About

About the Virginia Wilderness Committee

History | Bylaws

Our mission is to:

permanently protect the best of Virginia's wild places for future generations
foster understanding and appreciation of Wilderness, and
promote enjoyment and stewardship of our last remaining wildlands.

Organized in 1969, VWC works closely with the congressional delegation from Virginia to pass federal legislation under the 1964 Wilderness Act, which provides permanent protection to outstanding wild areas on public land in Virginia. VWC has been instrumental passing legislation that designated all existing wilderness areas in the George Washington & Jefferson National Forests and in Shenandoah National Park.

The Virginia Wilderness Committee is a 501(C)3 non-profit citizens' group.

Field Director

Mark Miller (Lexington)
mmiller@rockbridge.net
Office: (540) 464-1661 Cell: (540) 460-0593

Mark has worked on Wilderness and roadless issues in Virginia for the past 12 years. He was instrumental in the passage of the Ridge and Valley Act, a part of the Omnibus Lands Bill of 2009, which placed 43,000 acres of the Jefferson National Forest in the National Wilderness Preservation System and designated an additional 12,000 acres as National Scenic Area. He has worked extensively on planning issues for both the Jefferson and George Washington National Forests in Virginia. In 2012, Mark won the 2012 McCarthy Award for Environmental Conflict Resolution.

Mark, along with co-author Steven Carroll, has written four hiking guides including two on wilderness and roadless areas in Virginia. He is also author of Virginia's Mountain Treasures: Unprotected Wildlands in the George Washington National Forest. Mark lives in Lexington with his wife, Cindy. He has three daughters and more foreign exchange students that call him Dad than he can keep track of.

VWC Board

Laura Neale, President (Fairfield)

Laura was born and raised in Virginia, grew up on a farm in Orange County, and graduated from Virginia Tech. After working in garden centers and public gardens, including the Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo, North Carolina where she met her husband Chris, she moved to Rockbridge County in 1988. She has served as one of the founders and Board member of both the Upper James River Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society and the revived Rockbridge Bird Club. She is a Virginia Master Naturalist, and an Appalachian Trail Maintainer of 2.7 miles in James River Face Wilderness. While as a child she roamed the farm, she now enjoys the thousands of acres of the George Washington & Jefferson National Forests. Email lneale@rockbridge.net, (540) 261-1909

Lynn Cameron, Vice President (Mt. Crawford)

A native of West Virginia, Lynn Cameron moved to the Shenandoah Valley in 1981 and soon fell in love with the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains. A long time member and past President of VWC, Lynn is proud to claim the late Ernie Dickerman as her mentor in wilderness advocacy. Lynn has served as a Forest Issues Chair and Wilderness Chair of the Sierra Club - Virginia Chapter. Now a Professor Emerita at James Madison University, Lynn is Co-Chair of Friends of Shenandoah Mountain and a hike leader for the local chapter of PATC. She spends a great deal of time building support for the Shenandoah Mountain Proposal and working on her research project: Shenandoah Mountain. Culture, History & Ecology in Video. Email slynncameron@gmail.com, (540) 234-6273

Pete Bsumek, Secretary (Harrisonburg)

A native of Utah, Pete Bsumek moved to Harrisonburg in 1996 to teach in the James Madison University School of Communication Studies. Pete is co-director of the JMU Center for Health and Environmental Communication and coordinator of the interdisciplinary Environmental Studies program. He has been the Wilderness Issues Chair for the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club since 2006 and currently serves on the National Sierra Club Wildlands Committee. Email: pbsumek@gmail.com

Karen Waterman, Treasurer (Stuarts Draft)

In 2004 Karen and her husband Mike moved to Stuarts Draft after retiring from teaching careers in Michigan. After moving to Virginia, Karen pursued her outdoor interests: hiking, biking, skiing, swimming, camping and traveling. Her volunteer activities include: Central Virginia Fulbright Chapter board member, mentoring international visitors, President of the Southern Shenandoah Valley Chapter of PATC, and Treasurer of VWC. Having fallen in love with the nearby mountains and wilderness, Karen want to do her part to preserve them. Email: manwaterkm@comcast.net , Phone: (540) 337-1273

