Tag: Cheat Canyon

Party at Coopers Rock, Here's Why

A ceremony at Cooper’s Rock State Forest just outside of Morgantown celebrates the conservation of 3,800 acres of the Cheat River Canyon dedicated as a state Wildlife Management Area.

A Sanctuary

The dedication at the Cooper’s Rock overlook gave attendees a clear view of the land that will now serve as a sanctuary for two unique animals:

  • Endangered Indiana Bat
  • Threatened Flat-Spired Three-Toothed Land Snail

These two species live in the Cheat Canyon and play a significant role in its conservation.  The state Division of Natural Resources will focus on the recovery of these animals in its management of the new Cheat Canyon Area. 
A Place to Play

Recreation is also part of the plan, on land and in water.  Friends of the Cheat Executive Director Amanda Pitzer says the nearly seven million dollar purchase of this section of the Cheat River Canyon recognizes the once-dead river’s recovery.

“It’s land protection, it’s water protection,” Pitzer said, “but even better than that, we’re looking to open it up to the public for hunting, for paddling, and to open the Allegheny Trail that’s been closed for several years.”

Around eight miles of the Allegheny Trail in the Cheat Canyon was closed to the public when Allegheny Wood Products owned the property.  The 330-mile trail traverses the state from north to south. 

Executive Director of Friends of the Cheat, Amanda Pitzer speaks as U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, and W.Va. DNR Director Frank Jezioro look on.

A Collaboration

Plans to protect the canyon, decades in the making, were announced earlier this year. The Conservation Fund, the Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the West Virginia Outdoor Heritage Conservation Fund all contributed money to the land purchase from Forestland Group.

What’s now known as the Cheat Canyon Wildlife Management Area is open to the public for fishing, hunting, hiking, and whitewater rafting.

Governor Earl Ray Tomblin and U.S. Senator Joe Manchin were among those to join members of the Nature Conservancy, the DNR, and multiple conservation groups for the dedication.

“It’s a celebration of a big conservation win, and the dedication of that to the people of West Virginia,” Director of Conservation Programs for the Nature Conservancy in West Virginia, Keith Fisher said, “and it’s really a celebration of the partnership that came together to make that win happen.”

Private Citizens Spring for Spring Paddling Season Access Road

Private citizens are stepping up to repair a Preston County road important to the whitewater industry there. The state doesn’t have the means to get to the Cheat Canyon access road, so Friends of the Cheat River are doing the work.

The road to the take-out for the Cheat Canyon and Big Sandy whitewater runs had deteriorated and outfitters in the area were considering cancelling trips because of the poor conditions.

 Department of Highways officials said heavy winter damage to main roads and budget constraints made any immediate repairs to access roads used primarily for recreation unlikely. So Friends of the Cheat stepped up.

In a press release,the organization announced it raised almost ten thousand dollars from about 200 donors in a week’s time to hire private contractor to repair the road.

FOC Executive Director Amanda Pitzer said simply, “I am humbled by the generosity of our supporters.” 

DOH was able to supply 140 tons of fill rock, however, and locally contacted crews spent three days to make the road safe for ordinary vehicles.
 

Cheat Canyon Property Bought by Conservation Groups

A segment of the Cheat Canyon will become a state wildlife management area and a nature preserve.

The 3,800-acre property stretches about 7 miles from Albright’s outskirts to a segment of Sandy Creek in northern West Virginia.

The Conservation Fund and the Nature Conservancy bought the property from The Forestland Group. The conservation groups plan to transfer the property to the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources over the next two years for establishment of a wildlife management area.

Director of the West Virginia Chapter of the Nature Conservancy Rodney Bartgis says his organization has been eyeing the property since the mid-70s.

“It was worth the wait though,” Bartgis says, “because this is one of West Virginia’s most iconic and most beautiful landscapes. Whether you’ve traveled to northern West Virginia or outside of West Virginia, it’s not unusual to mention Cheat Canyon and somebody go, ‘yeah, I’ve white water rafted through Cheat Canyon,’ So it was worth being very patient and to keep trying to pick up the property and it’s very satisfying that now things are finally falling together.”

The wildlife management area will include a nature preserve managed by the Division of Natural Resources and owned by the Nature Conservancy.

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