If good news comes to the forest but no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? In the case of Allegheny National Forest, it deserves to.

Last week the 513,000-acre expanse, which boasts some of the world's finest hardwood forests, received encouraging news indeed. The U.S. Forest Service told the forest's managers to revise the oil and natural gas drilling sections of its new 10-year management plan and give the public more opportunity to comment on the changes.

The forest service said that part of the plan did not adequately assess the overall effects of drilling on local and regional air quality and did not comply with federal law. The Washington office also pointed out that the Forest Service has joint authority with the state Department of Environmental Protection for controlling oil and gas activity.

Environmental groups naturally welcomed the response to the plan because it boosts their aims of protecting the northwest Pennsylvania woods.

Although the decision responded to 80 appeals of the management proposal, it did not take up the much-publicized issue of expanding the forest's wilderness areas. Only Congress can approve that, and if such action were to follow, that would be the best news of all, knock on wood.