Winter 2019 Newsletter
New Rusty Patched Bumblebee Populations found near the Path of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
By Steve Johnson
A closer look through my images revealed a Rusty Patched perched just below a butterfly! Photo by Steve Johnson
I first became aware of the Rusty Patched Bumblebee through the enthusiastic advocacy of my good friend, conservation photographer Clay Bolt. Clay has worked tirelessly to raise awareness about the decline of this species through photography, film and even testimony before Congress. As a Virginia resident, I was excited to learn that a Rusty Patched Bumblebee had been spotted at Sky Meadows State Park in 2014, the first evidence that this bee had not gone extinct in this part of the country.
In the summer of 2017, a survey for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline found a lone Rusty Patched Bumblebee in mountainous western Virginia. Because of its proximity to the pipeline route, that sighting triggered the concern of the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC). SELC, representing Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club, and Virginia Wilderness Committee (VWC), sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, arguing that the Service had not complied with the Endangered Species Act when it issued an Incidental Take Statement for multiple endangered species, including Bombus affinis.
In the summer of 2018, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the permits for the pipeline, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission temporarily halted construction of the pipeline.
Shortly before this ruling, I was contacted by private landowners (also impacted by the pipeline route) who thought they might have Rusty Patched Bumblebees living on their property in Bath County, Virginia, near where the bee was found in 2017. On July 28, I made the trek to the beautiful country home of Bill and Lynn Limpert. Bill informed me that a state agency had found a second Rusty Patched Bumblebee just the week before in the nearby George Washington National Forest. After a day of searching and photographing for the bee with Bill, I thought I had come up a short, but a closer look through my photos of the Limpert’s back yard revealed a Rusty Patched perched just below a butterfly! The location of this individual was approximately 600 feet from the centerline of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
I quickly alerted Virginia state agencies to this find on private land. In the following weeks, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Natural Heritage Program initiated new surveys that turned up another twenty Rusty Patched Bumblebees! Bill was also able to photograph Rusty Patched Bumblebees on his property.
On September 11, 2018, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a Revised Biological Opinion for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline taking into account the new Rusty Patched discoveries. While the report acknowledges that individual bees may be killed and nests crushed, the agency maintained its assessment that the pipeline “is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the Rusty Patched Bumblebee.” However, SELC counters that “the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reauthorized the pipeline despite new data confirming that critically endangered species will be significantly harmed by the project.”
Shortly after the Revised Biological Opinion, SELC mounted a new legal challenge aimed at protecting the Rusty Patched Bumblebee and other endangered species in this rugged and scenic area of Virginia. In July 2019, The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the Fish and Wildlife Service permit, delaying construction for now. We are grateful to partner with the excellent advocates at SELC working for the protection of Virginia’s rare creatures and their habitats.
Steven David Johnson is a photography professor and conservation photographer based in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. He is the Vice-President of the VWC Board.
In the summer of 2017, a survey for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline found a lone Rusty Patched Bumblebee in mountainous western Virginia. Because of its proximity to the pipeline route, that sighting triggered the concern of the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC). SELC, representing Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club, and Virginia Wilderness Committee (VWC), sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, arguing that the Service had not complied with the Endangered Species Act when it issued an Incidental Take Statement for multiple endangered species, including Bombus affinis.
In the summer of 2018, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the permits for the pipeline, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission temporarily halted construction of the pipeline.
Shortly before this ruling, I was contacted by private landowners (also impacted by the pipeline route) who thought they might have Rusty Patched Bumblebees living on their property in Bath County, Virginia, near where the bee was found in 2017. On July 28, I made the trek to the beautiful country home of Bill and Lynn Limpert. Bill informed me that a state agency had found a second Rusty Patched Bumblebee just the week before in the nearby George Washington National Forest. After a day of searching and photographing for the bee with Bill, I thought I had come up a short, but a closer look through my photos of the Limpert’s back yard revealed a Rusty Patched perched just below a butterfly! The location of this individual was approximately 600 feet from the centerline of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
I quickly alerted Virginia state agencies to this find on private land. In the following weeks, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Natural Heritage Program initiated new surveys that turned up another twenty Rusty Patched Bumblebees! Bill was also able to photograph Rusty Patched Bumblebees on his property.
