Launching Sunday, June 1!
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Calling all amateur shutterbugs! Are you a casual camera person, part-time paparazzi, self-taught snapper? Have an awe-inspiring photo taken in Virginia Wilderness? The Virginia Wilderness Committee wants your submissions of Virginia Wilderness for the 2026 VWC Calendar Contest.

The VWC Calendar Contest launches June 1 and photograph submissions will be accepted through August 1. Contest entries will be judged by experts in the visual arts, who will select at least 15 photographs to feature in the 2026 VWC Calendar.

Winners of this contest will be notified by September 1, 2025. They will be featured in the 2026 VWC Calendar and will receive a free copy of the calendar. Our calendar will be sent in gratitude to all Sustaining Members (and above) of VWC. They can be purchased individually for $35.
           
Enter your photos today! 
 
Contest Rules
No Purchase, Payment, or Entry Fee Necessary to Enter or to Win. 
 
Step 1: Make sure your photos qualify
- Photo must be taken in or related in some way to a designated VA Wilderness
- Photos must be in digital JPEG or TIFF format
- Photo must be at least 13 inches on the shorter dimension
- Resolution of no less than 300dpi, low-resolution JPEGs will not be considered.
            - To find out an image’s DPI in Windows, right-click on the file name and select Properties > Details.
You’ll see the DPI in the Image section, labeled Horizontal Resolution and Vertical Resolution. On a
Mac, you need to open the image in Preview and select Tools > Adjust Size. It’s labeled Resolution.
- If people are pictured in the photos, they must be candid (posed shots will not be considered).
 
Step 2: Submit your photo (one entry per form)
-Save your photo file as YourLastName_VWC2026PhotoContest. If you submit more than one photograph/form, include 1, 2, 3, etc. at the end of each file name.
- Submit your photo using this form by August 1.
*If submitting multiple photos, submit the form for each entry separately.*
 
Note: By entering the contest, you are giving VWC permission to use the photos for publicity and promotion of Virginia Wilderness.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) introduced two bills to protect wilderness in Rockingham, Augusta, Highland, and Bath counties.

“We are lucky to have such beautiful natural resources in Virginia, and we need to do more to ensure that these lands are protected for future generations,” said the senators. “We’re proud to introduce this legislation to preserve wilderness in Rockingham, Augusta, Highland, and Bath counties, protect wildlife, and support local economies that depend on tourism and outdoor recreation.”

These additions were recommended by the U.S. Forest Service in 2014 and endorsed by members of the George Washington National Forest Stakeholder Collaborative, a group of forest users that started work together over a decade ago to agree on acceptable locations in the George Washington National Forest for wilderness, timber harvest, trails, and other uses. 

In 2023, the tourism economy directly employed 7,562 people and generated $842.5 million in expenditures in Augusta, Rockingham, Bath, and Highland counties, as well as Harrisonburg, Staunton, and Waynesboro.

Shenandoah Mountain Act

The Shenandoah Mountain Act would establish a 92,562-acre Shenandoah Mountain National Scenic Area (SMNSA) in Rockingham, Augusta, and Highland counties. National Scenic Areas protect the scenic, historic, recreational, and natural resources in specific areas and allow compatible uses such as outdoor recreation activities.

The SMNSA encompasses four wilderness areas—Skidmore Fork, Little River, Ramsey’s Draft, and Lynn Hollow—and establishes a wilderness area at Beech Lick Knob. It also includes headwaters for the Potomac and James Rivers and watersheds that provide municipal drinking water sources for Harrisonburg, Staunton, and other communities. The NSA designation would protect these rivers and streams from industrial development and safeguard populations of at-risk species, such as the Cow Knob and Shenandoah Mountain Salamander.

James Madison University scientists estimate that lands within the SMNSA proposal already generate $13.7 million per year in other local benefits, including the value of the water supply and energy savings, and that the designation of the SMNSA would further grow this value.

"Friends of Shenandoah Mountain is so pleased with the reintroduction of the Shenandoah Mountain Act. For decades, we've worked with folks who hunt, hike, paddle, fish, and ride mountain bikes in this landscape, and everyone agrees that a National Scenic Area designation strikes the right balance between recreation and preservation,” said Lynn Cameron, Co-Chair of Friends of Shenandoah Mountain.

Full text of the Shenandoah Mountain Act is available here.

