Feb.4, 2006
The Charleston Gazette: Conservation
Save wilderness areas
The U.S. Forest Service is in the final stages of
updating its plan to manage West Virginia's greatest
preserve, Monongahela National Forest.
The 'Mon' is more than 900,000 acres stretching across
10 counties from the Maryland border south to Richwood
and near White Sulphur Springs. It stands within a
day's drive of a third of the nation's population.
Since the national forest was designated in 1911, the
Forest Service has gradually added special wilderness
areas shielded from vehicles. Today, the forest
includes five such areas, Cranberry Glades, Otter
Creek, Dolly Sods, Laurel Fork North and Laurel Fork
South.
Of four alternative plans now before the Forest
Service, we think that Alternative 3 offers the best
balance. It would add 15 more wilderness areas, or
about 140,000 acres. Alternative 2, favored earlier by
the Forest Service, would add only 27,700 more acres
of wilderness. Logging, road building, motorized
vehicles and mountain biking are allowed in national
forests, but not in wilderness areas. Hunting,
fishing, hiking and horseback riding are allowed.
The other alternatives would do too little to protect
wilderness areas.
The forest management plan guides people in balancing
the needs of hikers and kayakers with those of mining
and timber. It balances the pressure of traffic, both
for industry and recreation with the needs of the
plants, fish and other wildlife that coexist in those
fragile areas.
The West Virginia Wilderness Coalition, an alliance of
the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, the Sierra
Club and the Wilderness Society, has found even more
public support for the forest's role in conservation
than in 1986, the last time the forest management plan
was updated. The final plan is expected in April.
The original Wilderness Act of 1964 refers to places
where 'the earth and its community of life are
untrammeled by man and where man himself is a
visitor.'
Today, urban zones sprawl relentlessly across the
countryside, paving over arable farmland and
eliminating forever million-year-old ecosystems. The
urge to conserve has never been more necessary.
West Virginia's future depends greatly on serving as a
lovely, green, mountain retreat for the mushrooming
population of the eastern seaboard. Protecting
undamaged nature spots will enhance that role.