On September 11, 2018, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a Revised Biological Opinion for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline taking into account the new Rusty Patched discoveries. While the report acknowledges that individual bees may be killed and nests crushed, the agency maintained its assessment that the pipeline “is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the Rusty Patched Bumblebee.” However, SELC counters that “the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reauthorized the pipeline despite new data confirming that critically endangered species will be significantly harmed by the project.”
Shortly after the Revised Biological Opinion, SELC mounted a new legal challenge aimed at protecting the Rusty Patched Bumblebee and other endangered species in this rugged and scenic area of Virginia. In July 2019, The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the Fish and Wildlife Service permit, delaying construction for now. We are grateful to partner with the excellent advocates at SELC working for the protection of Virginia’s rare creatures and their habitats.
Steven David Johnson is a photography professor and conservation photographer based in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. He is the Vice-President of the VWC Board.
Support Grows for Shenandoah Mountain National Scenic Area
By Lynn Cameron
Photo of North River by Brad Striebig
We are getting closer to our goal of Congressional designation of the proposed 90,000-acre Shenandoah Mountain National Scenic Area and embedded wilderness. To date, over 400 businesses and organizations have endorsed the proposal. As the Co-Chair of Friends of Shenandoah Mountain (FOSM), I presented the proposal to a variety of groups, including Virginia Master Naturalists, Harrisonburg-Rockingham County Historical Society, Pleasant View/Spring Hill Ruritans, and Daughters of the American Revolution. With help from volunteers, FOSM exhibited at Staunton Earth Day and Red Wing Roots Music Festival at Natural Chimneys and led three hikes on Shenandoah Mountain for Red Wing Festival goers. We have also made new friends in our outreach to neighboring landowners as we strive to inform them about our proposal and answer any questions they may have.
Support from local governments is crucial to our success. This summer, we made a big step forward when the Augusta County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution in favor of our proposal. The City of Staunton had sent a letter of support in December 2017. We are continuing to work with Rockingham and Highland Counties and the City of Harrisonburg. Four of the five localities get municipal water from reservoirs on Shenandoah Mountain, and it is important that any legislation include provisions that reservoirs and related infrastructure can be maintained and expanded, if necessary. We have also made presentations to both Headwaters and Shenandoah Valley Soil and Water Conservation Districts to make sure their concerns are addressed.
This year we provided the public with opportunities to learn more about Shenandoah Mountain through first-hand experiences. We offered two butterfly hikes, led by Master Naturalist John Holden, and for the sixth year in a row, we partnered with Headwaters Master Naturalists to offer four wildflower hikes in April. All these outings were well attended.
We also recently joined with local organizations to observe the 70th anniversary of the Flood of 1949, a major flood caused by 15 inches of rain in the Reddish Knob area. This weather event caused a 25-foot high wall of water to hit the community of Stokesville, with devastating effects on homes, farms, and roads all the way downstream to Bridgewater, where three lives were lost. Flood survivors from communities along the North River have vivid memories of what happened. One important story involves 80 Augusta County 4-H’ers who were at summer camp on the North River just below Staunton Dam. When the river flooded their camp, washed out roads, and cut them off from any communication with the outside world, they had to hike over Lookout Mountain to escape the floodwaters. I interviewed flood survivors about this and other stories and put together a presentation that focused on the chain of events that happened on Shenandoah Mountain and downstream. Bridgewater Historical Society and FOSM sponsored a flood program in September with nearly 200 attending, and Sangerville Towers Ruritans sponsored a program in October with approximately 400 attending. The big takeaway from the program is that neighbors, organizations, and agencies helped victims of the flood in countless ways. These efforts to lift up the history of the area provided opportunities to connect with people from the communities along the edge of Shenandoah Mountain in a very meaningful way. Plus, permanent protection of the deep-rooted mature forests on the steep slopes of Shenandoah Mountain will help protect communities downstream from flooding in the future.
