New wilderness area proposed for North Fork Mountain, West Virginia

From the Charleston Gazette

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., has introduced legislation that would create a new 6,042 acre wilderness area encompassing a stretch of North Fork Mountain in Grant County.

The proposed North Fork Mountain Wilderness is a scaled-down version of a wilderness proposal for the Grant County peak that was deleted from last year's Wild Monongahela Wilderness Act. The 2009 wilderness package created three new wilderness areas and added wild land to three existing areas, bringing wilderness status to an additional 38,000 acres of the Monongahela National Forest.

The earlier version of the proposed North Fork Mountain Wilderness included 9,200 acres.

"A third of the initial area was dropped to make the area more appealing to certain user groups," said Mike Costello of the West Virginia Wilderness Coalition.

Costello said the new wilderness proposal would leave Redman Run Trail and most of the North Fork Mountain Trail open to mountain biking. It also would ensure that the Division of Natural Resources' trout-stocking program in the adjacent, angler-popular North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac River would be unaffected.

The views from atop North Fork Mountain have been described as "the best scenery in the East" by Outside magazine, and the North Fork Mountain Trail was labeled "the most scenic trail in West Virginia" by Backpacker magazine.

The sheer sandstone cliffs atop the mountain provide nesting sites for peregrine falcons and habitat for the Allegheny woodrat, a species of concern due to plummeting populations in the region. Several caves that penetrate the mountain shelter hibernating bats, including several threatened or endangered species.

"A lot of the local businesses that cater to tourism have gotten behind a wilderness designation for the area," said Costello.

When North Fork Mountain was initially proposed as a wilderness area in 2004, U.S. Forest Service planners gave it their highest rating for "natural integrity."

Mollohan, who lost his re-election bid in May after 14 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, "has been a champion of public lands during his tenure," said Costello. "This is something he wanted to do before he left Congress."

Mollohan's Monongahela Conservation Legacy Act has been referred to the House Natural Resources Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va.