WE have a rare opportunity in West Virginia to protect some of our last remaining wild places for current and future generations to enjoy. Wilderness areas cannot be "created." Areas that qualify for wilderness designation can simply be protected as they are. The West Virginia Wilderness Coalition has been working for five years to develop a proposal for wilderness designation of some of the best of what's left of our spectacular Monongahela National Forest. Whether or not the areas being considered for wilderness status in Pocahontas County are designated as wilderness, they won't be managed for timber. They have been out of the timber base for over 20 years, which is why they qualify for wilderness protection. However, over 85 percent of the Monongahela National Forest land in the county is in the timber base and open to commercial timber sales. This is in addition to state forest land and private land managed for timber production. Given this, and the fact that 96 percent or more of our state's timber supply comes from private lands, the wilderness designations under consideration will have no effect on timber jobs. They will continue to be managed in the new Forest Service Plan under a temporary administrative designation (6.2 management prescription) that prohibits roads and logging for 20 years or so. But these places are increasingly threatened by such things as interstate power lines, oil and gas drilling and industrial energy development. Without the permanent protection that wilderness affords, the Forest Service will be powerless to stop these impacts. Colorado Springs resident and fiction writer Stephen Coonts, in a recent article, advocates for a national park instead, designating a few areas as wilderness. National parks do not allow hunting. The West Virginia Wilderness Coalition strongly supports hunting and fishing on our public lands. Our wilderness proposal intentionally does not include any public roads that would have to be closed by wilderness designation. Coonts insinuates that only people from urban areas support the wilderness designation. Visit our Web site, where those organizations and businesses in West Virginia who have endorsed our proposal are listed. It is true that people from outside West Virginia are interested in the Monongahela National Forest -- it is a national forest, after all -- but the coalition is based and staffed in West Virginia and supported by thousands of West Virginians, including Pocahontas County residents such as myself. Coonts falsely asserts that "The goal of the West Virginia Wilderness Coalition, stated on its Web site, www.wvwild.org, is to have all of West Virginia's National Forests designated as wilderness areas." This is not stated anywhere on our Web site, as it is not -- nor has it ever been -- our position. The Monongahela National Forest is fairly dense with roads and other rights of way, private holdings and other features that would disqualify the vast majority of it from being designated as Wilderness. Establishing the entire Monongahela National Forest as a wilderness area is an absurd notion that most people understand is impossible. However, the areas we do have that still qualify are all the more valuable given their rarity, which is why the wilderness coalition is working to permanently protect them. We encourage people to contact Rep. Nick Rahall and Sens. Byrd and Rockefeller and ask that they introduce legislation to keep these special places just as they are -- "Wild and Wonderful." Little is a resident and business owner in Hillsboro. A trustee of Pocahontas Free Libraries, she serves on the steering committee of the West Virginia Wilderness Coalition. This piece is excerpted from a longer version