In addition to building local support for the Shenandoah Mountain Proposal, FOSM participates actively in the George Washington National Forest (GWNF) Stakeholder Collaborative Steering Committee. The Stakeholder Agreement of 2011 calls for permanent protection of core wild areas, like Shenandoah Mountain, along with an increase in active management across the GWNF. The Stakeholders have been working with the Forest Service to identify opportunities for appropriate management activities and show support for projects initiated by the Forest Service. Together the Stakeholders support a balance between designation of special natural areas and use of prescribed burning and timber cutting to restore forest health and enhance wildlife habitat in less sensitive areas on our National Forest.
In September our campaign received significant media coverage when Blue Ridge Outdoors published “The Battle for Shenandoah Mountain,” an in-depth article by Andrew Jenner that traces the development of the Shenandoah Mountain Proposal from 2004 to the present. (See https://www.blueridgeoutdoors.com/environment/the-battle-for-shenandoah-mountain/).
Many have asked, “when will legislation be introduced?” We cannot give an exact answer. Once we have resolutions of support from key local governments and more active management in the National Forest underway, we will be ready to ask our elected officials to introduce legislation. Until then, we will keep up our efforts on all fronts!
Support from local governments is crucial to our success. This summer, we made a big step forward when the Augusta County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution in favor of our proposal. The City of Staunton had sent a letter of support in December 2017. We are continuing to work with Rockingham and Highland Counties and the City of Harrisonburg. Four of the five localities get municipal water from reservoirs on Shenandoah Mountain, and it is important that any legislation include provisions that reservoirs and related infrastructure can be maintained and expanded, if necessary. We have also made presentations to both Headwaters and Shenandoah Valley Soil and Water Conservation Districts to make sure their concerns are addressed.
This year we provided the public with opportunities to learn more about Shenandoah Mountain through first-hand experiences. We offered two butterfly hikes, led by Master Naturalist John Holden, and for the sixth year in a row, we partnered with Headwaters Master Naturalists to offer four wildflower hikes in April. All these outings were well attended.
We also recently joined with local organizations to observe the 70th anniversary of the Flood of 1949, a major flood caused by 15 inches of rain in the Reddish Knob area. This weather event caused a 25-foot high wall of water to hit the community of Stokesville, with devastating effects on homes, farms, and roads all the way downstream to Bridgewater, where three lives were lost. Flood survivors from communities along the North River have vivid memories of what happened. One important story involves 80 Augusta County 4-H’ers who were at summer camp on the North River just below Staunton Dam. When the river flooded their camp, washed out roads, and cut them off from any communication with the outside world, they had to hike over Lookout Mountain to escape the floodwaters. I interviewed flood survivors about this and other stories and put together a presentation that focused on the chain of events that happened on Shenandoah Mountain and downstream. Bridgewater Historical Society and FOSM sponsored a flood program in September with nearly 200 attending, and Sangerville Towers Ruritans sponsored a program in October with approximately 400 attending. The big takeaway from the program is that neighbors, organizations, and agencies helped victims of the flood in countless ways. These efforts to lift up the history of the area provided opportunities to connect with people from the communities along the edge of Shenandoah Mountain in a very meaningful way. Plus, permanent protection of the deep-rooted mature forests on the steep slopes of Shenandoah Mountain will help protect communities downstream from flooding in the future.
In addition to building local support for the Shenandoah Mountain Proposal, FOSM participates actively in the George Washington National Forest (GWNF) Stakeholder Collaborative Steering Committee. The Stakeholder Agreement of 2011 calls for permanent protection of core wild areas, like Shenandoah Mountain, along with an increase in active management across the GWNF. The Stakeholders have been working with the Forest Service to identify opportunities for appropriate management activities and show support for projects initiated by the Forest Service. Together the Stakeholders support a balance between designation of special natural areas and use of prescribed burning and timber cutting to restore forest health and enhance wildlife habitat in less sensitive areas on our National Forest.
