Speak Out on New GW National Forest Plan
The George Washington National Forest planning process has resumed with a chance for the public to tell U.S. Forest Service officials what’s important for the future of our public lands. Written comments may be submitted until May 7. Details below.
The new management plan will guide activities on GW National Forest for the next 15 years, much like a local land use plan. The impacts are enormous – the forest makes up one quarter or more of all the land in Shenandoah, Rockingham and Augusta Counties and provides drinking water (from its reservoirs, rivers and streams) to 260,000 Northern Shenandoah Valley residents.
We are optimistic the new plan will provide more protection for public drinking water resources. But your voice must be heard to ensure the plan avoids negative impacts on watersheds from commercial wind energy projects or natural gas mining on public lands.
We hope you will encourage Forest Service officials to address the following issues:
Provide For Comprehensive Management of Drinking Water Resources
The GW National Forest supplies drinking water to a quarter of a million Valley residents. SVN and 40 local governments or civic groups adopted resolutions in the past two years calling on the Forest Service to provide comprehensive protection of drinking water resources. The new Forest Plan should:
- Identify and map the health of entire drinking watersheds in the forest, not just the perimeters around public reservoirs or the buffers on streams.
- Develop specific management objectives for these watersheds that make it just as important to preserve, protect or enhance water quality in sensitive watersheds as it is to facilitate other forest activities
- Create and implement a plan to monitor the health of drinking water resources (reservoirs, rivers, streams, watersheds) to ensure a continued supply of clean water from the forest.
- Work with local communities, agencies and the public to permanently maintain water quality from forest sources, and thus avoid the costly need for public water treatment plants.
Protect Sensitive Mountain Ridges from Industrial Wind Energy Development
In 2009, the GW National Forest denied a request from a private company to build 131 wind turbines in the forest on Great North Mountain, an action we strongly endorsed. The forest’s public lands are not the right place for commercial wind power projects.
- The destructive impacts of road building, clearing and construction fragments the forest landscape and affects water quality and wildlife habitat.
- Wind energy towers impact the natural views and vistas valued by forest visitors and local residents.
- Operation of large-scale wind turbines on our Appalachian ridges can have substantial impacts on wildlife, particularly rare bat species and migratory birds.
- There is plenty of private land with equal potential to generate wind power, before public lands are ever developed.
Protect Ground and Surface Water from Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Drilling
The GW National Forest lies on top of the Marcellus Shale geological formation, a promising source of natural gas. Reportedly, there are 30,000 acres of private lands in the northern Shenandoah Valley now under lease for natural gas drilling. Yet there are not sufficient federal or state regulations to protect water quality from the impacts of a gas mining process called hydraulic fracturing, despite reports of water contamination and other public risks. The new Forest Plan should:
- Prohibit any natural gas leasing or drilling within the 44 percent of the GW National Forest, a total of 425,874 acres, which contains watersheds for the five public reservoirs and eight rivers or creeks that provide public drinking water in the Shenandoah Valley. Roadless areas on the Forest are also inappropriate for gas leasing.
- Impose a moratorium on natural gas leases elsewhere in the forest until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency completes a national study on, and develops regulations governing, the water quality and public health impacts of Marcellus Shale natural gas hydrofracking and drilling.
Information about the planning process and key documents from the GWNF website are here: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/gwj/forestplan/revision/index.shtml
Written comments are due by May 7th. Send to:
Maureen Hyzer, Forest Supervisor
George Washington National Forest
5162 Valleypointe Parkway
Roanoke, VA 24019-3050
Email address: comments-southern-georgewashington-jefferson@fs.fed.us.