Virginia Wilderness Additions Act

The Virginia Wilderness Additions Act would add 5,600 acres to the existing Rough Mountain and Rich Hole wilderness areas within the George Washington National Forest in Bath County.

"Expanding the Rough Mountain and Rich Hole Wilderness Areas honors decades of work by dozens of stakeholders, and results in a number of ecological, economic, and recreational benefits. The Virginia Wilderness Committee is grateful to Senators Kaine and Warner for this reintroduction,” said Ellen Stuart-Haentjens, Executive Director of the Virginia Wilderness Committee.

​Full text of the Virginia Wilderness Additions Act is available here.

A half-century-old highway battle is resurfacing at the West Virginia–Virginia border, as the Mountain State moves to extend Corridor H to the state line, creating pressure for Virginia to respond.

Local officials, conservationists and residents are warning that a major influx of truck traffic, environmental damage and potential economic disruption could follow — even if Virginia refuses to extend the highway.

​Corridor H, part of the Appalachian Development Highway System first envisioned in 1965, has long been a source of local tension. Advocacy groups like the Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley say the promise of economic development has not materialized, while the environmental and community impacts have only grown.

“Over the years, we have learned that there are much more effective and affordable ways to bring economic development to these communities,” the Alliance has stated.

When completed, the proposed 150-mile, four-lane highway would run from Interstate 79 at Weston, West Virginia, through the state's eastern mountains to the Virginia border at Route 48/55 west of Strasburg and then on to Interstate 81 near the junction with Interstate 66.

Much of the highway is already built in West Virginia, except for a final 6.8-mile stretch from Wardensville to the state line. The West Virginia Division of Highways is currently accepting public comment on plans to complete the stretch, with construction possible as early as late summer.

While West Virginia officials have said they are focused on completing the state's portion of the highway, conservationists and local residents argue the real strategy may be to pressure Virginia. By building a four-lane highway up to the state line, they say, West Virginia could create traffic and safety problems on Virginia’s narrow Route 55 — forcing Virginia to extend Corridor H east toward I-81 to deal with the fallout.

"It would force Virginia to deal with all this traffic and either improve upon the road or build Corridor H," said Loki Kern, campaign coordinator of the West Virginia group Friends of Blackwater. "What officials are hoping for is that it'll siphon traffic from I-81."

The West Virginia Division of Highways did not respond to questions asking them to define its rationale for potentially building the highway corridor to the state line.

Supporters of Corridor H argue that the highway will bring needed economic growth, better safety and faster access to hospitals and other essential services.

"Corridor H has made travel much safer than it ever was," said Alan Tomson, the mayor of Davis, West Virginia, at an April 22 public hearing. "It’s bringing people into the area, but it’s also allowing residents to get out — to reach hospitals, shopping and other destinations. It's been a real benefit."

In 2022, the Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors and the town of Strasburg passed resolutions reiterating long-standing opposition to Corridor H’s extension into Virginia, warning it would bring no benefit to local residents and cause irreversible harm to farms, historic sites and public-use facilities.

Those concerns remain today.

"If completed as envisioned by West Virginia legislators, this poorly planned highway expansion will bulldoze through the Virginia state line, into the George Washington National Forest, through the Cedar Creek drainage, and create a huge interstate exchange where the Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park now lies," the Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley said in a statement last week.

Shenandoah County supervisor Dennis Morris stated that local opposition to the highway dates back nearly a half-century to 1976.

"That was my first year on the Board of Supervisors and that was the first big issue I had to deal with," Morris said. "When they presented this plan, it was about as popular as hemorrhoids. Every time you turned around somebody’s business, somebody’s house, somebody’s neighbor, somebody’s family member was affected by it one way or the other."

Attempts to revive the project resurfaced between 1992 and 1995, when the Commonwealth Transportation Board floated new conceptual plans for Corridor H's extension into Virginia. However, Morris said strong opposition from residents, local governments and concerns about historical, environmental, and property impacts ultimately caused the plan to be scrapped once again by 1995.

Since then, Morris said, no money has been allocated and no concrete plans have moved forward on Virginia’s side.

But, Morris acknowledged that West Virginia’s efforts to push Corridor H to the border would inevitably send more truck and freight traffic flooding into Shenandoah County, whether or not Virginia chooses to extend the highway. He said the Route 55 corridor, in particular, could see a sharp increase in use, with safety, road maintenance and policing demands all likely to rise.

