Published: August 17, 2007 09:52 pm      

Fayette officials back wilderness expansion

FAYETTEVILLE, WV — Ideally, the Monongahela National Forest would witness an expansion of federally protected wildlife sites to 15.

Realistically, the leader of the West Virginia Wildlife Coalition advised the Fayette County Commission in Friday’s meeting that he would be happy to see eight such areas come under the umbrella.

Dave Saville told commissioners all 15 sites are “excellent candidates” to be assigned federal protection when a new wilderness bill is put before Congress.

Helping him push for the West Virginia sites will be Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., whom he described as “a wilderness champion.”

Saville acknowledged none of the 15 sites lies within the boundaries of Fayette County but said the designation would help this region by guarding watersheds that provide water and recreational outlets.

“More than 150 businesses have endorsed the proposal, including some in Fayette County,” he said.

Moreover, Saville noted, about one-third of all West Virginians benefit from the forest via the watersheds that are generated by it.

“I’m not sure how you can measure that benefit that Fayette County gets from the Monongahela National Forest, but it’s just good for the region as a whole, never mind exactly where the county line is that separates Fayette from Nicholas and Greenbrier,” Commissioner Matthew Wender said after the commissioners voted to support the concept.

Wender noted Pocahontas County bills itself as “the birthplace of rivers,” given the Cherry, Elk, Gauley, Greenbrier and the like.

“A lot of rivers flow out of Pocahontas County itself,” he said.

In mind, as Saville outlined the proposal in a colorful brochure, are:

Expansion of the Dolly Sods Wilderness, the Lower Laurel Fork, Roaring Plains, North Fork Mountain, Cheat Mountain, Seneca Creek, East Fork of Greenbrier, Upper Shavers Fork, Turkey Mountain, Cranberry Wilderness expansion, Spice Run, Middle Mountain, Big Draft, Little Allegheny Mountain and Laurel Run.

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In other business, the commission:

- Approved an annexation petition in Fayetteville, embracing some town-owned property at the water plant which attorney Grady Ooten said had simply not been brought into the corporate limits.

“Basically, it’s just cleanup annexation,” he explained.

- Allowed the city of Oak Hill to annex some 16.49 acres of Country Club Road which City Manager Tom Oxley indicated would be used for the construction and sale of townhouse duplexes.

- Found the River Edge project at a standstill, since there had been no updated proposal advanced by John Hosch, developer of the proposed housing subdivision in Kanawha Falls.

“The ball is kind of back in his court,” Prosecutor Carl Harris said.

- Learned that a snafu by the state Tax Department in using old, one-year oil and gas taxing formulas, rather than the newer three-year weighted ones, could result in a $130,000 tax loss to the county, depending on how many commercial firms have actually paid at the lower assessment.

“We’ll take the blame on that,” Don Hebb of the department’s oil and gas division advised the commission.

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com