West Virginia Highlands Voice

By Dave Saville

The Forest Service faces a daunting task maintaining all the recreational facilities and protecting the ecological integrity of the nearly million acre Monongahela National Forest. It has faced serious staff and budget cuts and has had to close or curtail some of its public services. None of this makes it any easier for the agency to coordinate volunteer activities. Unfortunately, the district offices just don’t have the man power to properly and adequately manage the potential benefits that volunteers could provide.

There are several organizations, including the Highlands Conservancy, that do their best to help with volunteer labor on various projects. Over the years we have been involved in numerous volunteer efforts. There has been very little however in the way of an organized coordinated program. The Appalachian Forest Heritage Area has a crew of AmeriCorps volunteers working on various projects in the area including a few who are assigned to work on the Mon. This is good news indeed, as these talented enthusiastic folks can work with
the agency to organize projects for volunteers to help with.

Nathan Welch, AmeriCorps volunteer working on the Gauley Ranger District has set up a series of trail work outings in the Cranberry Wilderness area for this summer. He is working on projects along the Middle Fork, North Fork and County Line Trails. These trails need more work than we can accomplish in a year, but workday projects will include drainage work, installing and maintaining water bars, placing stepping stones, cleaning out ditches as well as clearing the trail and brushing.

Nathan has scheduled 6 work days so far. Visit the Mountain Odyssey Outings schedule in the Highlands Voice, or online at www.wvhighlands.org, to keep up with the latest news and information about volunteer opportunities. We hope to soon be adding some volunteer trail work days on the northern Mon too.

Another AmeriCorps volunteer, Evan Burkes, is working at the Mon Forest Supervisor’s office in Elkins. He has been working with the new Forest Ecologist, Cynthia Sandeno, on invasive species control. Look for another article about this effort elsewhere in this issue of the Highlands Voice. Evan and Cynthia have scheduled 3 volunteer work days this spring for a “Garlic Mustard Challenge” to rid some of the Mon’s special places of the serious threat of this invasive exotic plant.

We have just begun to discuss ways to maximize the benefits of volunteerism on the Mon. The MVP is the beginning of something we hope will grow into a more coordinated volunteer program for the Forest that will engage the public, improve recreational facilities, protect the resource and build a better sense of appreciation for this special place.

Cranberry Wilderness Trail Program