"We're going to have to deal with it," Morris said. "Definitely, we need to make some improvements. We can't just stick our heads in the sand and ignore it."

Virginia transportation officials are already preparing for the ripple effects. In a statement, Sandy Myers, communications manager for VDOT’s Staunton District, confirmed that no plans or development work have moved forward since Corridor H’s defeat in the 1990s.

"In 1993, the [Commonwealth Transportation Board] selected the location corridor for Corridor H in Virginia," Myers said. "Following the completion of a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement and receiving significant public opposition to building Corridor H on the recommended location in 1995, the CTB chose not to proceed with plans to build Corridor H in Virginia. No further study or development work has been done for Corridor H in Virginia since that time, including any connections from the West Virginia state line to I-81."

However, VDOT has launched a safety and operational analysis of Route 55, Myers said, expected to be completed by the end of this year.

"This analysis will consider programmed projects in the vicinity, including the development of Corridor H by WVDOH," Myers said.

Beyond traffic and development pressure, conservation groups are warning of major environmental consequences if Corridor H is extended.

Ellen Stuart-Haentjens, executive director of the Virginia Wilderness Committee, said the highway would carve into some of the most ecologically valuable parts of the George Washington National Forest, including the Great North Mountain area — a 6,681-acre region known for its mature forests, clean headwater streams and wildlife habitat.

"There could not just be impacts to the direct land adjoining that highway but to towns up and down it," she said. "There is likely to be more disruption to our headwater areas and to our headwater streams that just adds more stress to those systems. You can only put so much pressure on the environment and manipulate it so much."

Lynn Cameron, vice president of the Virginia Wilderness Committee, expressed concern about the environmental consequences of forest fragmentation caused by extending Corridor H to the state line. She said as climate change drives species to seek cooler, higher elevations further north, the Great North Mountain area serves as a vital passageway — one that could be severed by a four-lane highway.

"It fragments the forest. This whole Great North Mountain is part of a migratory corridor," she said.
Cameron said she feared impacts to the wood turtle, ground-nesting birds, such as the ovenbird, and other reptiles, mammals and plants that depend on unbroken habitat.

In addition to wildlife impacts, Wardensville residents at the April hearing voiced concern that blasting and runoff could jeopardize the town’s water supply. Groundwater and surface water flowing down Great North Mountain provide drinking water to Wardensville and parts of Virginia, and groups like Friends of Blackwater warn that damage to this fragile hydrology could have consequences far beyond the immediate construction zone.

"This might not be threatening Virginia at this present moment, but if the West Virginia government gets their highway, gets their project, it will be a problem for Virginians down the line, and there's no guarantee that it won't be built," Kern said.

Highway transition raises safety concerns

If built, the West Virginia portion of Corridor H would terminate just west of Great North Mountain’s crest, forcing eastbound vehicles from a four-lane highway directly onto Virginia’s narrow two-lane Route 55.

"The flaw I see in the design is funneling lots of potential traffic down into a two-lane right at the top of the mountain," said Malcolm Cameron, husband of Lynn Cameron of the Virginia Wildness Committee and a retired VDOT engineer. "Where we're all still going to be faster than we are now on Route 55, and that's already pretty dangerous."

Kern and Malcolm Cameron propose a more limited solution: improving Route 55 itself — straightening sharp curves, adding passing lanes and reinforcing the road to handle some additional truck volume without fundamentally altering the landscape.

"What I do think makes sense is safety improvements on 55," Malcolm Cameron said.

The Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley also criticized the proposed Corridor H route.

"This is not a suitable corridor for a major highway," the organization said in a statement. "It is a narrow mountain road with significant forest resources, headwater streams, historic sites and private homes and businesses, and community members in this area have already raised safety concerns."

A highway without a partner?

According to Stuart-Haentjens, what is missing from the discussion is real collaboration between West Virginia and Virginia.

"It's just the lack of input being taken by West Virginia from the Virginia side. It's just not being necessarily a good neighbor," she said.

"Building the highway right up to Virginia’s doorstep without collaboration is like planning a wedding without the groom," she said later.

Still, beyond the question of politics, she said, looms a broader question of what values Virginians — and Americans — are willing to fight for.

