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TOPIC: West Virginia Wilderness Legislation Intoduced
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/7ff28f0a551d77ca?hl=en
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Feb 1 2008 9:04 am
From: t

ENTS: I actually thought the WV delegation would wait until next year
to introduce the bill but since our Republican legisator signed on it
is a go.
Turner Sharp

Rahall bill adds wilderness protection

Christian Giggenbach
Register-Herald Reporter

Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., introduced a bill Tuesday that designates
seven parcels of federal land within the Monongahela National Forest
as wilderness locations and, if passed by Congress, would grant the
areas certain protections from outside developments such as windfarms.

Reps. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.,
joined Rahall, who chairs the House Nature Resources Committee, in
sponsoring the wilderness legislation designed to protect nearly
50,000 acres.

The bill would allow for the expansion of three existing federal
wilderness areas within the Monongahela National Forest and establish
four new ones, according to Rahall's office. The bill would
permanently allow the U.S. Forest Service to manage the land with an
emphasis on non-motorized settings and a natural environment.

Five federally designated wilderness areas covering 78,0410 acres
already exist in the Monongahela National Forest at Otter Creek, Dolly
Sods, Laurel Fork North and South, and the Cranberry Wilderness.

"This legislation is about the heart and soul of West Virginia. Our
southern mountains have been yielding their coal for generations and
our northern ridge lines are being targeted by the merchants of wind
power," Rahall said. "More development is coming, and in most cases,
it is welcomed."

However, Rahall said future generations will judge us "on our
stewardship of this land" because our "roots are planted deep in our
misty hollers and our majestic mountains."

"So I believe that it is of paramount importance that we, once again,
set aside some of God's handiwork in our forests by preserving these
federal lands in their pristine state," he said.

In 2006, the U.S. Forest Service updated its land management plan and
evaluated 18 roadless areas in the Mon for potential wilderness
designation. Of those, seven have been included in Rahall's bill.

The areas under consideration are: Big Draft, a 5,242 acres located
five miles from White Sulphur Springs; Cheat Mountain, 7,955 acres,
including a waterfall called High Falls of Cheat; Cranberry Expansion,
adding 12,032 acres to the Cranberry Wilderness; Dolly Sods Expansion,
adding 7,215 acres to the existing wilderness; Dry Fork Expansion,
adding 740 acres to the Otter Creek Wilderness area; Roaring Plains
West, 6,820 acres located southwest of Dolly Sods; and Spice Run, a
proposed 7,124-acre area near the western boundary of the Greenbrier
River.

-- E-mail: cgiggenbach@

register-herald.com