All are welcome to the VWC Annual Meeting at Braley Pond Recreation Area on the George Washington National Forest on Saturday, August 24 at 10a.
Launching Saturday, June 1!
Calling all amateur shutterbugs! Are you a casual camera person, part-time paparazzi, self-taught snapper? Have an awe-inspiring photo taken in Virginia Wilderness? The Virginia Wilderness Committee wants your submissions of Virginia Wilderness for the 2025 VWC Calendar Contest. The VWC Calendar Contest launches June 1 and photograph submissions will be accepted through July 15. Contest entries will be judged by experts in the visual arts, who will select at least 15 photographs to feature in the inaugural 2025 VWC Calendar. Winners of this contest will be notified by August 1, 2024. They will be featured in the 2025 VWC Calendar and will receive a free copy of the calendar. Our calendar will be sent in gratitude to all Sustaining Members (and above) of VWC. They can be purchased individually for $35. Enter your photos today! Contest Rules No Purchase, Payment, or Entry Fee Necessary to Enter or to Win. Follow the Steps below for entry. Step 1: Make sure your photos qualify - Photo must be taken in or related in some way to a designated VA Wilderness - Photos must be in digital JPEG or TIFF format - Photo must be at least 13 inches on the shorter dimension - Resolution of no less than 300dpi, low-resolution JPEGs will not be considered. - To find out an image’s DPI in Windows, right-click on the file name and select Properties > Details. You’ll see the DPI in the Image section, labeled Horizontal Resolution and Vertical Resolution. On a Mac, you need to open the image in Preview and select Tools > Adjust Size. It’s labeled Resolution. - If people are pictured in the photos, they must be candid (posed shots will not be considered). Step 2: Submit your photo (one entry per form) - Fill out this Google form. - Submit your photo by July 15. ***If submitting multiple photos, submit the form for each entry separately. Note: By entering the contest, you are giving VWC permission to use the photos for publicity and promotion of Virginia Wilderness. SELC applauds inclusion of public lands designations in Farm Bill frameworkPRESS RELEASE | MAY 1, 2024
WASHINGTON D.C. — On Wednesday, leadership in the U.S. Senate released a framework for the 2024 Farm Bill. The bill’s Forestry Title includes measures that increase forest resilience in the face of climate change and would permanently protect more than 100,000 acres of public lands by creating new National Scenic Areas, National Recreation Areas, and Wilderness Areas. “From a historic investment in the South’s public lands to climate smart forest policy, this framework has something for everyone to applaud, no matter how they enjoy our National Forests,” Anders Reynolds, Federal Legislative Director for the Southern Environmental Law Center, said. “Senator Stabenow and her staff have drafted a bipartisan bill that all our elected officials can get behind.” Included in the draft are additions to Virginia’s Rough Mountain and Rich Hole Wilderness Areas and the creation of the Shenandoah Mountain National Scenic Area, which would protect more than 92,000 acres of the George Washington National Forest in Virginia. National Scenic Areas strike a balance between preservation and recreation, ensuring that hikers, cyclists, anglers, hunters, and other visitors can continue to enjoy this exceptional area while prohibiting logging and industrial development. “The Shenandoah Mountain National Scenic Area proposal is the product of more than two decades of work and has broad public support from hundreds of local businesses, community organizations, and faith groups,” Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney Kristin Davis said. “This designation would permanently protect one of the largest stretches of undeveloped land east of the Mississippi River and preserve the majestic forests, spectacular vistas, and rugged trails on the edge of the Shenandoah Valley.” Forests provide a key climate solution by capturing and storing billions of tons of carbon. Protecting carbon-rich forests on public lands from logging, mining, and other destructive practices is a straightforward and cost-effective way to fight climate change. Other climate-smart provisions in the Senate’s Farm Bill framework include enhancing reforestation efforts and improving forest carbon data monitoring. ### The Southern Environmental Law Center is one of the nation’s most powerful defenders of the environment, rooted in the South. With a long track record, SELC takes on the toughest environmental challenges in court, in government, and in our communities to protect our region’s air, water, climate, wildlife, lands, and people. Nonprofit and nonpartisan, the organization has a staff of 200, including more than 120 legal and policy experts, and is headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., with offices in Asheville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Chapel Hill, Charleston, Nashville, Richmond, and Washington, D.C. southernenvironment.org The Senate Democrats have released a draft of the Farm Bill and the Shenandoah Mountain Act and the Virginia Wilderness Additions Act are both in the base text, as well as several other land preservation bills across the country. This is great news! It is what we expected but reassuring to see in print.