"We want clean water, we want clean air, we want all these things. If we continue to destroy the forests filtering the water for us and cleaning our air, giving us these green spaces, that is going to have a negative impact," Stuart-Haentjens said. "With this, it seems a lot of those things are being thrown to the wind. This might be one of these first big projects that allows the weakening of our collective determination on what we do or don't build in a national forest."

​The West Virginia Division of Highways is accepting public comments on the Wardensville-to-state-line extension through June 1, with submissions accepted online or by mail. Conservation groups like the Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley and Friends of Blackwater also encourage Virginians to contact their state and federal representatives — including U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, U.S. Rep. Ben Cline, and the regional offices of the Federal Highway Administration — to ensure Virginia’s interests are heard before further construction proceeds.

West Virginia moves to complete Corridor H to state border; Virginia plans for impacts | Nvdaily | nvdaily.com

Recent federal policy changes are aimed at increasing timber sales in our national forests. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi spoke with a research ecologist and wilderness advocate about how these directives could play out locally.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture declared an "Emergency Situation Determination" on nearly 60% of national forest lands across the country. In the memo, the secretary cites President Donald Trump's executive order calling for the expansion of American timber production, as well as wildfire, insect, and disease threats to forests, as justification for this action.

The emergency designation streamlines the process for U.S. Forest Service officials to 'treat' targeted areas. Treatment can include actions like commercial logging projects, replanting fire-impacted areas, and the salvage of dead trees. Following the memo, the acting associate chief of the U.S. Forest Service sent a letter to regional foresters directing them to increase the amount of timber offered to logging companies by 25% over the next four to five years.

The streamlining of this process can take a number of forms. In another guidance letter, regional foresters were instructed to "seek to minimize process requirements like scoping" and "reduce the number of acres surveyed" when analyzing projects.

ELLEN STUART-HAENTJENS: It's removing critical guardrails.

Ellen Stuart-Haentjens is the executive director of the Virginia Wilderness Committee. She previously worked for the U.S. Geological Survey. She explained that scoping goes well beyond conservationists just objecting to a project. It's a collaborative process by which organizations like hers and members of the public work together with the Forest Service to tailor projects like timber sales and prescribed burns.

STUART-HAENTJENS: A lot of times, it's not the entire project that we might oppose … but there might be certain parts of it that could be improved, or potentially there's an environmental test that hasn't been done yet in that area that needs to be done as part of the due process. …. We work, really, with them to make sure that these projects are done responsibly. And especially when the forest service is understaffed … you need to have other partners that have on-the-ground knowledge.

If the scoping and public comment periods end, and stakeholders are still dissatisfied with the project, then they can file a formal objection and have a hearing with the forest rangers. It's that entire process of dialogue, information-gathering, and challenge that the emergency designation seeks to circumvent.

Stuart–Haentjens reviewed the map which outlines the areas now labeled with this emergency designation. In our backyard, it includes large swaths of the George Washington, Jefferson, and Monongahela National Forests. Stuart–Haentjens said the map was created using two datasets – one showing wildfire risk levels, which were "low" or "moderate" in Virginia. The other flags areas that have insect or disease problems. That includes forests where the trees are healthy except for one species that's hit by a specific threat, such as beech bark disease or emerald ash borer.

STUART-HAENTJENS: They've been taken and put into this context for the memo of, "here are all these forests that present all these risks, and now there is an emergency." … They didn't look in there and say, "okay, so which of these areas now on our federal forest lands … are protected, like Ramseys Draft Wilderness and Saint Mary's Wilderness?" It was my read that they're just leaving that up, now, to the regional foresters, to hopefully just know all of this. And I do have a lot of confidence in our regional foresters and our rangers. However, they're also facing a lot of pressure to increase logging, and there's also this clause in the memo … that translates to … 50% of the project area can also include forests that are not supposedly under threat.

As we previously reported, the map appears to include many recreation areas, such as Switzer Lake, Hone Quarry, Fridley Gap, Sherando Lake, Seneca Rocks, and Spruce Knob. It includes places like the proposed Shenandoah Mountain National Scenic Area, which has been decades of stakeholder collaboration in the making and is awaiting congressional approval.

STUART-HAENTJENS: I don't think our regional foresters want to damage these areas, and I think that they'll do what they can not to, but they do have to increase logging by 25%. They're going to have to make compromises on what lands they decide to log and manage.

How much are we already logging in our national forests? Based on federal data available online, the Forest Service sold timber on over 6,000 acres of Monongahela National Forest land in the past four years. We don't have acreage numbers for the George Washington National Forest, but they sold close to the same amount of timber by volume in that four-year period.