In September our campaign received significant media coverage when Blue Ridge Outdoors published “The Battle for Shenandoah Mountain,” an in-depth article by Andrew Jenner that traces the development of the Shenandoah Mountain Proposal from 2004 to the present. (See https://www.blueridgeoutdoors.com/environment/the-battle-for-shenandoah-mountain/).
Many have asked, “when will legislation be introduced?” We cannot give an exact answer. Once we have resolutions of support from key local governments and more active management in the National Forest underway, we will be ready to ask our elected officials to introduce legislation. Until then, we will keep up our efforts on all fronts!
UPDATE: North Shenandoah Mountain Restoration and Management Project
Beech Lick Knob Wilderness Study Area by Briana Nolt
The long awaited draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for the North Shenandoah Mountain Project (NSMP) was released by the Forest Service in August. This large landscape-scale project is located in northwestern Rockingham County in Virginia and eastern Pendleton County in West Virginia. The project includes over 103,000 acres of the George Washington National Forest (GWNF).
Like the Lower Cowpasture project in Bath County, the aim of the NSMP is to improve watershed conditions, restore habitats for a variety of terrestrial and aquatic species, and increase forest resilience in the face of climate change. The NSMP includes active management actions integrated with prescribed burns to create open forest conditions. It will decommission nearly 14 miles of system roads to reduce stream sedimentation and protect riparian habitat for aquatic species. Project planners envision the replacement of approximately 15 culverts with aquatic organism passage structures and provide additional wood turtle nesting habitat and instream large woody debris for overwintering habitat, where appropriate.
The NSMP will work to increase yellow pine ecosystems in various places across the entire project areas including planting of Shortleaf pine, Pitch pine, and Table Mountain pine. The draft EA recommends planting American chestnut that is resistant to the Asian chestnut blight, where appropriate, in units already identified for reforestation. Lastly, the Forest Service plans to treat non-native invasive plant species across the project area to promote release of desired tree species.
VWC has been an active participant in the project. Mark Miller, VWC Executive Director, did remote culvert and stream crossing surveys, walked all the roads that area being considered for decommissioning, and worked with the Southern Environmental Law Center to review many of the harvest units. VWC also drafted comments for the project and worked on the joint comments submitted by the Stakeholder Collaborative.
Of course, our interest in the NSMP centers on the Plan-designated Beech Lick Knob Wilderness Study Area, a 6,000 acres gem. Beech Lick Knob is located on the north end of Shenandoah Mountain and protects the headwaters of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. The proposed wilderness protects several significant stands of old growth forest, some of which go as far back as the 1830s and provide significant cold water stream cover. The Virginia Department of Game and Island Fisheries recognizes five cold water streams in the Wilderness Study Area.
VWC plans to stay involved in the continued development of this project and the eventual designation of Beech Lick Knob as the first stand-alone wilderness designated on the GWNF since The Priest and Three Ridges were so designated in 2001.
Like the Lower Cowpasture project in Bath County, the aim of the NSMP is to improve watershed conditions, restore habitats for a variety of terrestrial and aquatic species, and increase forest resilience in the face of climate change. The NSMP includes active management actions integrated with prescribed burns to create open forest conditions. It will decommission nearly 14 miles of system roads to reduce stream sedimentation and protect riparian habitat for aquatic species. Project planners envision the replacement of approximately 15 culverts with aquatic organism passage structures and provide additional wood turtle nesting habitat and instream large woody debris for overwintering habitat, where appropriate.
The NSMP will work to increase yellow pine ecosystems in various places across the entire project areas including planting of Shortleaf pine, Pitch pine, and Table Mountain pine. The draft EA recommends planting American chestnut that is resistant to the Asian chestnut blight, where appropriate, in units already identified for reforestation. Lastly, the Forest Service plans to treat non-native invasive plant species across the project area to promote release of desired tree species.
VWC has been an active participant in the project. Mark Miller, VWC Executive Director, did remote culvert and stream crossing surveys, walked all the roads that area being considered for decommissioning, and worked with the Southern Environmental Law Center to review many of the harvest units. VWC also drafted comments for the project and worked on the joint comments submitted by the Stakeholder Collaborative.
