HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 49
(By Delegates Michael, Argento, Beach, Beane, Boggs, Browning, Butcher, Cann, Crosier,
DeLong, Eldridge, Ennis, Frederick, Hatfield, Kominar, Long, Miley, Morgan, Paxton, Perry,
Pethtel, Stalnaker, Staton, Stemple, Stephens, Susman, Swartzmiller, Tabb, Talbott, Tucker,
Varner, Williams, Wysong and Yost)
Opposing the further designation of additional federal wilderness acreage within the Monongahela
National Forest in the State of West Virginia; and requesting the United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service to consider fully the many values of active,
professionally managed forests during the revision of the Monongahela National Forest Land
and Resource Management Plan; and further requesting that the Forest Service implement
a spatial reapportionment of management areas in the Monongahela National Forest to
increase acreage available for active vegetation and timber management.
Whereas, The health, economic well-being and cultural traditions of West Virginia's
citizens have historically been and continue to be dependent upon the wealth of natural resources
provided by the working forests within the State; and
Whereas, The natural resources of the State of West Virginia, particularly its timber
resources are immovable, permanent, renewable assets belonging to the people of West Virginia; and
Whereas, Local municipalities and other public jurisdictions in West Virginia have had their
educational, public safety and transportation infrastructure deprived of timber revenue payments-in-
lieu totaling hundreds of millions of dollars due to the unwarranted actions of political activists dedicated to forest abandonment; and
Whereas, Federal wilderness designation by the United States Congress is a permanent,
irrevocable condition that will forever deprive West Virginians and the nonresident visiting public
of nearly all economically productive uses and reasonable access to recreational opportunities in the
Monongahela National Forest; and
Whereas, The majority of our documented aging population that seek reasonable access to
Monongahela National Forest lands for recreation would be denied such reasonable access by the
various mandates of federal wilderness designation which discriminate in favor of those of greater
youth and vitality; and
Whereas, Professionally prescribed active timber management supplies an important source
of sustainable, God-given renewable raw materials for West Virginia's forest-based industries and
rural manufacturing economies; and
Whereas, Congressional designation of additional federal wilderness acreage in the
Monongahela National Forest would replace scientifically justified natural resource management
with an unfounded philosophical ideology of forest abandonment on more of West Virginia's rural
working landscape to the detriment of West Virginians, their forests and the wildlife resources held
in trust by the State of West Virginia for its people; and
Whereas, Imposing additional wilderness would diminish the biological diversity of the
Monongahela National Forests wildlife habitat types due to the prohibition of all wildlife habitat and
timber management and would eliminate the opportunity to seek to perpetuate the best quality and
combination of wildlife habitats; and
Whereas, Designation of additional Monongahela National Forest acreage to management prescriptions 3.0 and 6.1 will facilitate the application of critically needed professional forest
management toward attaining the scientifically accepted ideal of fifteen per cent of the forested
landscape in young forest, early successional wildlife habitats (0-10 years old); and
Whereas, The State of West Virginia Division of Natural Resources is charged by the
people of West Virginia to protect and conserve our fish and wildlife using sound scientific
principles inherent in active wildlife management practices, including those existing within the
proclamation boundaries of the Monongahela National Forest, including that acreage either currently
designated or proposed as federal wilderness; and
Whereas, Compelling peer-reviewed and widely accepted scientific evidence documents
that:
1. Some of the most interesting and diverse natural communities in eastern North America
will be lost without active forest management;
2. Providing habitat for the greatest diversity of wildlife species over the long term involves
purposefully managing for a mosaic of forest conditions; and
3. Providing both young and mature forest habitat through forest management contributes
to the biological diversity of the forested landscape; and
Whereas, The designation of additional federal wilderness acreage in the Monongahela
National Forest will impose unreasonable barriers to recreational opportunities for disabled,
handicapped, and physically impaired West Virginians and nonresident visitors to West Virginia;
and
Whereas, The honorable governing bodies and Economic Development Authorities of the
counties of Grant, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Randolph and Tucker, each of which encompasses some portion of Monongahela National Forest lands, have formally and publicly opposed the designation
of additional federal wilderness acreage in the Monongahela National Forest; and
Whereas, The West Virginia Legislature is bound by Article II, 2-1 of the West Virginia
Constitution to recognize that the powers of government reside in all the citizens of the State, and
can be rightfully exercised only in accordance with their will and appointment; therefore, be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the West Virginia Legislature requests that the United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service, in developing proposed alternatives for the Monongahela National Forest Plan
Revision, consider fully the many values of well-managed forests to the State of West Virginia; and,
be it
Further Resolved, That the Legislature recognizes that any expansion of federal wilderness
and/or the imposition of any other unreasonably restrictive land management measures would result
in losses in recreational opportunity and severe economic harm to far more West Virginians than
would be benefitted; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates is hereby directed to send a copy
of this resolution to the Honorable Nick J. Rahall II, the Honorable Alan B. Mollohan and the
Honorable Shelley Moore Capito, Representatives of the State of West Virginia in the United States
Congress; the Honorable Robert C. Byrd and the Honorable John D. Rockefeller IV, Senators for
the State of West Virginia in the United States Congress; the Honorable Joe Manchin III, Governor
of the State of West Virginia, Clyde Thompson, Supervisor of the Monongahela National Forest, and
to the County Commissions of each county with land in the Monongahela National Forest.
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