STUART-HAENTJENS: They want to increase logging and timber sales in our national forests with a Forest Service that just lost a huge portion of its workforce, and was already understaffed prior to these layoffs.
ProPublica has reported that at least 2,000 probationary Forest Service employees were terminated in February. We reached out to the agency for an interview and were emailed a statement which reads, in part, "The USDA Forest Service stands ready to fulfill the Secretary’s vision of productive and resilient national forests outlined in the memorandum."

STUART-HAENTJENS: These lands are public lands. They're for the American public. … Our state organizations and our citizens should have a say, and be able to give input, on how they're managed.

How our regional foresters implement these new orders remains to be seen. The agency said they do not have forest-level information to share at this time.

Listen to interview here: ​Logging on national forest land slated to increase by 25%

Michael Martz 
Mar 11, 2025

Katherine “Katie” Steele could have been the person collecting fees from campers in Virginia’s national forests this spring or removing trash from campgrounds in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests. 

But she won’t because the U.S. Forest Service laid her off last month, along with 18 other probationary employees who lost their jobs in the first wave of layoffs that President Donald Trump’s new administration is carrying out as part of a sweeping effort to slash the federal government workforce. 

Steele, a Staunton resident who worked for nine months at Cave Mountain Lake in Natural Bridge in the Glenwood-Pedlar Ranger District, was one of four laid-off federal workers who appeared on MSNBC before Trump spoke to a joint session of Congress last week. She offered little hope that the Forest Service will replace her as visitors begin arriving at recreation areas in national forests in Virginia this spring. 

“The reality is, the Forest Service is now looking at closing recreation areas because we don’t have the staffing to provide the essential services anymore,” she said. “I don’t think they have any idea who we are and the essential work we do.”

Steele, in an interview on Monday, said the public is likely to notice after campgrounds open on April 1. 
“I was there cleaning the bathrooms and picking up trash, (ensuring) visitor safety and collecting fees for the government,” she said. “I expect folks can expect a lot more deferred maintenance and uncleaned facilities.” 
The Forest Service did not confirm the cuts in Virginia. However, an unnamed spokesperson said Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins “fully supports the President’s directive to improve government, eliminate inefficiencies and strengthen the USDA’s many services to the American people.”

The Forest Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, ultimately rehired four of the workers it had laid off, for a net loss of 15 in the two national forests that run along the spine of western Virginia, according to the Forest Service Council of the National Federation of Federal Employees. Nationally, the Forest Service laid off 1,376 union-represented workers among 2,000 employees that the administration has confirmed releasing under what the council termed the pretext of poor performance.

“The ones who actually go into the woods and do the work,” said Warner Vanderheul, president of the union council. 

It’s likely to get much worse. 

The Forest Service faces the potential loss of thousands more employees under a reduction-in-force plan that it must submit to Trump’s Office of Management and Budget by Thursday. E&E News reported that the agency would use a combination of layoffs and early retirements to eliminate 7,000 to 10,000 jobs, or up to one-third of its 30,000-member workforce. 

“I think the George Washington and Jefferson (National Forests) might be one of the first places where we start seeing the effects,” Vanderheul said on Monday. 

Before the cuts, the Forest Service employed about 230 people at the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, with about 60 job vacancies, the union said.
 
“The Forest Service has been operating on a very small budget with a very lean staff for years and years and years,” said Kristin Gendzier, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville.
“It’s nonsensical or illogical from an efficiency perspective,” Gendzier said. “It’s heart-wrenching from a humanitarian perspective.” 

“The national forests have to be a lot of things for everyone,” she said.

The federal cuts alarm conservation organizations that work with the Forest Service to help it manage more than 1.6 million acres of national forests in Virginia for recreational and commercial use, as well as environmental protection. The George Washington and Jefferson forests include nearly two dozen national wilderness areas that account for about 150,000 acres that include old growth forest. 

“It is quite concerning, not only for the Forest Service,” said Ellen Stuart-Haentjens of Richmond, executive director of the Virginia Wilderness Committee, which collaborates with the agency to balance the many sometimes competing goals for managing public lands. 

Stuart-Haentjens is concerned that the Trump administration is upsetting that balance in favor of using the national forests predominantly for timber, while rolling back regulations that protect other essential interests. 