Of course, our interest in the NSMP centers on the Plan-designated Beech Lick Knob Wilderness Study Area, a 6,000 acres gem. Beech Lick Knob is located on the north end of Shenandoah Mountain and protects the headwaters of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. The proposed wilderness protects several significant stands of old growth forest, some of which go as far back as the 1830s and provide significant cold water stream cover. The Virginia Department of Game and Island Fisheries recognizes five cold water streams in the Wilderness Study Area.
VWC plans to stay involved in the continued development of this project and the eventual designation of Beech Lick Knob as the first stand-alone wilderness designated on the GWNF since The Priest and Three Ridges were so designated in 2001.
The Virginia Wilderness Committee Welcomes New Board Members
At our Annual Meeting in August, the VWC Board voted in two new board members, Bart Koelher and Tim Mahoney, and look forward to the tremendous amount of expertise that they will bring to the organization.
Bart Koehler has been VWC's Special Advisor for about a decade and has been helping us unofficially for several decades. Bart is one of the most respected wilderness leaders in the United States. He worked 19 years with The Wilderness Society (TWS) and from 1999-2011, serving as Director and then Senior Wilderness Campaign Director of TWS’s Wilderness Support Center in Durango, Colorado. After having been the Coordinator of the American Wilderness Project for several years, Bart has been learning how to retire while being on the boards of directors of a number of wilderness conservation groups across the country.
During the course of his four-decade career, he has helped many bedrock grassroots groups (including the VWC) secure permanent protections for numerous areas encompassing over 10 million acres of public land - from Wyoming to Alaska, and eastward from Nevada to New Hampshire. Bart helped VWC gain 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 VWC go back to the 1970s when he learned the ropes of wilderness advocacy from our own Ernie Dickerman, former VWC Board president and widely regarded as “the father of Eastern Wilderness.” After Ernie’s death, Bart helped VWC team up with mountain bike leaders to develop the Shenandoah Mountain National Scenic Area Proposal, and he continues to advise us. In his spare time Bart is also a singer-songwriter. One special song by Bart is "The Ernie Song," which he wrote as a tribute to our own Ernie Dickerman.
Tim Mahoney had a 40-year career in conservation and public lands, working for Sierra Club, TWS, and the Pew Charitable Trusts, and as a private consultant representing groups such as the League of Conservation Voters, Campaign for American Wilderness, Alaska Native Corporations, and land conservancies in the Northwest and Southern California. In all, he has worked on wilderness legislation for lands in 40 states, including the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, the 1984 Virginia Wilderness Act, and the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. The nature of this work involved coordinating with leaders in state and local campaigns, direct contacts with members of Congress, the various presidential administrations and their staffs, determining strategy for campaigns, and direct negotiation.
Tim first learned from and worked with Ernie Dickerman in the 1970s when he was a TWS staff member. In 1991, he and his wife Sharon Newsome purchased a log home on Little North Mountain in Shenandoah County, with a sweeping view of the Valley, Massanutten Mountain, and the Blue Ridge. They moved full time to the Valley following his retirement from PEW in 2015, where they now live with their little dog Max and Tim’s two Kubotas. Tim is active in the local Take-a-Hike group and as a member of Friends of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River.
Bart Koehler has been VWC's Special Advisor for about a decade and has been helping us unofficially for several decades. Bart is one of the most respected wilderness leaders in the United States. He worked 19 years with The Wilderness Society (TWS) and from 1999-2011, serving as Director and then Senior Wilderness Campaign Director of TWS’s Wilderness Support Center in Durango, Colorado. After having been the Coordinator of the American Wilderness Project for several years, Bart has been learning how to retire while being on the boards of directors of a number of wilderness conservation groups across the country.
