Preserve the Monangahela National Forest
Posted by Marc on November 8, 2005. Categories:
General
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This is your last chance to provide input to the Monongahela Forest Plan. The next time the Federal government will revist this plan will be in 20 Years. Terence Major sent me this information about the public comment period for the Monangahela's 20 year plan. Please provide your input so that we can continue to enjoy mountain adventures winthin the natural splendor of the Mon. After public comment and based on forest service recommendation only Congress can add land to the National Wilderness Preservation System. Wilderness designation protects an area from logging, mining, building of roads or other permanent structures and motorized use in perpetuity. Examples of Wilderness areas in West Virginia include Dolly Sods and Otter Creek. Only 9% of the Monongahela National Forest is permanently protected as wilderness. The new forest plan calls for extensive road building, logging and development. Your letters can help prevent this. Today the big areas are roaded, and our opportunity has been considerably diminished. We have seen an enormous amount of road building and forest fragmentation in the last 20 years. Imagine what will be left twenty years from now if we do not protect the remaining areas. The 1964 Wilderness Act states that wilderness, "�in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain." The act went on to require that a wilderness retain "its primeval character and influence" and that it be protected and managed in such a way that it "appears to have been affected primarily by the force of nature." The Forest Service released its �Draft Management Plan� for the Monongahela National Forest in August. The Forest Service�s Preferred Alternative (#2) threatens the future of the Mon�s wild lands by rolling back protections for roadless areas and failing to recommend an adequate number of new wilderness areas. Only Alternative 3, with changes, goes the furthest in recommending new wilderness areas and protecting the Mon�s remaining special wild places. Please take a moment to write a letter to the Forest Service and tell them you want them to keep the Mon wild. The public only has 90 days to submit comments to the Forest Service (Deadline: November 14, 2005). Write to: Or email your comments to: comments-eastern-monongahela@fs.fed.us for more information: Add Your Comments (2)
Sunday, December 4, 2005
I love your photos. And thanks for the heads up on this issue!
Tuesday, November 8, 2005
Hi Pixie,
Thanks for posting the info on the Mon Forest Plan. Your site highlights the beauty of these areas and the fun to be had exploring them. The new Forest Service plan calls for a lot of logging and road building on “Our MON”. Special areas like: Flatrock/Roaring Plains, Canaan Mountain, The Cranberry Backcountry and many other areas will be devastated by logging.
Our comments to the Forest Service will have an impact. The comments need to be substantive. This means that not only do you have to tell them what you want; you also need to say why. It’s helpful to mention specific places that you want protected as wilderness by name, and to base your comments on personal experiences as well as what you value about these places and why they are good for West Virginia.
Don’t Delay – Write the Forest Service Today!!!
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