Supporters of the campaign for a Blackwater Canyon National Park got a special Valentine’s Day present when Senator Robert C. Byrd announced plans for the National Park Service to list and study the Canyon for official park consideration. Under a Byrd-supported bill, the Blackwater Canyon in Tucker County would be one of six nationwide sites to be fully studied by the National Park Service for possible inclusion in the National Park system.

Byrd called the Blackwater Canyon "one of West Virginia’s most cherished natural treasures" in his press release supporting the study. His announcement of the study bill follows Congressman Bob Wise’s statement of support for protection of Blackwater Canyon during his pre-"State of the State" remarks made in January.

Byrd’s announcement of the National Park Service study follows major efforts to protect the Canyon by a broad array of environmental and citizen organizations, including the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, the Ohio Valley Environmental Council, the Sierra Club, the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, Heartwood, the West Virginia Environmental Council, and the National Park Trust. Thousands of letters from citizens supporting the Blackwater Canyon National Park have been delivered to the offices of the West Virginia Congressional delegation during the past year.

Frank Young, president of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, commented, "The citizens of West Virginia have over- whelmingly said they want the Blackwater Canyon protected for its unique ecology and public recreational resources. We are gratified that our public office holders are following the lead of the people."

Judy Rodd, Co-Chair of the Highlands Conservancy’s Blackwater Committee, said, "This could be a momentous day for West Virginia. But it is just a beginning. Now we have to redouble our efforts. The study has to be approved and funded by Congress, and is only the first step to the creation of Blackwater Canyon National Park. With Senator Robert Byrds involvement and an even stronger grass-roots citizen movement, we feel sure that the study will be authorized. The people of West Virginia will be successful in our efforts to have the Blackwater Canyon area declared a National Park."

The Canyon is still threatened as helicopter logging goes on along the famous rail-trail by the Blackwater River. This is the same area that John Crites, president of Allegheny Wood Products, promised not to log in his Memorandum of Understanding with the Forest Service. The Service has closed four public trails in the Blackwater Canyon because of the hazard created by the logging. This was done without public input. The Sierra Club is suing the Forest Service over the closure.

The protestors who walked through the Canyon in January, despite threats of arrest by Allegheny Wood Products, emerged unscathed. It has come to light that eleven detachments of state police were on high alert. (See H. John Rogers article in the March issue of Graffiti, Calling Big John’s Bluff.) The saddest part of the protest hike was coming around the bend above the river where the Conservancy had monitored bats under a huge canopy of trees in November. The big trees were all cut down and lying on the ground. It left an empty feeling.

Let’s all work together to end the degradation of this precious resource.