Blackwater Summer is a campaign to save the Blackwater Canyon from further logging and development. Logging has already started on an 800 acre tract that stretches from the Hendricks area at the mouth of Blackwater Canyon to within sight of Lindy Point. Lindy point is now posted and off limits to visitors. A picture taken from the air in April shows a honeycomb of logging roads that have already scarred some of the lower part of Blackwater Canyon. Allegheny Wood Products owns 3000 acres in the Blackwater Canyon and talk like they will log it forever--they see it as a wood factory.

We want the Blackwater Canyon to become public land and be included either in the Monongahela National Forest, which surrounds it, or in the West Virginia State Park system.

The Conservation Fund and the U.S. Forest Service were in negotiation for two years attempting to buy the Blackwater Canyon as a public recreational resource. The Conservation Fund offered approximately $3.5 millon for the property, but Allegheny Power sold the land to a developer for $4.7 million without asking for a counter offer. One-half hour later the developer sold it to Allegheny Wood Products for $5 million. The West Virginia Highlands Conservancy has a suit before the West Virginia Supreme Court to nullify the sale because it was not approved by the Public Service Commission which regulates land sales of utilities. Allegheny Power claimed its subsidiary which owned the land was not a utility company and didn’t need approval from the Public Service Commission to sell the land. The chain saws and bulldozers are doing their damage to this beautiful canyon as we wait for the suit to be acted on.

This campaign to save Blackwater Canyon must rely on volunteers. We need your help. This is a very popular cause--we have been to six events in the past two weeks and the response is overwhelmingly positive. People from all walks of life love the Blackwater Canyon and the natural beauty of West Virginia it symbolizes. People throughout West Virginia and visitors from other states are dismayed, disgusted and angry that another assault is being made on our beautiful but abused environment. Once they see the aerial photo of the logging damage already being done they want to sign the petition. A recent poll showed that 80% of West Virginians want more public land acquired for recreational purposes.

« « « « «