- What's New
- About Us
- Mission Statement
Highlands Conservancy website revamp |
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Proposed ban on fracking in Va. forest sparks debate |
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Appeals court backs EPA's veto of |
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What the frack? What happens in West Virginia can happen here |
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CNN Photos West Virginias complicated relationship with mining |
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The West Virginia Highlands Conservancy Initiates a New Public Lands Outing Program |
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Antero tank farm moves for no one |
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Fracking: Water Issues--Colorado-centric, |
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The Mountain State |
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Pa. pushes drillers to frack |
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The Facts on Fracking |
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EPA Fights to Stop Large |
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The costs of West Virginia’s Marcellus gas ‘invasion’ |
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Welcome to the home page of the |
First coming together in 1965, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy is one of the state's oldest environmental activist organizations. With the increased awareness of environmental issues in the 1960s, a coalition of recreational users of the West Virginia Highlands came together to address a whole host of environmental threats to our state. Over the past 40 years, the Highlands Conservancy has continued to be the leader in protecting the natural environment of our state through both defensive and offensive campaigns. When the Highlands Conservancy was formed, the proposed Highlands Scenic Highway would have sliced a gaping wound from north to south through the heart of the highlands, the Royal Glen dam would have flooded much of the Potomac Valley including the Smoke Hole area, the Davis Power project threatened much of Canaan Valley with inundation, the proposed Rowlesburg Dam on the Cheat River threatened to flood the Cheat River Valley including the St. George area, and newly proposed strip mines threatened many of our forests and mountains and condemned many of our waterways with acid mine drainage. From the beginning, the Highlands Conservancy has dealt with a whole array of threats to our wonder-full state. We were instrumental in the passage of the Eastern Wilderness Areas Act, which gave us our first Wilderness areas--Dolly Sods and Otter Creek. We began a campaign that lasted over 35 years to protect Canaan Valley and saw the successful establishment of a National Wildlife Refuge there. We mounted campaigns to stop numerous dams proposed around the state. We filed our first lawsuit against strip mining in 1967, which was the beginning of almost 40 years of leadership on coal mining issues in West Virginia. We helped enact important environment-protecting legislation such as the Surface Mine Control and Reclaimation Act (SMCRA) and the National Forest Management Act (NFMA). Protecting clean air, clean water, forests, streams, mountains, and the health and welfare of the people that live here, is what the Highlands Conservancy is all about. The Highlands Conservancy publishes the Hiking Guide to the Monongahela National Forest . Our monthly newspaper, the Highlands Voice has been in continuous monthly publication since 1967. Highlands Conservancy members do far more than work to protect our state from destructive forces. Together, they also enjoy the lands and waters they work to protect through Conservancy-sponsored activities. They explore woodlands, valleys, bogs and caves, canoe and fish, climb mountains, and search out birds, wildflowers and native animals. Conservancy membership means new friendships, new experiences, and new rewards. The West Virginia Highlands Conservancy:
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The West Virginia Highlands Conservancy is a non-profit The purposes of the Conservancy shall be to promote, encourage, and work for the conservation—including both preservation and wise use—and appreciation of the natural resources of West Virginia and the Nation, and especially of the Highlands Region of West Virginia, for the cultural, social, educational, physical, health, spiritual, and economic benefit of present and future generations of West Virginians and Americans. |