RICHWOOD, W. Va. – A new Birthplace of Rivers National Monument could help Richwood recover from this summer's devastating floods, according to local officials.

Richwood Mayor Bob Henry Baber said it's difficult for the city council and the local chamber of commerce to focus on much beyond immediate flood recovery right now. But he said they're all unified behind what would be the state's first national monument.

"We all know that our future for the long haul lies in tourism,” Mayor Baber said. "And the Birthplace of Rivers - that title, that name, that designation - is critical to realizing that vision."

Presidents often create new national monuments near the end of their terms. The city of Richwood would be the closest town to the portion of the southern Monongahela National Forest that would be converted into a national monument. Conservation groups backing the designation estimate it would bring 50,000 more visitors and more than $5 million a year to the area.

At least 26 West Virginians died in the June floods, and Richwood was one of the areas hit hardest. Baber said flood recovery is taking all their energy now. And he said that's frustrating, because they would like to be doing more in support of a new national monument.

"It's sort of like thinking about where you're going to be in a couple of weeks when you've got a huge gash in your arm,” he said. "But we know how beautiful the place is we live, we know how blessed we are. We just want to share it with more people, and have more people come and enjoy it."

The 120,000 acres of highlands that would become the monument include the existing Cranberry Wilderness in the Monongahela Forest. The area also includes the headwaters of the Cranberry, Cherry, Gauley, Elk, Williams and Greenbrier rivers.

Baber added that the designation wouldn't require the federal government to buy any more private land, and it would publicize to the rest of the country what's already there in the National Forest.

"Get the secret out. I just don't think enough people really are aware of the Cranberry and the Mon, and the Birthplace of Rivers designation,” the mayor said. "I think, is going to lift that up in the national consciousness."

More information about the proposed Birthplace of Rivers National Monument is online at birthplaceofrivers.org.



get more stories like this via email

Conservation groups are rejoicing over the decision Friday by the Biden administration to reject a proposed mining road in Alaska.

The 211-mile Ambler Road would have sliced through the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, severing the migration route for a Western Arctic Caribou herd.

Alex Johnson, interior Alaska director for the National Parks Conservation Association, said it was important for the feds to take a stand in Alaska so mining interests do not start eyeing other national parks.

"This is a very expensive, destructive and just highly speculative project that does not in any way support our clean energy goals as a country," Johnson contended. "And ultimately would permanently threaten the health and well-being of local communities and the tribes."

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski slammed the decision, warning it could limit jobs and tax revenues for Alaska by preventing exploration for minerals she said are important to national security, like copper, cobalt, gallium and germanium.

Jayme Dittmar, a photographer and filmmaker from Fairbanks, said the road would have been very disruptive to the 66 Native American villages along the proposed route.

"That'd be 168 trucks passing through close vicinity to the villages," Dittmar pointed out. "There would be hundreds of bridges built. It would dismantle a subsistence livelihood that's been in place for thousands and thousands of years."

The road was seen as a negative for tourism to the Brooks Range area. According to the Alaska Travel Industry Association, Californians make up 9% of visitors to Alaska.

Arizona conservation groups and sportsmen alike say they're pleased the Bureau of Land Management will now recognize conservation as an integral part of public lands management.

The agency's new rule puts protecting the environment on par with other land-use priorities.

Scott Garlid, executive director of the Arizona Wildlife Federation, said historically the BLM has done what he termed a "pretty good job," not only managing about 12 million acres of public lands in Arizona, but also protecting natural resources.

"They've got a tough job," Garlid acknowledged. "I think this rule helps make their job a little bit easier because it gives them some tools to balance those different demands on the 12 million acres that they manage."

Garlid predicted the rule will raise what he terms "harder-to-quantify conservation values" to the same level of importance as more extractive land uses like oil and gas exploration and mining. He thinks most Arizonans will recognize the new rule as a positive. A solid majority of Arizona voters across party lines say they are conservationists and use public lands for recreation.

To Garlid, the rule makes it clear the BLM is recognizing certain parts of federal lands, in Arizona and around the West, have been degraded. He contended restoration leases will be a good tool, allowing the BLM to lease acres to groups specifically to improve the conditions on a given landscape. He noted opponents of the new rule might see the leases as a way to "lock up" land but he argued it is not true.

"One example could be a nonprofit, like the Arizona Wildlife Federation," Garlid pointed out. "We could get a conservation lease from the Bureau of Land Management to do riparian restoration work, or work to remove invasive species along a creek bank."

According to the BLM, while a restoration or mitigation lease is in place, casual uses of the leased lands like recreation, hunting, fishing and research activities would generally continue.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

State and federal agencies are collaborating to increase the use of prescribed fires in the Northwest.

Prescribed fire is the controlled use of burns to minimize the larger risks of wildfires and smoke. It is seen as an increasingly important strategy as wildfire seasons pose greater threats to the Northwest.

Casey Sixkiller, Northwest regional administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said authorities want to work together to maintain forest habitats.

"Prescribed burn is one of the best tools we have for making our forests more resilient against catastrophic wildfires and they help to manage and target hazardous fuels and make for healthier forests," Sixkiller explained.

Sixkiller pointed out the EPA is involved because wildfire smoke poses risks to people's health. The collaboration is between federal agencies, departments in Oregon and Washington, and tribal governments.

Sixkiller noted the collaboration needed a formal agreement to move forward.

"That is what we've been able to do here with this agreement," Sixkiller emphasized. "To get federal land managers and states and us all in the same room, making sure that we're all on the same page about what success looks like."

Sixkiller added the collaboration has another advantage: It helps drive engagement with communities potentially in the path of prescribed burns.

"They have the confidence that the effort that's gone into planning that activity has been thought out from soup to nuts," Sixkiller acknowledged. "And that they have a seat at the table and are being engaged and their concerns are being addressed as we go forward with that activity."


get more stories like this via email