VWC Newsletter - March 1997
New Wilderness Campaign Coming to Southwest Virginia
by Ernie Dickerman
A new southwest Virginia wilderness campaign on the Jefferson National Forest is being mounted. This area is the Ninth Congressional District represented by Congressman Rick Boucher (D-VA9), which generally covers everything southwest of Roanoke and west of the Blue Ridge, plus Craig County northwest of Roanoke.
It is too long since there has been an active wilderness campaign in Virginia, a fact due to severely unfavorable political conditions. It is true that with the well known situation in the present 105th Congress—successor to the notorious 104th Congress—it is not expected that any Virginia wilderness bill will be introduced in this 105th Congress. However, this is a highly favorable time to begin a southwest Virginia wilderness campaign because of the widespread public interest there in a new and better Jefferson National Forest management plan, a task which will certainly run into next year, 1998. A few new wilderness candidates have been preliminarily identified, with field work needed to add a few more choice areas wanting the permanent protection of the Wilderness Act. Further, with a new Jefferson Forest management plan in the process of being worked out, this is the time to influence the Forest Service to agree to support wilderness designation for specific areas.
Involved in the two objectives of the southwest Virginia wilderness campaign and the making of a new Jefferson Forest management plan are such organizations at the Virginia Wilderness Committee, Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, Southern Environmental Law Center of Charlottesville, Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition, and local groups.
Why protect wilderness? Most of us want it protected because where outstandingly fine wild areas are known on the public lands we want them to stay that way—not torn up by logging, cut up by roads, the streams damned, mined for minerals, oil and gas usually available elsewhere, not otherwise "developed". Americans have come to realize the importance of maintaining the natural condition of our forests, our wetlands, our deserts, our mountains, i.e., to understand that maintaining biodiversity, ecological integrity, is essential for human health and a satisfying life. Wildlands protected by the Wilderness Act is an effective way to keep these benefits. Wilderness Act protection is multiple use, by water conservation, by assuring undisturbed wildlife habitat, by keeping high grade open space available for quality outdoor recreation, by preserving the living, green forest with its continuing, multiple uses.
Have you a favorite area on the Jefferson Forest in southwest Virginia that it would please you to be given the protection of the Wilderness Act—to be considered as a candidate for the National Wilderness System? If you do, just telephone Ernie Dickerman at (540) 337-8000 (his home), preferably in the evening, and we will see that it gets considered.
Planning on the Jefferson
by Jim Murray
The Interdisciplinary Team (IDT) of the Jefferson National Forest is continuing their efforts to set the ground rules for the revision of their Forest Management Plan. A series of meetings is underway to complete a final Summary of Issues, essentially a list of things to take into consideration when evaluating alternative uses of forest lands. On March 10th Bess and Jim Murray attended the session that dealt with Roadless Areas and New Wilderness Areas, Wild and Scenic Rivers, and Old Growth Communities.
The Roadless Inventory, now in draft form, represents a catalog of areas that the Jefferson planners consider to be "eligible" for recommendation for wilderness designation. As most of you know, this inventory includes many, but not all, of the areas that are likely to be proposed for wilderness designation by the VWC. The development of the Management Plan will entail consideration of a number of alternatives that will present different lists of these areas as "suitable" for recommendation. The meeting on the 10th was called to decide what measures are to be used in deciding on the suitability of individual areas. After much discussion, in which everyone was allowed to participate, the IDT voted to use three criteria for consideration:
The group also discussed wild and scenic river designation. The eligibility criteria are laid down by national fiat for the three classes of streams: Wild, Scenic, and Recreational. Relatively few rivers will be assessed for various bureaucratic reasons. Those that are "eligible" will again be judged according to their "suitability" under various alternative plans.
Finally the IDT considered Old Growth Forest Types. There are 10 of these, most of them embracing a number of CISC forest types. CISC is the official Forest Service classification in their "Continuous Inventory of Stand Condition". The age designations defining old growth will not be the same as those for the George Washington, but have not been finalized yet.
Forest Watch Report
by Lynn Cameron
Skidmore Fork Road Closures Proposed
In the aftermath of Hurricane Fran, the Forest Service discovered that many miles of forest roads were ripped out by flooding streams, some nearly beyond repair. Others can be repaired, but at great cost. Given the budget cutbacks the Forest Service has faced in the past few years and the widespread damage to roads, rangers in the Dry River District decided to concentrate their efforts and scarce resources on repairing roads that are most important to forest users and management functions. In a recent scoping notice, the District proposed to close several miles of dead-end Forest roads in the Skidmore Fork Roadless Area.