Chris Bolgiano, Newsletter Editor (Fulks Run)

Chris Bolgiano uses solar power to write from her home in a Virginia mountainside forest, which is under a conservation easement. She is the author or editor of six books, including Living in the Appalachian Forest: True Tales of Sustainable Forestry, which won the Reed Memorial Award for Outstanding Writing on the Southern Environment from the Southern Environmental Law Center. Her articles on nature and travel have appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, American Forests, Sierra, Audubon, and many other publications. Email: bolgiace@jmu.edu

James (Jim) Murray, Past President (Charlottesville)

James Murray is Professor of Biology Emeritus in the University of Virginia and sometime Director of the Mountain Lake Biological Station. He is the author of Genetic Diversity and Natural Selection and many papers on the evolution and population biology of polymorphic land snails. He is a founding member of the VWC and has worked on the passage of wilderness legislation since 1969. Email: jjm5a@virginia.edu

Jeremy Boggs (Charlottesville)

Jeremy Boggs was born and raised in Lexington, Virginia, and is a graduate of Washington & Lee and
the College of William & Mary. Jeremy is a lawyer in private practice in central Virginia (and formerly an assistant prosecutor and county attorney). His father, the late Dr. Charles T. Boggs, was active in the VWC in the 1980s. Jeremy hopes to carry on the good work left unfinished, and help protect the best of what is left of our wild lands for future generations of Virginians.

Science Advisor
Michael Pelton, Ph.D. (Middlebrook)

Michael Pelton is Professor Emeritus in Wildlife Science, Department of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He and his wife Tamra moved from Tennessee to Augusta County Virginia in 2000. Mike spent his career studying large mammals in the southern Appalachians, primarily black bears and raccoons. His bear research began in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee but expanded into many (16) other mountain and coastal study sites scattered over the Southeast, including the states of Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Arkansas, and North Carolina. Mike also worked with international colleagues on brown bear research projects in Norway, Spain, and Russia and Asiatic black bears in Japan. He is a founder of the International Association for Bear Research and Management (IBA) and served as President for two terms and a Council member for over 20 years; this organization publishes a peer-reviewed journal (Ursus) and currently consists of over 800 biologists/managers from 45 countries. He cofounded the Southern Appalachian Black Bear Study Group (SABBSG) and was Coordinator from 1976 until 2000. In 2012, Mike received the prestigious Caesar Kleberg Award from The Wildlife Society for his productive career in applied wildlife research. Mike is a "hobby peasant farmer" on their mountain farm, serves on the Board of the Rockbridge Area Conservation Council (RACC) and teaches the Mammals section for various chapters of the State Master Naturalist Program. He stays active professionally by writing, giving presentations, reviewing manuscripts, and attending professional meetings.

Special Advisor
Bart Koehler (Juneau, AK)

Bart Koehler is one of the most respected wilderness leaders in the United States. He worked 19 years with The Wilderness Society and from 1999-2011, was Director and then Senior Wilderness Campaign Director of TWS’s Wilderness Support Center in Durango, CO. Bart is now Coordinator of the American Wilderness Project.

During the course of his four-decade career, he has helped many bedrock grassroots groups, including the Virginia Wilderness Committee, secure permanent protections for numerous areas encompassing over 8 million acres of public land...from Wyoming to Alaska, from Nevada to New Hampshire, and beyond. Bart helped with successful passage of wilderness legislation for Three Ridges and The Priest in 2000 and Virginia Ridge and Valley Act in 2009.

Although he lives in Alaska, Bart’s ties with Virginia Wilderness
Committee go back to the 1970s when Bart learned the ropes of
wilderness advocacy from our own Ernie Dickerman. After Ernie’s
death, Bart helped VWC team up with mountain bike leaders to develop
the Shenandoah Mountain Proposal, and he continues to give sage advice and counsel from afar. In his spare time Bart is also a
singer-songwriter.