During the course of his four-decade career, he has helped many bedrock grassroots groups (including the VWC) secure permanent protections for numerous areas encompassing over 10 million acres of public land - from Wyoming to Alaska, and eastward from Nevada to New Hampshire. Bart helped VWC gain 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 VWC go back to the 1970s when he learned the ropes of wilderness advocacy from our own Ernie Dickerman, former VWC Board president and widely regarded as “the father of Eastern Wilderness.” After Ernie’s death, Bart helped VWC team up with mountain bike leaders to develop the Shenandoah Mountain National Scenic Area Proposal, and he continues to advise us. In his spare time Bart is also a singer-songwriter. One special song by Bart is "The Ernie Song," which he wrote as a tribute to our own Ernie Dickerman.
Tim Mahoney had a 40-year career in conservation and public lands, working for Sierra Club, TWS, and the Pew Charitable Trusts, and as a private consultant representing groups such as the League of Conservation Voters, Campaign for American Wilderness, Alaska Native Corporations, and land conservancies in the Northwest and Southern California. In all, he has worked on wilderness legislation for lands in 40 states, including the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, the 1984 Virginia Wilderness Act, and the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. The nature of this work involved coordinating with leaders in state and local campaigns, direct contacts with members of Congress, the various presidential administrations and their staffs, determining strategy for campaigns, and direct negotiation.
Tim first learned from and worked with Ernie Dickerman in the 1970s when he was a TWS staff member. In 1991, he and his wife Sharon Newsome purchased a log home on Little North Mountain in Shenandoah County, with a sweeping view of the Valley, Massanutten Mountain, and the Blue Ridge. They moved full time to the Valley following his retirement from PEW in 2015, where they now live with their little dog Max and Tim’s two Kubotas. Tim is active in the local Take-a-Hike group and as a member of Friends of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River.
We celebrate 50 years of the Virginia Wilderness Committee!
We had a great turnout at our 50th Anniversary Celebration, held at Ivy Creek Natural Area in Charlottesville, on Saturday, August 3. In attendance were seven of our past presidents, including Sally Soest who traveled all the way from Seattle to join us!
At the event we presented our first annual Cow Knob Salamander Award to the very deserving, Jim Murray. As David Carr noted in his presentation of the award, Jim was an original member of the Virginia Wilderness Committee (VWC), has served on the Board continuously since 1969, and has served as President twice during his tenure on the Board. He and his late wife, Bess, also edited the VWC Newsletter for many years.
We were also fortunate to have Rupert Cutler share with us his experiences with The Wilderness Society and the U.S. Forest Service. He gave a wonderful and informative presentation on American environmental history and the role he played in it, as well as highlighting the importance of groups like VWC. “The need for local advocacy groups like the Virginia Wilderness Committee and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy to defend every wilderness area will continue as long as there is a wilderness system, or else the system will be degraded—its wilderness character will be lost--by pressures for development.”
If you missed Rupert's talk, you can find it here.
VWC is proud of the role it has played in ensuring the permanent protection of 215,000 acres of public land in Virginia. As we move into our second half-century, we plan to continue the work of our predecessors and persevere as the principal wilderness advocate in Virginia.
At the event we presented our first annual Cow Knob Salamander Award to the very deserving, Jim Murray. As David Carr noted in his presentation of the award, Jim was an original member of the Virginia Wilderness Committee (VWC), has served on the Board continuously since 1969, and has served as President twice during his tenure on the Board. He and his late wife, Bess, also edited the VWC Newsletter for many years.
We were also fortunate to have Rupert Cutler share with us his experiences with The Wilderness Society and the U.S. Forest Service. He gave a wonderful and informative presentation on American environmental history and the role he played in it, as well as highlighting the importance of groups like VWC. “The need for local advocacy groups like the Virginia Wilderness Committee and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy to defend every wilderness area will continue as long as there is a wilderness system, or else the system will be degraded—its wilderness character will be lost--by pressures for development.”
If you missed Rupert's talk, you can find it here.
VWC is proud of the role it has played in ensuring the permanent protection of 215,000 acres of public land in Virginia. As we move into our second half-century, we plan to continue the work of our predecessors and persevere as the principal wilderness advocate in Virginia.