For years the Virginia Wilderness Committee has been saying that the George Washington National Forest has too many roads. The latest count on the GW, as shown in the EIS that accompanied the current plan, is 1,760 miles of Forest development roads, nearly all of which are dirt or gravel. These roads chop the forest into fragments, erode into streams, and allow access for dumping garbage, poaching, and other illegal activities. The human disturbance that accompanies road access deprives many species, such as neotropical migratory songbirds and black bear, of the remote, undisturbed habitat they need.
The proposal to close roads is a very positive move on the part of the Forest Service. In addition to the benefits to wildlife and the integrity of the forest, closure of the Skidmore Fork roads has an additional benefit. The Skidmore Fork watershed supplies a large portion of the municipal water supply for Harrisonburg. Closing the roads will improve the quality of water for City residents.
Unfortunately, off-road vehicle clubs from Baltimore, Richmond, and Virginia Beach are opposing these road closures. These groups don’t want to lose access to a single mile of forest road. It is important that environmentalists be heard on this issue. To date, the majority of written comments received have been from off-road motor vehicle club members.
Although the closing date for comments on this scoping notice was Feb. 4, it is not too late to write and register your opinion. Address you letter to: Steve Parsons, Dry River District Ranger, 112 North River Road, Bridgewater, VA 22812.
More Good News on Laurel Fork
In August, 1996, eight environmental groups and Thornwood Gas, Inc. signed an agreement that 1) Thornwood would not develop the permanent gas leases they own on in the 10,000-acre Laurel Fork Special Management Area in Highland County, one of the most special natural areas in Virginia, and 2) environmental organizations would not oppose the construction of a 32-mile gas pipeline from Witmer, WV to Rt. 250 near the Old House Picnic Area west of Monterey. The Virginia Wilderness Committee feared that construction of the new pipeline would open up development of one of the most special natural areas in Virginia. This landmark agreement, negotiated by the Southern Environmental Law Center, set our fears to rest, at least for the portion of Laurel Fork leased by Thornwood.
Now there is more good news about Laurel Fork. GW Forest Supervisor Bill Damon made a forward-thinking proposal in the summer of 1996 to amend the GW Forest Plan to remove the remainder of Laurel Fork from mineral leasing. This proposal has just been signed by the Regional Forester. Now all of Laurel Fork will be safe from the fragmentation, roadbuilding, and other destructive effects of mineral development. Bill Damon and Forest Planner Dave Plunkett, who orchestrated the proposal, deserve a big thank you for this action! This is truly progressive forest management!
Forest Service Bulldozer Invades St. Mary’s Wilderness
Flooding from by Hurricane Fran in Sept. 1996 caused the St. Mary’s (Wild and Scenic) River to choose a new course as it flowed out of the congressionally-designated Wilderness area and onto the floodplain downstream. In an attempt to repair Forest Road 41 outside the Wilderness area, the Forest Service engineering staff got carried away and bulldozed a 400 ft. long berm of river jack along the St. Mary’s River inside the Wilderness boundary. This action violated the Virginia Wilderness Act, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the National Environmental Protection Act, and the Clean Water Act.
To the agency’s credit the Forest Service acknowledged its mistake. The question now is what to do about the 400’ man-made berm. To leave it there will be a continuing violation of the Clean Water Act. To remove it using heavy equipment will violate the Virginia Wilderness Act. To remove all or part of it using hand tools and manual labor would take an army of workers months to complete. It would seem that the Forest Service has created a problem that has no easy solutions. The Virginia Wilderness Committee advocates respecting the spirit and intent of the Wilderness Act and not using heavy equipment to "fix" the mistake in the Wilderness area.
The obvious question is ,"How did this happen? How did the agency charged with managing and protecting our Wilderness areas violate the laws it is supposed to enforce?" Apparently, some Forest Service personnel do not know what can and can’t be done in Wilderness areas. In response to the mistake, Bill Damon, GW Forest Supervisor, provided us with a written plan for preventing a mistake of this magnitude in the future. The plan describes 8 actions taken, including an interdisciplinary team review of flood repair policies and a letter to all District rangers emphasizing the need for extra care and sensitivity in wilderness areas. Damon assured us that "the individual(s) responsible are extremely unlikely to ever make such a mistake again".
Membership
Membership in the VWC is open to anyone who believes in the need for preservation of wilderness. To join, send a copy of a recent letter supporting wilderness written to a public official, OR send $5.00 or more per year to the VWC Treasurer, address below. Thank you.
OfficersPRESIDENT Lynn Cameron 95 Hope St., Harrisonburg, VA 22801 (703) 434-1318
VICE PRES Elizabeth Murray Rt. 18, Box 27, Charlottesville, VA 22901 (804)973-6693
TREASURER Julie Simpson P.O. 11 E Monmouth, Winchester, VA 22601 (703) 662-7043
SECRETARY Charles Pierce 211 Evening Lane, Winchester, VA 22603 (703) 667-3184
by Ernie Dickerman
A new southwest Virginia wilderness campaign on the Jefferson National Forest is being mounted. This area is the Ninth Congressional District represented by Congressman Rick Boucher (D-VA9), which generally covers everything southwest of Roanoke and west of the Blue Ridge, plus Craig County northwest of Roanoke.
