Land Conservation Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

All Of Blackwater Canyon Now Public Land

The 10,000-acre Blackwater Canyon is now wholly publicly owned after a transfer of private land.

The conservation group Friends of Blackwater announced in a press release that 2,700 acres of privately owned forest and river corridor in the Blackwater Canyon have been transferred to the Monongahela National Forest.

The Crites family, which owns the hardwood manufacturer Allegheny Wood Products, announced plans to sell the property in Tucker County to the U.S. Forest Service in August.

“This is a victory for the people of West Virginia — and our many friends around the nation — who have supported this campaign, and who treasure the Mountain State’s natural beauty,” said Judy Rodd, director of Friends of Blackwater. “Friends of Blackwater remains committed to supporting ongoing conservation efforts and ensuring that Blackwater Canyon thrives as a haven for recreation, biodiversity, heritage tourism, and inspiration.”

Friends of Blackwater said in a statement that the agreement, forged by outgoing U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, is the culmination of a 25-year campaign to protect rare habitats for future generations.

Manchin mentioned the acquisition in his farewell speech on the Senate floor Dec. 4.

“The New River Gorge became a National Park, and we just agreed to acquire 2,700 acres at the Blackwater Canyon, which is the most beautiful venue,” he said. “We’ve been trying for 20 years to make this happen, and it’s finally coming to fruition, and this is gonna be so the whole country can enjoy something that just can’t believe how pretty it is.”

Rodd told WVPB that the sale was delayed in part due to the Crites family’s desire to have the land renamed. In December, Manchin introduced a bill in the U.S. Senate to officially name the Crites family acreage as “Patsye Crites Forest” but it failed to pass the House.

Blackwater Falls, at the head of the canyon, is one of the most photographed sites in West Virginia according to West Virginia State Parks.

U.S. Senators Introduce Bill to Permanently Fund Conservation Program

A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators, led in part by West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, have introduced a bill that would permanently fund a popular land conservation program that has provided money for conservation and recreation access in 54 of West Virginia’s 55 counties.

If passed, the Land and Water Conservation Fund Permanent Funding Act would permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund, or LWCF, at $900 million annually.

The program uses revenues from offshore oil and gas drilling for conservation at federal, state, and local parks, forests and wilderness areas and to increase recreation access. More than $240 million from the LWCF have been invested in West Virginia over the course of the program’s 50-year history.

Places such as Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, the Gauley River National Recreation Area and the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge have benefited from LWCF funding.

Earlier this year, the president signed a bill that permanently authorizes the program, but Congress still needs to appropriate money to the fund.

Manchin introduced the bill along with and Sen. Cory Gardner, a Republican from Colorado. If passed, the bill would bypass Congress’ budget process and automatically place $900 million into the fund each year.

In a press release, Manchin said funding for the LWCF is crucial to “continue to preserve, protect and invest in our public lands.”

Land in 7 W.Va. Counties Acquired for Wildlife Management Efforts

A nonprofit has bought nearly 19,000 acres of forest land in seven West Virginia counties aimed at increasing public access for hunting and wildlife-associated recreation.

The Arlington, Virginia-based Conservation Fund announced the land purchase Thursday, Dec. 20.

A statement by the organization says the land was bought at the request of the state Division of Natural Resources and will eventually be transferred to the state as funding becomes available. The plan is to create five new wildlife management areas and expand four others along with North Bend State Park.

The land is in Calhoun, Doddridge, Jackson, Pleasants, Ritchie, Wirt and Wood counties. The land features habitat for a variety of endangered and threatened bird, bat and mussel species.

The DNR also recently acquired 12,440 acres in four counties for preservation efforts.

Houses Won't Ever Be Built Here

Snow crunches under foot as Jim Baker gives a mid-December tour on about 170 acres his hunting club just acquired. The property sits along the Morgan-Hampshire County line in the shadow of Cacapon Mountain bordering Cacapon State Park.

“Basically some rolling hills at low elevations before you see the larger Cacapon Mountain in the background,” Baker said. “It gives you an idea of what I call the diversity in topography around here.”

This diversity in landscape is one of the factors that make this property resilient, which is why the Cacapon and Lost Rivers Land Trust worked to obtain an easement preventing future development.

This property is part of an area in the Potomac Headwaters region of West Virginia designated as some of the most resilient land in the eastern United States.

David Ray is the southern field coordinator for the Open Space Institute, a New York State land trust. The Institute created a $6 million fund with a goal of protecting some of the most resilient land in the northeast and mid-Appalachian region.

Four areas are targeted: Southern New Hampshire and Maine forests, the highlands and Kittatinny Ridge on the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border, the Middle Connecticut River and the Potomac headwaters region of West Virginia and Virginia.

“A good way to think about it is sort of like actors on a stage and you may have a stage or a theater where the play is going to change over time, the actors will come and go, but you have that stage and it’s a place where things happen,” Ray said.

The program’s goal is to focus on that stage, in this case natural places where plants and animals can thrive and adapt to changes in the future.

Ray said the hunting club property meets the criteria of being resilient that include variety in the landscape, having the right kind of soil and the connection to other unbroken land- in this case about six thousand acres of Cacapon State Park.

Credit Cecelia Mason / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Landowner Jim Baker describes his property to David Ray of the Open Space Institute and Kelly Watkinson of the Cacapon and Lost Rivers Land Trust.

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“We have choices we have to make with the limited funding that’s available for conservation,” Ray said. “By protecting the land areas that are going to be more enduring, we’re going to protect as much of the broad range of biodiversity that we have as possible.”

And Ray pointed out protecting these highly resilient areas also benefits humans.

“The sort of side benefits to that kind of work includes things like maintaining the quality of water that goes into our drinking water sources, preventing flooding from occurring and recreational opportunities,” he said.

The Open Space Institute gave the Cacapon and Lost Rivers Land Trust a $210,000 grant to help acquire an easement on a total of about 900 acres owned by the hunting club that will prevent the property from being developed in the future. Land Trust Executive Director Nancy Ailes says her organization raised matching money that included about $60,000 and an easement donation from the hunting club.

“We always like to hug our landowners,” Ailes said. “If it isn’t for them and their willingness to do this and desire to protect their land none of us would be here at the table today.”

Baker said it’s comforting to know that this rugged piece of property that he and other shareholders have come to love since the hunting club was founded in 1962 will remain untouched.

“You become attached to it over time after hunting on it, walking on it, maintaining it, seeing it through all the seasons and knowing that it’s yours,” Ray said.

“For some of us anyway we want to see that piece of property as it is so at night we can think that’s the way it’s going to be forever,” he added.

The Open Space Institute’s work protecting resilient landscapes is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation