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West Virginia Wilderness Workshop
When: June 2nd, 3rd and 4th,  2006
Where: The Mountain Institute (on Spruce Mountain near Spruce Knob)
Why: To learn how to protect additional Wilderness areas on the Mon National Forest, meet others interested in Wilderness and get involved in the campaign!
register here

The West Virginia Wilderness Coalition cordially invites you to join us for a weekend of learning, strategy and fun.   We have a great opportunity to protect special places on the Mon and many of you are responsible for the progress we�ve made so far!  We�ll be gathering atop Spruce Mountain on the campus of the Mountain Institute for workshops on grassroots organizing, working with the media and more as well as conducting strategy sessions to plan the coming months of our Wilderness Campaign which we hope will lead to the introduction of legislation that will protect special places on the Mon.  We have several local groups across the state organizing for wilderness protection and members of these groups will be in attendance as well.  It will be an excellent opportunity to get plugged into the campaign.

Activities will be kicking of Friday evening with speakers, a viewing of our Vision for a Wild Mon video and a blazing campfire.  Well get started Saturday morning at 10 am with a series of speakers who will provide some background info on WV Wilderness and bring us right up to the present.  We�ll break up into groups and have focused workshops on different skills that are crucial for being an effective activist in protecting wilderness in West Virginia .  Well end the session by working together to develop strategies for the coming months of our campaign which will be focused on building support for the introduction and passage of a West Virginia Wilderness Bill.  It will be a fun Saturday night with a delicious TMI dinner followed by live music and socializing.  On Sunday, well take some time to bring things to a close and plan actions for the coming months.  The rest of the day will be spent exploring the beautiful proposed Seneca Creek Wilderness Area, which is right up the road.

 Since the Mountain Institute will be cooking up yummy meals for us, and because there is limited space, well need you to fill out a brief registration form if you are interested in joining us.  A web form is available here.  There is a registration fee of $15 that will help defray the cost of meals and lodging at TMI.  Please do not let this fee stop you from participating!  If it would be a hardship, arrangements can be made!   The deadline for registration is May 22nd 2006 (although we�d appreciate you doing it sooner!).   To register after this deadline, you'll need to call Harrison Case at 304-906-9317 or Matt Keller at 304-864-5530 .  Please send your registration fee, check made out to West Virginia Highlands Conservancy to:

West Virginia Wilderness Coalition
PO BOX 6
Masontown , WV 26542

I urge you to attend this important gathering of Wilderness advocates from all over the state..  It is my hope that the weekend will be a pivotal moment in our campaign for the protection of these wild places we all hold so dear.  There is much information about the work we�ve done to date on our website: http://www.wvwild.org.  If you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding the workshop or the campaign in general, please do not hesitate to contact us.  A more detailed agenda for the workshop is being drafted and will be sent out to folks interested in attending.