Agency Reviews Logging in Blackwater Canyon, West Virginia
12/13/98
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Title: Agency Reviews Logging in Blackwater Canyon, West Virginia
Source: Charleston Gazette
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 12/13/98
Byline: Ken Ward Jr.
A week and a half ago, Bill Tolin visited the Blackwater Canyon to
investigate whether logging had harmed endangered squirrels, salamanders
and bats that live there. Tolin, acting supervisor of the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service's Elkins office, didn't like what he found.
"I did have a meeting, and I wasn't totally satisfied with what I saw,"
Tolin, acting director of the service's Elkins office, said last week.
In October, the Fish and Wildlife Service discounted allegations that
agency officials weren't doing anything to protect the canyon's rare
animals.
The service is now considering taking action against Allegheny Wood
Products to make sure the company's logging doesn't disturb any endangered
species.
"We're going to form some kind of position," Tolin said. "There will be
something happening."
Later this week, a coalition of environmental groups will propose the
creation of Blackwater National Park. In a 90-page report, the West
Virginia Highlands Conservancy will call on Congress to act immediately to
acquire the canyon property and make it part of the national park system,
a move that would protect it from logging and development.
"Given the value, abundance, diversity and significance of the canyon's
resources, protected status as a national park is a compelling logical
approach," the report states.
"Due to the inability of the state and federal agencies to prevent further
deterioration of this resource in its present status, the Department of
Interior, the president and the Congress should act immediately to
designate and acquire the canyon property and move it into national park
status - with full compensation to the owners of the lands to be
acquired," the report says.
In February 1997, Petersburg-based Allegheny Wood bought 3,000 acres of
the Blackwater Canyon from a company that bought it from Allegheny Power
Co.
A year ago, the company started to log an 800-acre tract of the property
at the western end of the canyon near Hendricks. Since then, the company
has doubled the size of its logging area, to about 1,600 acres. The
expansion pushed the logging much closer to Blackwater Falls State Park
and the popular Lindy Point overlook.
Chain saws from that project can be heard by visitors hiking Forest
Service trails along the canyon rim. Allegheny Wood President John Crites
has marked off lots in the canyon for what state officials believe could
become condominium properties.
Environmental groups are fighting the logging. They fear it will damage
the canyon, a favorite spot for hikers, bikers and other tourists.
On Oct. 30, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and Heartwood filed a
formal notice of intent to sue Allegheny Wood and the Fish and Wildlife
Service to halt the logging. The groups' lawyers, Tom Michael and Jason
Huber, alleged the company and the agency aren't following a legal mandate
to protect the endangered species from harm.
The federal Endangered Species Act generally prohibits the "taking" of a
species that is listed by the government as being in danger of extinction.
The U.S. Department of Interior defines "taking" to include not only
directly killing an endangered species, but also damaging or destroying
habitat that is vital to those species' survival. That definition, the
subject of heated controversy, was upheld in a landmark 1995 U.S. Supreme
Court decision.
Under the law, any taking of an endangered species in the course of
otherwise legal activity can be done only if under an incidental take
permit. To get such a permit, Allegheny Wood would have to cooperate with
the Fish and Wildlife Service to construct and implement a habitat
conservation plan consistent with the Endangered Species Act.
The notice of intent to sue stated that no such plans have been compiled.
"As each day passes, more timber is extracted from the Blackwater Canyon,
thus increasing the possibility and probability of extinction of at least
two listed species from the Blackwater Canyon," the notice said.
"The Fish and Wildlife Service, once aware of the taking of a listed
species, has a mandatory, nondiscretionary duty to require the landowner
to submit a habitat conservation plan," the notice said.
"The service, in allowing a logging operation to continue where the
service has specific knowledge of the existence of listed species, runs
grossly afoul of this mandate."
During the past year, Tolin wrote a series of letters to Allegheny Wood.
He hoped the company would agree to conduct more surveys of the canyon
looking for endangered species, and take recommended steps to protect them
from logging.
In the most recent letter, dated July 14, Tolin wrote that he was
concerned about problems for endangered species on a narrow band of the
western end of the canyon. Tolin suggested a survey of the area to
determine if endangered species lived there.
"Nearly a year has passed since we had any dialogue, and the service
wishes to arrange a meeting to review activities during the past year, and
to discuss the results of our recommendations regarding Phase I of your
operation," Tolin wrote.
"In addition, we wish to discuss arrangements to more precisely determine
the two known locations for the federally listed species on your property
and to review your future operational plan as it relates to the protection
of those species.
"We remain strongly interested in conducting surveys for these species in
potential habitat on the property, providing recommendations for their
continued protection, and establishing a long-term monitoring program to
determine the effects of the silvicultural practices and recommended
management measures."
Tolin said he visited the portion of the canyon he was concerned about,
and became more concerned after seeing it.
"Things have changed a little bit," he said.
Previously, the service did not believe any endangered species had been
"taken." Now Tolin isn't so sure.
"In all likelihood, they were protecting endangered species," he said.
"They may not be now.
"Some of the property down in the lower part of the canyon that they
didn't want to do surveys on may be impacted."
Tolin declined to provide more specifics on what actions his agency may
take. Officials from Allegheny Wood did not return phone calls.
To contact staff writer Ken Ward Jr., call 348-1702.