Boaters that care about the fate of the Blackwater Canyon should write a letter from the website linked below to help stop a large timber harvest and road constuction project in the Canyon.
The newest threat to the wild and scenic Blackwater Canyon/River (Class 5 whitewater river) is the application by a logging company for an easement to build a logging road on what is now publicly-owned Forest Service Trail 115, running through the Blackwater Canyon, in order to log over 2700 acres of the canyon. This road just above the river will also enable further commercial and housing development in the Canyon, which will cause excessive sediment/erosion to flow into the river; destruction/obliteration of endangered species habitat; as well as degradation of water and river quality through human impact.
The 32-mile long Blackwater flows through Tucker County, in West Virginia’s scenic highlands, beginning in a high mountain wetland and ending in a steep, wild canyon. The river flows through the Monongahela National Forest, the Blackwater Falls State Park and the Canaan Valley and drops 136 feet per mile in the Blackwater Canyon and draining 142 square miles.
The Upper Blackwater and nine of its tributaries are on state high quality stream lists. The entire Blackwater is on the Department of Interior’s National Rivers Inventory, the list of rivers that have been identified as meeting the minimum criteria for further study and/or potential inclusion into the National Wild & Scenic Rivers System. In 1995, the value and merit of the Blackwater River and the Blackwater Canyon were recognized by the Conservation Fund and the U.S. Forest Service, as they negotiated for the purchase of 3,000 acres of canyon property. At this same time, the Forest Service nominated the Blackwater River for Wild and Scenic River status.
Please go to the following links to take action and write letters!
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND
Friends of Blackwater has obtained copies of previously confidential documents showing detailed plans by the timber company, Allegheny Wood Products (AWP), to turn the Blackwater Canyon Trail — a beautiful, scenic, and historic hiking and biking trail that is located on public National Forest land in the Canyon — into a commercial logging road.
Friends of Blackwater obtained the documents, including a survey and engineering map of AWP’s proposed road, after making a Freedom of Information request to the United States Forest Service. The documents show that AWP has asked the Forest Service for permission to build a commercial roadway on Monongahela National Forest property in the Canyon, to serve AWP’s timber and other businesses (including planned condominiums) on AWP’s adjacent private land.
AWP’s road would run for nearly ten miles, from the town of Hendricks at the bottom of the Canyon to the head of the Canyon in the town of Coketon, which is currently being restored as a tourism attraction. The Forest Service must evaluate AWP’s request, but need not grant it.
Friends of Blackwater Director Judy Rodd said: “AWP spokespeople have been falsely claiming that the timber company is not asking to use the Blackwater Canyon Trail. But these detailed maps, prepared by AWP, show that AWP indeed wants to turn the most stunning hiking and biking trail in West Virginia into a logging road.”
“Public pressure saved Lindy Point, and public pressure helped Governor Wise decide to add five hundred acres to Blackwater Falls State Park,” said Rodd. “If people will speak out, public pressure will protect the Canyon Trail. One thing is sure — if by some crazy chance this road request were granted by the Forest Service, no road will ever be built. There will be students, grandmothers, and ministers out blocking the bulldozers,” Rodd said.
Rodd added, “The Blackwater Canyon Trail is a historic, world-class, recreational trail. It goes through ten miles of some of the most pristine, stunning scenery in the East. Senator Robert C. Byrd called the Blackwater Canyon a ‘natural treasure.’ The Senator was right. This is a time to move forward on protecting the entire Canyon, not on trashing its extraordinary natural and recreational values.”
Rodd said, “The frightening detail of these plans by AWP makes it even more important for people to contact Senators Byrd and Rockefeller NOW, and ask them to tell the Forest Service to say NO to AWP’s request. People can do that through Friends of Blackwater’s website, www.saveblackwater.org; or call us at 1-877-WVA-Land, or e-mail us at outreach@saveblackwater.org.”