As West Virginia’s Division of Forestry develops new management plans for the State Forests a few recommendations come to mind. All the State Forests are too small to sustain a healthy eco-system mixed with timber manage- ment. Furthermore, the State of West Virginia has no viable continuous funding source for expanding state lands. The only funding basically comes from hunting licenses. This money goes to the expanding Wildlife Management System, but no money is available to expand State Parks and Forests. First, let’s look at watershed protection. Kumbrabow, Coopers Rock, Greenbrier, Camp Creek, Panther, Cabwaylingo, and Seneca State Forests all need to be expanded to protect the integrity of their watersheds and eco-systems.

u Kumbrabow is the jewel in the crown of the State Forest System, but it is more than that. It is of national significance because it contains or is adjacent to the headwaters of many important rivers: the Middle Fork, Buckhannon, Mill Creek, and the Back Fork of the Elk River. Mill Creek is the major waterway of Kumbrabow State Forest, but its headwaters are not even protected within the Forest boundary.

u Camp Creek needs to be expanded for the same reasons as Kumbrabow. The headwaters of Camp Creek, Cub Branch, Mill Branch, Mash Fork, Seng Branch and Marsh Fork must be protected. This Forest must be expanded to reach a total of about 30,000 acres. This expansion should include the summits of Flat Top Mountain, Rich Knob and Bluff Mountain. Expansion of Camp Creek State Forest would contribute to the protection of the Bluestone River watershed, which is a National Scenic River.

u Cabwaylingo should expand to protect Turkey Creek, Jack’s Fork, Missouri Branch, and the Milam Creek watershed. The Milam Creek expansion would join the Cabwaylingo State Forest to East Lynn Lake Wildlife Management Area. This expansion would bring the total forest acres to about 20,000.

u Panther State Forest needs to double its size. A Wildlife Management Area (WMA) has recently been added to the western boundary of this forest. But this protection is not enough. The Staunch Fork, Middle Fork, Meathouse Fork and George Branch Watersheds need to be protected. This expansion would amount to about 20,000 acres. This expansion would protect the source headwaters of all the major Panther State Forest waterways.

u The Chestnut Ridge section of Coopers Rock State Forest needs to be expanded in the northern section of the Forest to the Pennsylvania border. This expansion would join this tract to Forbes State Forest. Chestnut Ridge is the western front of the Allegheny Mountains in northern West Virginia. This feature absolutely needs more extensive protection. (Unfortun- ately, West Virginia University does extensive timber harvesting on most of this forest)

u Seneca State Forest could use some further protection also. Michael Mountain has a few areas that need to be added to the State Forest. Peters Mountain on the Greenbrier River should be protected between the Federal Land and the State Forest. All in-holdings should be purchased. Lastly, all Greenbrier, frontage on both banks should be added to the Forest.

u The Greenbrier State Forest is too small. This Forest needs to grow from about 25,000 to 30,000 acres, possibly joining an expanded Moncove Lake WMA.

A permanent funding source must be provided by the State of West Virginia so that it can preserve its natural resources for future generations. The State Forest system cannot sustain timbering if the Forests are not expanded to protect the eco-systems and adjoining water- sheds.

The State Forests have many acres of old growth timber. If timbering is allowed within the present forest system in terms of acreage, the old growth timber will be threatened by extensive timbering. The timbering will cause the prolif- eration of alien species and spread various tree diseases such as the blight on American Beech and the Wooly Adelgid’s attack on Hemlock. Wildlife that uses old trees and snags as a central part of their habitat will disappear. Expanding the State Forest system will protect core areas of old growth while still allowing timbering to take place on less delicate sites in the vicinity.

The diversity of timber types and sites within the present State Forest system at its current acreage is a model of bio-diversity for North America. West Virginia has been blessed with some of the greatest abundance of natural resources in the world. This blessing requires diligent responsibility. The State and the Nation have a responsibility to care for these resources to sustain viable economics for future generations. Conservation is not shutting down the economy but rather sustaining it. We can look to many sites in the world that are now near desert which used to be lush to somewhat lush. Climates do change but man must not accelerate that process within the limited space in which we survive. These concepts are not about wishing to return to a life that doesn’t recognize the economic needs of the modern world but rather ensuring the continuance of the modern world -- a world in which conservation is a vital link between the planet's health and ours.

Conservation can only prosper in a world of economic sustainability. West Virginia is expanding its recreational base. This recreational economic expansion should go hand in hand with the State’s taking a more deliberate role in marketing trees while protecting healthy regeneration, not tree farms. At the present date, on a daily basis, more trees are timbered than in the logging boom of the 19th and early 20th centuries. This timbering provides many necessary jobs but sacrifices sustainable bio-diversity. The State of West Virginia can protect this bio-diversity by taking a more active role in the managing of forest lands through the above-mentioned State Forest expansion. The State can collect much-needed revenue by more directly selling its sustainable timber resources that it itself directly owns and manages.

The West Virginia Division of Forestry’s more stringent regulations governing logging practices on public lands are far better suited to the maintenance of sustainable timber than are the more lax regulations governing the private sector’s logging practices on privately held lands. The past logging boom demonstrated, by the almost total destruction of West Virginia’s wildlife and forests, that private interests cannot be entrusted to carry out conservation practices that contribute to the healthy economy of West Virginia. Quite the opposite has repeatedly proven to be true. The initial logging boom brought much-needed econ- omic expansion and development by creating extensive payrolls and employment. This boom and bust mentality has hurt the State in the long run. Revenue from coal and timber feeds the resources extraction companies’ profits. These profits leave the state, and do not return to the state treasury. Expanded state ownership of Forest lands would increase revenue.

West Virginia has historically been abused by the rest of the country’s economic establishment. The unfortunate beauty’s physical assets were her greatest blessing and her worst curse. Raped and robbed by outside interests, she was left with nothing to show for her sacrifice but scars and poverty. Her career thus violently imposed -- her "reputation," as it were, thus established -- she had to sell herself to survive. The Government of the State of West Virginia pimped her services to prospecting johns. The State’s citizens were hired to serve drinks in the bordello and clean the rooms. (To an alarming extent, this analogy still obtains.) What the State of West Virginia needs is to snap out of this syndrome and take the economic and conserva- tionist high ground. This is already happening -- an example is the current agreement to stop mountaintop removal of coal -- and it must continue. [Unfortunately, Larry, there is no "agreement" on this -- the issue is too complex to inteject here. Ed.] The economic self-respect and environmental self-esteem that are currently firing the imaginations of West Virginians should fuel a focused effort to position West Virginia as a model of economic and conservation practices. The people can create viable sources of revenue, resources and recreation for all the citizens of West Virginia within the public trust. The people can create a modern-day reversal of fortune story that will nourish the State and inspire the nation. The conservation organizations of West Virginia must meet this challenge by ensuring permanent funding for open space and in particular the expansion of the State Forest system.

If the State of West Virginia and its citizens determine that expansion of the State Forest system is unwarranted, then I recommend that no timbering ever take place within the present State Forest system. Only if they are changed to semi-wilderness Parks can there be any small hope of sustaining bio-diversity. I feel as if my expansion plan would be a win-win situation for conservation and natural resource-based economic development.

Larry Pittis is a long-time member of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, and has spent many, many hours hiking West Virginia’s mountains and forests. He lives in New York City.