On February 12th, the U.S. Senate passed a comprehensive public lands bill, including permanent authorization for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). The LWCF is a popular program that has funded conservation projects around the country. In our local area, the connector trail from Blackwater Falls State Park to Davis was made possible by […]
Despite snowy roads that kept some people stuck at home, two public meetings on the proposed Tucker County pumped storage garnered high turnout this week. The County Development Authority and Planning Commission had a number of technical questions about how the project would purchase power and generate revenue. Freedomworks is still working on making agreements […]
On December 29th, the Charleston Gazette-Mail ran an article recounting the controversy that has sprung up around a pumped storage facility planned for Tucker County. The article included quotes submitted by concerned environmental organizations, including Friends of Blackwater, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, and the West Virginia Rivers Coalition. Although they were not quoted in […]
This past spring, citizens made clear that commercial timbering in state parks was not an acceptable solution for the parks’ maintenance backlog. Now, with a new legislative session on the horizon, people are thinking about alternative funding sources that could be used to preempt any more bad ideas from the legislature. Recently, Robert Beanblossom, who […]
We just found out that the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge will not be moving forward with commercial timbering. Thank you to everyone who participated in the comment period! The press release we put out on this good news is below. You can also read the Refuge’s response to comments here. The Canaan Valley National […]
On October 2nd, S.569 (the Land and Water Conservation Authorization and Funding Act) passed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. This bill would provide permanent re-authorization for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The Land and Water Conservation Fund is a key program which has provided funds to parks, forests, and public lands throughout […]
Several major changes to the Endangered Species Act (ESA), proposed by the Interior Department, are open for comment from now until September 24th. These changes to internal regulations will affect everything from how threatened species are protected to how predictions about future habitat are used. One change involves the repeal of the 4D rule, which […]
In early August 2018, the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge (CVNWR) announced that they would be using commercial logging on Refuge land, a practice that has not been previously used. At the time there was only a two week comment period, and the public meetings on the issue were not well publicized. Despite the short […]
On August 10th, citizens around the country are going to be calling or visiting their Congressional offices to talk about the importance of the Endangered Species Act. Friends of Blackwater will be participating, and we wanted to share the fact sheet that we will be using. You can download a pdf here or just read up on […]
On August 3rd, citizens around the country are going to be participating in the Stop Extinction Challenge – reaching out to their congresspeople and urging them to protect the Endangered Species Act. If you have the time, go to your local congressional office in person, and tell them to maintain strong protections for endangered species […]
