butch Davey says there's a long history of drilling on public land.

"This is called the patch ridge deep well. It was drilled over twenty years ago. It's still producing a little bit of gas, not a lot. But it was 19-thousand feet in the ground, which was a very deep gas well. The opening in the forest is about six acres."

Davey says most oil and gas wells in the forest take up much less than six acres -- and are considered shallow wells. This month's lease auction could dramatically increase the number of deep wells on state forestland. The state estimates the auction could result in fifteen to twenty new wells, while environmentalists are concerned there would be far more.

At issue is something called the Trenton-Black-River formation, a geological system known to be rich in natural gas and oil deposits. Steve Rhoads is president of the trade group, the Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Association. He says it's likely the formation runs right through forestland in North-Central Pennsylvania.

"Drilling for the Trenton Black River formation has been going on in Ohio, New York, and West Virginia for quite a while now, and the interest of the industry is just beginning to move into Pennsylvania."

Over the past fifty years, Pennsylvania has collected nearly 130-million dollars in royalties from wells in state forests. Rhoads says exploration of the Trenton-Black River in other states has proven so successful... that it's possible a few new wells could be more profitable than all the existing forest wells combined.

According to John Oliver, Secretary of the State Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the state gets one-eighth the profit from those wells -- and the money goes entirely towards funding conservation efforts.

"State parks were created from this oil and gas fund, and state forest lands, computer equipment for state parks and forests. It's been reused for conservation purposes."

But Jim Kleissler, with the Allegheny Defense Project, one of the environmental groups opposing the auction, says if the goal was to protect forests, there wouldn't be any drilling at all.

"These lands that they're targeting have the lowest road densities of any forest lands in the entire state. These are as wild as it gets in Pennsylvania. Taking them and putting oil and gas wells in the middle of them, in the heart of them in roads and pipelines, you're cutting the habitat in half, you're going into these areas where are probably the most important wildlife habitats and recreation areas we have in the state."

Responding to public criticism, the state did postpone an auction scheduled for May. Following several public meetings... and after receiving nearly 5-thousand letters, the state announced this month's auction would cut the amount of land for sale in half, while strengthening protections for wild and natural areas in state forests.

But Kleissler calls the latest decision "smoke and mirrors."

"They're gonna cut the initial auction in half to 220-thousand acres, which is still a significant amount of forest land. But they've made it very clear that they're planning to do additional auctions at later dates in the areas that they've removed, so in fact they aren't cutting the size of this auction at all."

The state is leaving open the possibility of future auctions. But one thing that has come out of the debate is a commitment by the state to involve the public earlier in the decision making process. Conservation Secretary John Oliver.

"I think when we go out for a lease bid again, we will certainly give people advance notice that this will happen, and we will be much more complete when we inform them of the specifics."

Oliver says the agency has also tightened environmental protections for sensitive areas such as streams which flow near wells.

But Kleissler and a coalition of environmental groups including the Sierra Club and Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, are calling for a moratorium on all gas and oil drilling in state forests until legislation can be passed regulating such operations.

But for now, the state plans to proceed with its auction. The resulting wells could produce gas... and money for twenty years. After that, they're plugged up... and according to Butch Davey at Sproul State Forest they might actually serve a more ecological purpose.

Forest management plans call for openings in wooded areas. Davey says land cleared for drilling can make convenient feeding location for birds and mammals.

" We try and restore these areas to maintain them as permanent herbaceous openings for wildlife. We want to have at least 1 to 5 percent of our forests in openings such as this because it's a necessary component for almost all wildlife species."

While old well sites can be put to good use, Davey says any industrial development in the middle of the forest is a difficult endeavor, which could impact local wildlife. If he had a choice, Davey says he'd prefer not to have any wells in his forest.

"There are risks involved in this type of activity and we have been able to manage those risks in great shape up to this point. But we're entering the forest in such a way that we can do environmental harm if we don't manage what's going on."

Davey says the benefits just don't outweigh the risks. Wells may generate revenue while leaving behind valuable open space... But Davey says drilling always includes risks of pollution, noise, and the fragmentation of forest habitats.

Bids for drilling rights to 75 different tracts of land in North-Central Pennsylvania will take place in an anonymous on-line auction, the first on-line auction of its type offered by a state agency.

More information's available on the web at GreenWorks.tv. I'm Brad Linder.