“The regulations are in place not just for habitat and wildlife, but to keep our water clean,” she said. 

Genny Kotyk, a union steward for the Forest Service Council who works as a forester at the George Washington and Jefferson forests, said timber harvesting is a priority of the new administration, but predicted that the job cuts will affect the public more. 

“I can guess that the public is going to be more upset about recreation sites than timber sales,” Kotyk said. 

E&E News, citing unnamed sources, said the upcoming plan for slashing the Forest Service workforce through mass layoffs and early retirement is focusing primarily on the agency’s research and development efforts, as well as urban and community forestry. 

Joel Koci, a longtime board-certified arborist and educator in the Richmond area, said he expects the Trump administration also to reduce funding for urban forests that he called vital for protecting air quality, lowering heat and reducing storm runoff in populated areas. 

“Like anything else, when the budget gets targeted, recreation and conservation is the first place to cut, when it should be the last place to cut,” Koci said.​
​https://richmond.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/article_c3e325ac-fde2-11ef-bf91- af29bae691f6.html

We’ll be at this event hosted by SVBC:
Protect Our Public Lands: Letter-Writing Party
March 13th, 6:30–8:00 PM
The Perch, Harrisonburg
Virtual option available
Follow this link to register
Join us for an evening of advocacy and community at our letter-writing party! We’ll discuss the threats facing our public lands and how you can make your voice heard by writing to our Senators and Congresspeople. We’ll provide everything you need—including information, advocacy best practices, and materials for your letters. Bring your laptop if you’d prefer to type, and we’ll print your letter for you.
Event Schedule (you can also drop in as you like):
10-Minute Introduction: Learn why protecting our public lands matters and how to write an effective letter.
30-Minute Writing Sprint: A bit of quiet time to draft your letters. You can stay until 8p and write your letter if you’d like
20-Minute Social Time: Head to Sage Bird for more conversation and connect with fellow outdoor advocates. 
This is a casual, drop-in event—snacks and drinks provided. Can’t make it in person? Join us virtually or write from home!
We hope to see you there!

On Saturday March 1st, the White House issued an Executive Order for the “Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production”.

The order directs the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior to issue new guidance within the next 30 days to accelerate timber harvesting on federal lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), with the goal to “fully exploit our domestic timber supply.”

This executive order intends to remove compliance with the Endangered Species Act, bypassing critical protections for Virginia’s most vulnerable animals and plants. There’s no way to increase timber production without targeting old-growth and mature forest stands that do the crucial work of providing habitat for wildlife, filtering municipal drinking water, providing recreational opportunities, enhancing wildfire resilience, and absorbing and storing the carbon necessary to fight climate change. It’s also unclear how timber sales could be planned, administered, and implemented when the government has just dismissed thousands of Forest Service employees.

These public lands are for all of us, held in trust for the common good. If you hunt, hike, fish, paddle, picnic, or bird watch on public lands, this executive order has imminent consequences for the wild places you currently enjoy using. Once these trees are cut and sold, your forests are lost for a human lifetime.

Since its formation in 1969, the Virginia Wilderness Committee has been the driving force behind federal legislation that permanently protects Virginia's most outstanding wild areas. Our hard work has resulted in the designation of 23 Wilderness and three National Scenic areas on the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests (NF), totaling over 155,000 acres of permanently protected NF land in Virginia managed by the USFS. These designations ensure that these special places remain perpetually off limits for energy development and timber harvesting; however, the Commonwealth’s remaining 1.65 million acres of National Forest could be targeted for exploitation under this new Executive Order.

With our federal lands under threat, and 30 days until the first Executive Order deadline, time is of the essence. Send a message to your Senators and Representatives today, using our suggested draft below. Urge them to push back against the direction set by President Trump’s March 1st Executive Orders on timber production.
Let your congressperson know today your #PublicLands are #WorthMoreStanding.

Sincerely,
Ellen Stuart-Haentjens
Executive Director VWC
[email protected]

Click below for your Congress members' contact information.

Virginia Senators
Tim Kaine Contact page
Mark Warner Contact Page

Virginia Representatives
1st District Robert Wittman Contact page
2nd District Jennifer Kiggans Contact page
3rd District Bobby Scott Congress page
4th District Jennifer McClellan Contact page
5th District John McGuire Contact page
6th District Ben Cline Contact page
7th District Eugene Vindman Contact page
8th District Don Beyer Contact page
9th District Morgan Griffith Contact page


VWC encourages you to use the following draft letter to contact your Senators and Representative.

