Cathedral State Park, located in Preston County, is home to the largest documented stand of virgin timber remaining in West Virginia. Although the park is relatively small (only 133 acres), the trees there reach as much as 90 feet tall and 16 feet in circumference. Some of the trees in Cathedral are over 400 years […]
Beech Fork State Park, located in the south of the state, covers 3,144 acres in Cabell and Wayne Counties. Its most notable feature is a 720 acre lake, which was created by the Army Corp of Engineers in the 1970s and is now used for fishing and boating. The park officially opened in 1979, and […]
Babcock State Park, located in Fayette County, was one of the first state parks to be created in West Virginia. The bulk of the land was deeded to the state of West Virginia in 1934, for only $2 an acre. The land had already been timbered at that point, and was considered to be near […]
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 got some good news this week, as both of West Virginia’s Senators expressed their support for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). The LWCF supports outdoor recreation and conservation programs around the country, including millions of dollars for projects right here in West Virginia. Both Blackwater Falls State Park and Canaan Valley State […]
On July 15th, 20 nature lovers met at Blackwater Falls State Park to learn about the characteristics of old growth forest in an event presented by Friends of Blackwater. The event was led by naturalist Doug Wood, who gave practical lessons on how to identify old growth, as well as some information on the ways […]
