VWC Newsletter - November 2014

The George Washington National Forest:
WE HAVE A PLAN AND IT IS GOOD!
After three long, anxious years of delay, the Land Management Plan for the 1,100,000 acre George Washington National Forest (GWNF) was released on Nov. 18, 2014. The news is mostly positive and highly flattering to VWC.
* WILDERNESS AREAS & NATIONAL SCENIC AREA: For the first time ever, the Forest Service has recommended a National Scenic Area: The plan recommends VWC’s 90,000-acre Shenandoah Mountain Proposal, a combination of National Scenic Area (NSA) and new and existing Wilderness Areas (WA). NSA designation confers nearly as much protection as Wilderness, allowing only existing infrastructure and mtn. biking. Embedded within the recommended NSA are a new WA within the NSA, 9,500 acre Little River, and a 6,100 acre addition to the already established Ramseys Draft WA. This is the largest, mostly unfragmented chunk of forest east of the Mississippi, outstanding for its ecological richness. It is also the largest national forest NSA proposal in the East.
In addition, the new plan recommends another entirely new WA at the northern edge of Rockingham County, 5,700 acre Beech Lick Knob, and additions to existing WAs Rich Hole (4600 acres), Rough Mountain (1,000 acres) and St. Mary’s West (300 acres).
According to GWNF Supervisor Tom Speaks, this unprecedented success is due in large part to the Stakeholders Group that VWC Field Director Mark Miller has helped to establish and guide. Working with John Hancock of MeadWestvaco, Marek Smith of The Nature Conservancy, representatives from VA DGIF, hunters, mountain bikers, equestrians, hikers, and many others, over several years they hammered out an agreement around the idea of protected core habitats with more managed areas outside those cores. VWC Vice president Lynn Cameron has also built wide and deep local support for the Shenandoah Mountain Proposal through years of outreach efforts. The plan does allow some logging, prescribed burning, and biomass harvesting, but the threat of widespread gas drilling is gone!
* FRACKING: The Forest Service took the courageous step of stopping all oil and gas leasing on 84% of the GWNF, well over 900,000 acres – virtually all the acreage on which the government controls mineral rights. Of the remaining acreage, 167,000 acres with privately owned mineral rights, over which the Forest Service has little authority, are scattered across the GWNF. Some of these rights were sold in the early 20th century and can hardly be traced. No fracking is currently occurring on or adjacent to the GWNF.
*ATLANTIC COAST PIPELINE: The plan has no direct relationship to the 550 mile fracked gas pipeline recently proposed by Dominion Resources, but we hope its rejection of industrialized energy in the GWNF will help us fight this massively destructive proposal, which cuts across some of the most sensitive areas of the GWNF. VWC is joining with other groups to oppose it. For more information, please go to VWC’s website at www.vawilderness.org.
A coalition of conservation groups put this full page ad in several Valley newspapers. The Forest Service deserves many thanks for its courageous decision to stop oil and gas leasing on the GWNF, and for its excellent Wilderness and NSA recommendations. PLEASE SEND THANKS TO:
Mr. Tom Speaks, Supervisor, GW/Jeff Natl. Forest
5163 Valleypointe Parkway
Roanoke, VA 24019-3050
Email: http://www.fs.usda.gov/contactus/gwj/about-forest/contactus
President: Jeremy Boggs, Charlottesville, VA …… [email protected]
Vice Pres: Lynn Cameron, Mt. Crawford, VA ….. [email protected]
Secretary: Pete Bsumek, Harrisonburg, VA …….. [email protected]
Treasurer: Karen Waterman, Stuarts Draft, VA…… [email protected],
Editor: Chris Bolgiano, Fulks Run, ……………… [email protected]
WE HAVE A PLAN AND IT IS GOOD!
After three long, anxious years of delay, the Land Management Plan for the 1,100,000 acre George Washington National Forest (GWNF) was released on Nov. 18, 2014. The news is mostly positive and highly flattering to VWC.
* WILDERNESS AREAS & NATIONAL SCENIC AREA: For the first time ever, the Forest Service has recommended a National Scenic Area: The plan recommends VWC’s 90,000-acre Shenandoah Mountain Proposal, a combination of National Scenic Area (NSA) and new and existing Wilderness Areas (WA). NSA designation confers nearly as much protection as Wilderness, allowing only existing infrastructure and mtn. biking. Embedded within the recommended NSA are a new WA within the NSA, 9,500 acre Little River, and a 6,100 acre addition to the already established Ramseys Draft WA. This is the largest, mostly unfragmented chunk of forest east of the Mississippi, outstanding for its ecological richness. It is also the largest national forest NSA proposal in the East.
In addition, the new plan recommends another entirely new WA at the northern edge of Rockingham County, 5,700 acre Beech Lick Knob, and additions to existing WAs Rich Hole (4600 acres), Rough Mountain (1,000 acres) and St. Mary’s West (300 acres).
According to GWNF Supervisor Tom Speaks, this unprecedented success is due in large part to the Stakeholders Group that VWC Field Director Mark Miller has helped to establish and guide. Working with John Hancock of MeadWestvaco, Marek Smith of The Nature Conservancy, representatives from VA DGIF, hunters, mountain bikers, equestrians, hikers, and many others, over several years they hammered out an agreement around the idea of protected core habitats with more managed areas outside those cores. VWC Vice president Lynn Cameron has also built wide and deep local support for the Shenandoah Mountain Proposal through years of outreach efforts. The plan does allow some logging, prescribed burning, and biomass harvesting, but the threat of widespread gas drilling is gone!
* FRACKING: The Forest Service took the courageous step of stopping all oil and gas leasing on 84% of the GWNF, well over 900,000 acres – virtually all the acreage on which the government controls mineral rights. Of the remaining acreage, 167,000 acres with privately owned mineral rights, over which the Forest Service has little authority, are scattered across the GWNF. Some of these rights were sold in the early 20th century and can hardly be traced. No fracking is currently occurring on or adjacent to the GWNF.
*ATLANTIC COAST PIPELINE: The plan has no direct relationship to the 550 mile fracked gas pipeline recently proposed by Dominion Resources, but we hope its rejection of industrialized energy in the GWNF will help us fight this massively destructive proposal, which cuts across some of the most sensitive areas of the GWNF. VWC is joining with other groups to oppose it. For more information, please go to VWC’s website at www.vawilderness.org.
A coalition of conservation groups put this full page ad in several Valley newspapers. The Forest Service deserves many thanks for its courageous decision to stop oil and gas leasing on the GWNF, and for its excellent Wilderness and NSA recommendations. PLEASE SEND THANKS TO:
Mr. Tom Speaks, Supervisor, GW/Jeff Natl. Forest
5163 Valleypointe Parkway
Roanoke, VA 24019-3050
Email: http://www.fs.usda.gov/contactus/gwj/about-forest/contactus
President: Jeremy Boggs, Charlottesville, VA …… [email protected]
Vice Pres: Lynn Cameron, Mt. Crawford, VA ….. [email protected]
Secretary: Pete Bsumek, Harrisonburg, VA …….. [email protected]
Treasurer: Karen Waterman, Stuarts Draft, VA…… [email protected],
Editor: Chris Bolgiano, Fulks Run, ……………… [email protected]