The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation of Natural Resources considers many different uses for the forest land and places top priority on the most important use for any given area.

Clear Creek State Forest is currently open for recreational purposes such as hunting, fishing, hiking and mountain biking.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission is responsible for wildlife management in Clear Creek State Forest.

The sparks of passing steam locomotives ignited wildfires that prevented the formation of second growth forests.

The Pennsylvania General Assembly passed a piece of legislation in 1897 that authorized the purchase of "unseated lands for forest reservations."

They began lumbering on a large scale in 1883 when the first sawmills were constructed in the area along the many creeks that drained the Allegheny Plateau.