Public Lands: Our Wild and Wonderful West Virginia Heritage

Dolly Sods in the Monongahela National Forest by Kent Mason. 

We, the people of West Virginia, own the Monongahela National Forest. the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, the Gauley River National Recreation Area, Harpers Ferry National Historic Park, our National Wildlife Refuges, and our State Parks, Forests, and Wildlife Management areas. We even have a Wild & Scenic river congressional designation: the Bluestone River.

Our public lands are possessions of immeasurable value – and help make West Virginia ‘Wild and Wonderful.’  

Our public lands are unique areas in a unique state. Historical, cultural, and one-of-a-kind iconic scenic and geological formations. As the citizens, businesses, and organizations in the Mountain State, it is our duty to protect and care for them for ourselves, for our children and grandchildren, and to assure our West Virginia outdoor heritage remains alive and well.

Our public lands are where we go to relax. Where we invite folks from other states to join us in building our outdoor recreation economy.

Public lands are the places where we have our freedom: to learn, to be in nature, and to enjoy recreation opportunities in the great outdoors. Our sacred and set aside lands provide hiking, camping, swimming, mountain biking, boating, kayaking, floating, bird watching, rock climbing and many other types of non-motorized outdoor recreation.

Our public lands provide the unspoiled habitat necessary for wildlife and our hunting and fishing heritage.  

Wild public lands protect the headwaters that create our exceptional rivers and streams. These headwaters provide clean pure drinking water for West Virginians and folks in the Chesapeake and Ohio watersheds. Drinking water is necessary for all life; and we in West Virginia are the stewards for clean drinking water.  

Our public land stewardship requires us to be informed about threats to our public lands and waters.

We oppose legislative actions and other activities that threaten our public lands, degrade our Wild and Wonderful State. There are many opportunities to take citizen action so we, the people, can keep our public lands and heritage the way we like it. 

We want you to know about our public lands, so please sign up for our Public Lands Newsletter for information on news related to public lands and actions you can take to support them.

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