• People stand around an at home solar installation

    WVHC Comments to Public Service Commission in Support of Solar Power in West Virginia 

    By John McFerrin The West Virginia Highlands Conservancy has made formal comments to the West Virginia Public Service Commission on the proposal to change the way it credits homeowners for […]

    Continue reading
  • The West Virginia Capitol building

    2024 WV Legislative Update 

    By Luanne McGovern, WVHC Legislative Committee Chair The 87th West Virginia Legislature started their 60-day session on January 10, 2024. So far, almost 2,000 bills have been introduced, outpacing last year’s […]

    Continue reading
  • Thoughts From Our President 

    The month of January brought one of the most incredible snowstorms in recent memory to the West Virginia highlands. So far, Canaan Valley has seen 103.5 inches of snowfall. I […]

    Continue reading
  • Candy Darters Caught in the Crossroads 

    By Olivia Miller On January 10, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy joined Appalachian Voices, the Center for Biological Diversity, Greenbrier River Watershed Association, Kanawha Forest Coalition, and the Sierra Club […]

    Continue reading
  • 2023

    The Highlands Voice The Monthly Publication of West Virginia Highlands Conservancy Special offer: Sign up here for a free six-month trial to the Highlands Voice. Please consider becoming a WVHC […]

    Continue reading
  • Plugging Orphaned Oil and Gas Wells

    By John McFerrin The problem Orphaned gas wells are everywhere. There are about 6,500 gas wells in West Virginia that are no longer producing and need to be plugged. West […]

    Continue reading
  • A group of people stand in front of the bird banding station at Dolly Sods with trees in the background

    Bird Banding at Dolly Sods Resumes After Year-Long Hiatus

    Brooks Bird Club, headquartered in Wheeling, has been supportive of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy since our beginnings. Chuck Conrad, administrator of Brooks Bird Club for decades, was one of […]

    Continue reading
  • Methane Leaks and ARCH2: A Problem Not Yet Solved

    By John McFerrin If we don’t get methane leaks under control, the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) will be a failure. Introduction The Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub is […]

    Continue reading
  • A West Virginia Native Species Lost

    On Nov. 16, 2023, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service officially declared the tubercled-blossom pearly mussel (Epioblasma torulosa torulosa)—a freshwater mussel once abundant in large eastern rivers from south […]

    Continue reading
  • Paean to West Virginia Backroads

    By Bonnie Thurston Geography is our glory, butroad building’s a challenge.Always has been. Still is.This contributes to our tendency to isolate, to beby nature suspicious.Why not? Incomers haveraped our mountains,carried off […]

    Continue reading