Home > Newsletter Home > TOC > Article

Mon Forest Comment Drive a Huge Victory for Wilderness, Wildlife and Watersheds!
click for print view

by Matt Keller | 2006

We’ve been informed that the Forest Service has received an unprecedented 15,000+ comments on their draft plan. It is clear the people HAVE spoken!

As the dust settles on the Mon Forest’s 90 day public comment period on its draft management plan revision, it is clear that the people have spoken…a lot of them. We’ve been informed that the Forest Service has received an unprecedented 15,000+ comments on their draft plan! This massive turnout could not have been achieved without the hard work and creativity of many individuals. Volunteers from across the state and region held house parties showing our ‘Vision for a Wild Mon’ video, talked to groups, tabled at community events and helped with phone banking, among other things. This was a big team effort and it showed just how important the Mon’s wild places are to so many people.

While the analysis of comments has yet to be done, we are confident that the vast majority of them will be in support of Alternative 3 and of recommending significant new wilderness areas for designation. The Forest Service will not be able to ignore this overwhelming response and must act to improve their draft plan dramatically. In addition to individuals commenting, there was an impressive response from the business community in West Virginia. Over 75 business owners submitted comments to the Forest Service and Governor Manchin in support of Alternative 3.

A wide array of organizations also weighed in for Alternative 3 including several Trout Unlimited Chapters, Potomac Valley Audubon Society, West Virginia Native Plant Society, West Virginia Horse Council and many, many others. A team of experts from the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, West Virginia Chapter of Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society and the West Virginia Rivers Coalition and West Virginia Wilderness Coalition worked together to draft an extremely comprehensive set of comments that covers every conceivable aspect of the plan in great detail. We hope this will serve the Forest Service as constructive criticism on the hard work they put into developing the draft plan. There is much room for improvement and we will be working hard to hold the Forest Service accountable to what the public has overwhelmingly demanded.

While this is a big win for the Mon, the battle is far from over, particularly as new Wilderness recommendations are concerned. The West Virginia Wilderness Coalition will be working very hard in a variety of ways to first, make sure the Forest Service recommends all deserving areas for designation in the final plan and secondly, continuing the momentum we’ve built up towards the introduction of a bill in Congress that will make protection for these special areas a reality.

With the public comment period at an end, we’ll be shifting our focus back to West Virginia’s congressional delegation. We will again need letters from caring citizens to their elected officials in Washington D.C. in support of wilderness and encouraging them to introduce a solid bill. On our website, wvwild.org, you will find an action alert with talking points for your letter to both Senators Byrd and Rockefeller, your Representative (Mollohan, Capito or Rahall) and Governor Manchin. We will continue to distribute our ‘Vision for a Wild Mon’ video for folks wanting to show it at house parties or other gatherings in their communities. There are many other ways to get involved in the work we are doing. Please feel free to contact me anytime to get involved or with questions, comments or concerns: mattk@tws.org, 304-864-5530.