It is too long since there has been an active wilderness campaign in Virginia, a fact due to severely unfavorable political conditions. It is true that with the well known situation in the present 105th Congress—successor to the notorious 104th Congress—it is not expected that any Virginia wilderness bill will be introduced in this 105th Congress. However, this is a highly favorable time to begin a southwest Virginia wilderness campaign because of the widespread public interest there in a new and better Jefferson National Forest management plan, a task which will certainly run into next year, 1998. A few new wilderness candidates have been preliminarily identified, with field work needed to add a few more choice areas wanting the permanent protection of the Wilderness Act. Further, with a new Jefferson Forest management plan in the process of being worked out, this is the time to influence the Forest Service to agree to support wilderness designation for specific areas.
Involved in the two objectives of the southwest Virginia wilderness campaign and the making of a new Jefferson Forest management plan are such organizations at the Virginia Wilderness Committee, Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, Southern Environmental Law Center of Charlottesville, Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition, and local groups.
Why protect wilderness? Most of us want it protected because where outstandingly fine wild areas are known on the public lands we want them to stay that way—not torn up by logging, cut up by roads, the streams damned, mined for minerals, oil and gas usually available elsewhere, not otherwise "developed". Americans have come to realize the importance of maintaining the natural condition of our forests, our wetlands, our deserts, our mountains, i.e., to understand that maintaining biodiversity, ecological integrity, is essential for human health and a satisfying life. Wildlands protected by the Wilderness Act is an effective way to keep these benefits. Wilderness Act protection is multiple use, by water conservation, by assuring undisturbed wildlife habitat, by keeping high grade open space available for quality outdoor recreation, by preserving the living, green forest with its continuing, multiple uses.
Have you a favorite area on the Jefferson Forest in southwest Virginia that it would please you to be given the protection of the Wilderness Act—to be considered as a candidate for the National Wilderness System? If you do, just telephone Ernie Dickerman at (540) 337-8000 (his home), preferably in the evening, and we will see that it gets considered.
Planning on the Jefferson
by Jim Murray
The Interdisciplinary Team (IDT) of the Jefferson National Forest is continuing their efforts to set the ground rules for the revision of their Forest Management Plan. A series of meetings is underway to complete a final Summary of Issues, essentially a list of things to take into consideration when evaluating alternative uses of forest lands. On March 10th Bess and Jim Murray attended the session that dealt with Roadless Areas and New Wilderness Areas, Wild and Scenic Rivers, and Old Growth Communities.
The Roadless Inventory, now in draft form, represents a catalog of areas that the Jefferson planners consider to be "eligible" for recommendation for wilderness designation. As most of you know, this inventory includes many, but not all, of the areas that are likely to be proposed for wilderness designation by the VWC. The development of the Management Plan will entail consideration of a number of alternatives that will present different lists of these areas as "suitable" for recommendation. The meeting on the 10th was called to decide what measures are to be used in deciding on the suitability of individual areas. After much discussion, in which everyone was allowed to participate, the IDT voted to use three criteria for consideration:
- The number of acres, taking into consideration the type of present and possible future management, i.e. what are the current designations and what other types of management might be appropriate.
- Representation of ecosystems, i.e. does a particular area increase the range of forest types within the wilderness system.
- The average size of the areas.
The group also discussed wild and scenic river designation. The eligibility criteria are laid down by national fiat for the three classes of streams: Wild, Scenic, and Recreational. Relatively few rivers will be assessed for various bureaucratic reasons. Those that are "eligible" will again be judged according to their "suitability" under various alternative plans.
Finally the IDT considered Old Growth Forest Types. There are 10 of these, most of them embracing a number of CISC forest types. CISC is the official Forest Service classification in their "Continuous Inventory of Stand Condition". The age designations defining old growth will not be the same as those for the George Washington, but have not been finalized yet.
Forest Watch Report
by Lynn Cameron
Skidmore Fork Road Closures Proposed
In the aftermath of Hurricane Fran, the Forest Service discovered that many miles of forest roads were ripped out by flooding streams, some nearly beyond repair. Others can be repaired, but at great cost. Given the budget cutbacks the Forest Service has faced in the past few years and the widespread damage to roads, rangers in the Dry River District decided to concentrate their efforts and scarce resources on repairing roads that are most important to forest users and management functions. In a recent scoping notice, the District proposed to close several miles of dead-end Forest roads in the Skidmore Fork Roadless Area.
