We’re so excited to finally announce the art contest winners! This year was our second art contest for kids to engage in their creativity and learn more about West Virginia wildlife. WV is home to roughly 600 incredible creatures that need our time and attention in order to thrive! In order to protect and love something, […]
Wildlife
Friends of Blackwater works to protect rare and endangered species.
Groups Challenge Trump Administration’s Latest Assaults on the Endangered Species Act
Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law firm, just filed two law suits against the former Trump administration after their final attacks on the Endangered Species Act that stripped vital protections from federal lands that research indicates are necessary for endangered and threatened species conservation. The first case challenges what the Trump administration defines as “habitat,” which […]
FOB Signs on to Wildlife Recovery and Public Lands Letter to Biden
Friends of Blackwater has signed onto a letter to President-Elect Biden as his team begins to address the COVID-19 public health crisis and develop an economic recovery plan, requesting the creation of long-term conservation and restoration jobs. The US can overcome this economic downturn while protecting and restoring our unique natural resources, including biodiversity, and […]
FOB Submits Comments to Protect WV Freshwater Mussels
On December 28th, Friends of Blackwater and 66 signees submitted the following petition language to the US Fish & Wildlife Service, requesting an increase in protection for three WV freshwater mussel species: “The long-solid and round hickory-nut mussels are on the brink of extinction, and have been forced out of most of their habitat due […]
FOB Comments on USFS Grassy Ridge Timbering Project
On October 29th, Friends of Blackwater and the Center for Biological Diversity sent comments to Mon Forest Cheat/Potomac district ranger Jon Morgan about the proposed Grassy Ridge project. FOB and the Center are primarily concerned with the proposed project’s impacts to West Virginia Northern Flying Squirrel (WVNFS)and their habitat. First, the project’s proposal to clear […]
Invasive Threats on on the Rail Trail
You may hear a lot about the need to remove invasive species from your property, from public lands, from city parks- anywhere they may be growing, but why? If they are growing well and serve some sort of purpose, from hedging to pretty fall foliage, why exert massive amounts of time and energy to rid […]
New Blackwater Botanical Restoration Project to Begin
Friends of Blackwater was recently awarded a grant from the National Forest Foundation to begin the Blackwater Rail Trail Botanical Restoration project. Today, on the Blackwater Canyon Rail-Trail, non-native “invasive species” like autumn olive, stiltweed, multiflora rose, garlic mustard, and Japanese honeysuckle, and barberry are choking out native plants like milkweed, an essential host for […]
FOB Opposes the Litigation Relief for Forest Management Projects Act
Friends of Blackwater recently signed onto a letter drafted by the Center for Biological Diversity that opposes S. 4057, the Litigation Relief for Forest Management Projects Act. This bill would compromise species protected by the Endangered Species Act by exempting the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management from consulting with scientists when new […]
FOB Supports Wildlife and Public Lands Stimulus Letter
Recently, Friends of Blackwater and 206 other groups across the country signed onto support a letter to the US Congress that calls for and the support of the creation of thousands of environmental jobs to conserve and restore public lands, protect endangered species and other wildlife, and restore critical protections provided by the Clean Water […]
FOB Comments on USFS Greenbrier Southeast Project
The Monongahela National Forest has proposed to conduct large-scale commercial logging on 3,394 acres in Pocahontas County in West Virginia. They also propose to apply herbicides to 2,025 acres, burn 1,904 acres, build 8.7 miles of roads and 49.1 acres of skid roads, install 34 log landings, and turn 125 acres into open fields. Friends […]