Originally Posted by fubar5
not to hijack or anything,
Lowcel, I was reading recently that there is a possibility of massive trail closures in WV due to either developments moving in along a new section of highway, or a national park going to to prevent the development.
Are you familiar with this? I'd be interested to know what the current situation is as the article I read was slightly dated.
I think what you're talking about is a US Forestry plan to declare a big chunk of Cheat Mountain as a wilderness zone. It is a wilderness zone already, for all intents - no trails there. Last I heard, The plan that the Forestry service was leaning toward does not close any existant trails, and actually opens a few areas up... but then, a plan is just a plan, and Congress can take it under consideration and do whatever the heck they want.
The other thing that comes to mind is a several hundred acre parcel of land across the river from the New River Gorge National Parkland area which is supposedly under construction with something like 300 homes going up. That is in court, with the NPS challenging the landowner's right to build. Of course, the NPS has had the right to purchase the land for the last 2 decades, and did nothing. Anyway, no trails there, either.
There are some links somewhere on the IMBA site which may have more up to date info on all of this. WVMBA has made thier voice clear (thanks, Matt Marcus!) at hearings and on Capitol Hill, and has also educated many local businesses which had originally 'signed' on with the Highlands Conservation-Whatever-they-call themselves - who are proponents of closing all sorts of land to everyone.