For years the Virginia Wilderness Committee has been saying that the George Washington National Forest has too many roads. The latest count on the GW, as shown in the EIS that accompanied the current plan, is 1,760 miles of Forest development roads, nearly all of which are dirt or gravel. These roads chop the forest into fragments, erode into streams, and allow access for dumping garbage, poaching, and other illegal activities. The human disturbance that accompanies road access deprives many species, such as neotropical migratory songbirds and black bear, of the remote, undisturbed habitat they need.
The proposal to close roads is a very positive move on the part of the Forest Service. In addition to the benefits to wildlife and the integrity of the forest, closure of the Skidmore Fork roads has an additional benefit. The Skidmore Fork watershed supplies a large portion of the municipal water supply for Harrisonburg. Closing the roads will improve the quality of water for City residents.
Unfortunately, off-road vehicle clubs from Baltimore, Richmond, and Virginia Beach are opposing these road closures. These groups don’t want to lose access to a single mile of forest road. It is important that environmentalists be heard on this issue. To date, the majority of written comments received have been from off-road motor vehicle club members.
Although the closing date for comments on this scoping notice was Feb. 4, it is not too late to write and register your opinion. Address you letter to: Steve Parsons, Dry River District Ranger, 112 North River Road, Bridgewater, VA 22812.
More Good News on Laurel Fork
In August, 1996, eight environmental groups and Thornwood Gas, Inc. signed an agreement that 1) Thornwood would not develop the permanent gas leases they own on in the 10,000-acre Laurel Fork Special Management Area in Highland County, one of the most special natural areas in Virginia, and 2) environmental organizations would not oppose the construction of a 32-mile gas pipeline from Witmer, WV to Rt. 250 near the Old House Picnic Area west of Monterey. The Virginia Wilderness Committee feared that construction of the new pipeline would open up development of one of the most special natural areas in Virginia. This landmark agreement, negotiated by the Southern Environmental Law Center, set our fears to rest, at least for the portion of Laurel Fork leased by Thornwood.
Now there is more good news about Laurel Fork. GW Forest Supervisor Bill Damon made a forward-thinking proposal in the summer of 1996 to amend the GW Forest Plan to remove the remainder of Laurel Fork from mineral leasing. This proposal has just been signed by the Regional Forester. Now all of Laurel Fork will be safe from the fragmentation, roadbuilding, and other destructive effects of mineral development. Bill Damon and Forest Planner Dave Plunkett, who orchestrated the proposal, deserve a big thank you for this action! This is truly progressive forest management!
Forest Service Bulldozer Invades St. Mary’s Wilderness
Flooding from by Hurricane Fran in Sept. 1996 caused the St. Mary’s (Wild and Scenic) River to choose a new course as it flowed out of the congressionally-designated Wilderness area and onto the floodplain downstream. In an attempt to repair Forest Road 41 outside the Wilderness area, the Forest Service engineering staff got carried away and bulldozed a 400 ft. long berm of river jack along the St. Mary’s River inside the Wilderness boundary. This action violated the Virginia Wilderness Act, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the National Environmental Protection Act, and the Clean Water Act.
To the agency’s credit the Forest Service acknowledged its mistake. The question now is what to do about the 400’ man-made berm. To leave it there will be a continuing violation of the Clean Water Act. To remove it using heavy equipment will violate the Virginia Wilderness Act. To remove all or part of it using hand tools and manual labor would take an army of workers months to complete. It would seem that the Forest Service has created a problem that has no easy solutions. The Virginia Wilderness Committee advocates respecting the spirit and intent of the Wilderness Act and not using heavy equipment to "fix" the mistake in the Wilderness area.
The obvious question is ,"How did this happen? How did the agency charged with managing and protecting our Wilderness areas violate the laws it is supposed to enforce?" Apparently, some Forest Service personnel do not know what can and can’t be done in Wilderness areas. In response to the mistake, Bill Damon, GW Forest Supervisor, provided us with a written plan for preventing a mistake of this magnitude in the future. The plan describes 8 actions taken, including an interdisciplinary team review of flood repair policies and a letter to all District rangers emphasizing the need for extra care and sensitivity in wilderness areas. Damon assured us that "the individual(s) responsible are extremely unlikely to ever make such a mistake again".
Membership
Membership in the VWC is open to anyone who believes in the need for preservation of wilderness. To join, send a copy of a recent letter supporting wilderness written to a public official, OR send $5.00 or more per year to the VWC Treasurer, address below. Thank you.
OfficersPRESIDENT Lynn Cameron 95 Hope St., Harrisonburg, VA 22801 (703) 434-1318
VICE PRES Elizabeth Murray Rt. 18, Box 27, Charlottesville, VA 22901 (804)973-6693
TREASURER Julie Simpson P.O. 11 E Monmouth, Winchester, VA 22601 (703) 662-7043
SECRETARY Charles Pierce 211 Evening Lane, Winchester, VA 22603 (703) 667-3184