Dear Senator/Representative XXX:

The White House’s Executive Order to expand American timber production seeks to remove compliance with the Endangered Species Act, ease restrictions on necessary environmental regulations that “impose an undue burden on timber production”, and “fully exploit our domestic timber supply.”

There’s no way to speed approval of timber sales or increase timber production without targeting old-growth and mature forest stands that do the crucial work of providing habitat for wildlife, filtering municipal drinking water, providing recreational opportunities, enhancing wildfire resilience, and absorbing and storing the carbon necessary to fight climate change.

These public lands are for all of us, held in trust for the common good. Once these trees are cut and sold, our forests will be lost for a human lifetime.

We urge you to push back against the direction set by President Trump’s March 1st Executive Orders on timber production.

Our Public Lands are #WorthMoreStanding.

​Sincerely,
Public Lands Owner/User

Press Release  
For Immediate Release: February 14, 2025 
Contact: Ellen Stuart-Haentjens (804) 814-8927

RICHMOND—Yesterday, the U.S. Forest Service informed the union representing that agency’s workers that 3,400 employees (ten percent of their workforce) would soon be terminated across the country. The Forest Service is responsible for managing millions of acres of public lands across Virginia and the United States under a mandate that protects the ecological, economic, and recreation values of our national forests.
   
In response, the Virginia Wilderness Committee’s Executive Director Ellen Stuart-Haentjens released the following statement:
 
“This action jeopardizes the many public benefits provided by our National Forests, like clean municipal water, outdoor recreation, and support for local economic development. These lands are held in trust for the common good, and further workforce reductions - particularly as we enter the busiest time of year for the Forest Service - will have real consequences for Virginians who love to hunt, fish, hike, camp, and paddle in our forests.
 
“The Virginia Wilderness Committee has worked shoulder-to-shoulder with many talented employees of the George Washington-Jefferson National Forest over the years, and we hope to see this action reversed so that we can continue partnering with them on maintaining and improving forest health.”
 
                                                                                      ### 
Organized in 1969, the Virginia Wilderness Committee (VWC) works 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. The Virginia Wilderness Committee is a 501(C)3 non-profit citizens' group.  

12/15 Update
St. Mary's trail and St. Mary's Gorge trail are now open.

12/12 Update
The Big Level fire is currently 1,627 acres and 25% contained. Yesterday’s precipitation had a major dampening effect on the fire area. This will render smaller fuel unavailable for ignition. Larger fuels, such as stumps, however, may continue to smolder despite the moisture. As such fire management personnel will inspect the perimeter to identify any lingering hot spots that may threaten the line. Further fire spread is unanticipated, but the perimeter must still be protected from the possibility of smoldering fuels fanning back to life in the coming days and flipping an ember over the line.

12/10 Update
Big Level Fire is currently at 1,965 acres with 84 personnel and its 12% contained. The incident is being managed by a Forest Service Type 3 team. Today's crews will improve containment features along the Coal Road and the Bald Mountain Jeep Trail. Engines will be actively patrolling the Coal Road as well. With rain yesterday and precipitation possible again, this will give the crews a valuable time window to improve containment lines. For further information, refer to the GWJNF website, follow us on Facebook or contact the Glenwood and Pedlar Ranger District at 540-291-2188.

12/9 Update
​Big Level Fire is currently at 1,900 acres and 10% contained. Today Crews will improve containment features along the Coal Road and the Bald Mountain Jeep Trail. Engines will be actively patrolling, and aviation support will be on call as weather allows. Today, rain is expected to moderate fire behavior. The following areas are temporarily closed to all public use due to the Big Levels Fire to allow for public and firefighter safety (CFR 261.53, 261.54 & 261.55):
• Cold Springs Trail (FT# 524)
• Cellar Mountain Trail (FT#587)
• Bald Mountain Jeep Trail (FSR#162)
• Bald Mountain Spur Road (FSR#162A)
• Saint Mary's Trail (FT#500)
• Saint Mary's Gorge Trail (FT#500B)
• The national forest system lands north of the Saint Mary’s Trail (#500) and within the area bounded by the Bald Mountain Jeep Trail (FSR#162) and the Coal Road (FSR#42) are also CLOSED.