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January
31 , 2008
WILD MONONGAHELA! TAKE ACTION NOW!
On January 29th, after years of pursuing our grassroots initiative to protect wild lands in the Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia’s Congressional Delegation introduced Wilderness legislation in Washington, D.C. Wild Monongahela: A National Legacy for West Virginia's Wild Places (H.R. 5151) in the House of Representatives is cosponsored by Representatives Nick Rahall, Shelley Moore Capito and Alan Mollohan. The Senate companion bill, S.2581 is cosponsored by Senators Robert C. Byrd and Jay Rockefeller. Read an article in the Beckley Register Herald about this legislation here. This is great news for areas slated to be protected by the legislation including Roaring Plains West, Cheat Mountain Spice Run, Big Draft and Expansions to Dolly Sods, Cranberry and Otter Creek. The passage of the Wild Mon legislation will assure that these areas stay just as they are for current and future generations to enjoy, Wild and Wonderful!
Unfortunately, some critical wild places are currently left out of the legislation. Seneca Creek, East Fork of Greenbrier, and thousands of acres in Roaring Plains are not included in the bill and thus will remain unprotected from logging, energy development and road-building unless we push Congress to add them to the current legislation. Since the introduction of the Citizen’s Wilderness Proposal in 2004, our message of conservation has been clear and our volunteers have worked too hard for the future of these areas to remain uncertain. Please put in a quick phone call to your Senators and Representative in Washington D.C. and let them know:
The Honorable Robert C. Byrd: (202)-224-3954 The Honorable John D. Rockefeller IV: (202) 224-6472 The Honorable Nick J. Rahall II: (202) 225-3452 The Honorable Alan Mollohan: (202) 225-4172 The Honorable Shelley Moore Capito: (202) 225-2711
While we commend the members of our delegation for striving to protect tens of thousands of additional acres in the Mon, we must urge them to consider the pristine mountain streams, wildlife habitats, scenic vistas, and recreational opportunities that remain at risk in these untrammeled wild lands.
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New Outreach Coordinator, Mike Costello, On Board
Recently, Mike Costello joined the West Virginia Wilderness Coalition team as our new Outreach Coordinator. Many of you know Mike through his volunteer involvement in our campaign over the last few years. Mike comes to us with a strong background in journalism and visual media as well as grassroots organizing. While at WVU’s Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism, he was a participant in numerous award-winning multimedia projects, focusing on writing and visual communication: photography, layout and design. Mike began organizing for wilderness as an officer within the Sierra Student Coalition at West Virginia University. He assisted the Religious Campaign for Wilderness in getting off the ground and designed the Statement of Spiritual Values that is being distributed. He was recently involved with the West Virginia Sustainable Communities Project in the Fayetteville area. This pilot program focused on community organizing in the areas of pollution prevention and sustainability, focusing on energy conservation, water conservation, and waste reduction. He designed several community media and outreach campaigns including Going Green, a Pledge for Sustainable Business. Mike is a native West Virginian, an avid fly fisherman, outdoorsman and musician. He will initially be focused on grassroots organizing and outreach for the coalition and can be reached at [email protected] or by phone at (304) 437-1082. Mike succeeds Jason Keeling as Outreach Coordinator. Jason will be taking on a new role for the coalition working through his consulting firm, Keeling Strategic. He will continue his work to build support from elected officials for wilderness throughout West Virginia and can be reached at: [email protected]. ____________________ |
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____________________ Moving the Wilderness Effort Forward in 2007 Looking Back over a year's worth of success Working to see Federal Legislation enacted requires patience and compromise. Even more importantly, it requires diligence and stick-to-itiveness. It requires taking a common sense idea and crafting it into something that is enthusiastically supported by a broad-based West Virginia constituency. This is what the West Virginia Wilderness Coalition has been doing these past several years. Since our Citizen's Wilderness Proposal for the Monongahela National Forest (Mon) was introduced, in September 2004, we have been promoting and building support for it among people of all walks of life. 2007 has been a successful continuation of our efforts, building on past initiatives while instituting some new ones. Once again, we educated volunteers at our 4th annual Wilderness Workshop at Spruce Knob, and dozens of advocates traveled to Washington D.C. to participate in Wilderness Lobby Week in September. Through effective and diverse means, a wide range of West Virginians have joined us this year to demonstrate their support for more protected wilderness on the Mon. Hundreds of members of the business community have recognized the benefits of additional wilderness and more continue to join our efforts as the campaign progresses. These businesses are joined by overwhelming organizational support from local and statewide groups representing interests from outdoor sportsmen in Mountaineer Trout Unlimited to securing jobs and economic well being in the West Virginia AFL-CIO. In communities from all corners of the state, county and municipal governments voiced their support for additional wilderness in 2007. From small towns close to the Mon benefiting from enhanced water quality and increased tourism to larger cities whose councils simply recognize the quality of life associated with protection for nearby wild places, local civic bodies continue to pass resolutions in support of a Wild Mon. This year nearly 150 medical professionals have joined the Health Care Professionals for Wilderness campaign, begun in 2007 to highlight the benefits of wilderness for our physical and mental well being. We have recently witnessed the emergence of a key group of the Mon’s supporters in West Virginia’s faith-based community. Since our DVD, God’s Gift of a Wild and Wonderful Land and the Declaration of Spiritual Values in the Monongahela National Forest have circulated, congregations have joined this call to stewardship, telling Congress that or a wild and wonderful West Virginia is a creation truly worth protecting. Join us at www.wvwild.org, and find yourself protecting our special wild places.
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