Thank you, Senator Kaine and Senator Warner, for continually championing land preservation in Virginia! To thank Senator Kaine, contact him here. To thank Senator Warner, contact him here Garlic Mustard Pull Date: Sat., April 13, 2024 Time: 10 am - 2 pm Where: Hone Quarry Picnic Area (Map) Registration required. Click here We are going to beat Garlic mustard by pulling it, and then we are going to eat Garlic mustard pesto! And best of all, we are going to view native wildflowers growing in the Hone Quarry area. Unfortunately, the invasive Garlic mustard plant is moving into the Hone Quarry area and threatening special wildflowers, like bloodroot, hepatica, and trilliums, that generations of people have come to Hone Quarry to enjoy. This invasive plant out-competes our native plants — both by growing vigorously and by poisoning the soil.
Fortunately, pulling Garlic mustard is easy and effective, especially in the Spring, before it flowers or produces seed. Conservation groups, including: Friends of Shenandoah Mountain, PATC's Southern Shenandoah Valley Chapter and Shenandoah Mountain Trail Crew; Virginia Native Plant Society, Shenandoah Chapter; Virginia Master Naturalists - Headwaters Chapter; and the Virginia Wilderness Committee are joining to rid Hone Quarry of this destructive invasive plant and protect the native biodiversity of this special place. Please come and help us out and taste some Garlic mustard pesto. What to bring: Bring daypack with water, snacks, sun hat, sunscreen, raincoat, mosquito repellant, and garden gloves. What to expect: Our goal for this worktrip is to pull Garlic mustard in several key areas and have fun while we are doing it. We will start by dividing into small groups (each trained and led by a naturalist), to pull in these areas:
Questions? Contact Jean Stephens at [email protected] or 443-986-5649. ![]() We are thrilled to announce that Ellen Stuart-Haentjens, Ph.D., a self-described “research ecologist (biogeochemist) and natural ecosystems advocate,” has succeeded Mark Miller in the Executive Director’s chair. Ellen has come to us from the U.S. Geological Survey and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Her research has involved ecosystem function and carbon cycling resilience following disturbance, which she has translated for me to mean the relative effectiveness of younger and mature forests in capturing and storing carbon to combat climate change, among other topics. Ellen is comfortable navigating the legislative process having met with Virginia’s U.S. senators and members of Congress on behalf of science-focused legislative priorities and provided research instrumental in drafting the conservation pillar of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. She has presented to regional, national, and international conferences; participated in donor fundraising events for the VCU Rice Rivers Center; taught university courses; and given seminars and talks on forest and wetland ecology at VCU, the Science Museum of Virginia, and to the Virginia Outdoor Writers Association. She has engaged in policy and public engagement workshops and authored articles in science journals and public platforms alike (gaining national and international attention). We are anticipating great things as she guides VWC into this next chapter. Mark has moved over to become Field Director for VWC so he can spend less time in the office and more time in the forests he knows and loves so well. From our partners at The Wilderness Land Trust:
This week we are celebrating a new acquisition adjoining Virginia's Priest Wilderness, not just for the habitat it will directly protect, but as a major milestone for our organization. In 2022 the Trust set a strategic goal to expand our work east of the Rockies in response to a growing need to protect lands in and around the often smaller wilderness areas of the East. With little buffer of public lands surrounding them, they are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of private development at their borders. The Tye River acquisition marks a first step in pursuing this goal, and is also a prime example of its importance. Only a few hours' drive away, the 6,000-acre Priest Wilderness provides access to life-changing wilderness experiences for the millions of residents of Richmond, Virginia, and the Washington DC metro area. The Tye River, a tributary of the James River, is one of the most scenic and popular recreational waterways in Virginia, and provides critical habitat to dozens of species of fish and aquatic wildlife. The famed Appalachian Trail also runs through the Priest Wilderness, only a few miles from the Tye River project. The George Washington National Forest, where the Priest Wilderness is located, provides drinking water for over 4 million people, and is part of the imperiled Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Protecting intact ecosystems in the watershed is critical to its health and the supply of clean, safe drinking water. The Priest Wilderness and Tye River connect over the span of only a mile, creating an important link in habitat connectivity for species like black bears, peregrine falcons, and lady’s slipper orchids. The Tye River property sits in the middle of this connection, and its protection ensures this important link will remain intact. As with almost all of our projects, local community partnerships played an important role in the success of the project. The property was first brought to the Trust's attention by the Virginia Wilderness Committee, which helped to secure wilderness designation for the Priest Wilderness in 2000. "The acquisition of this small parcel of land along the Tye River, closes an important gap in land adjacent to The Priest and will protect The Priest Wilderness from the sights and sounds of future development" says Ellen Stuart-Haëntjens, Executive Director of Virginia Wilderness Committee. The Wilderness Land Trust | A Non-Profit Wilderness Preservation Organization Want to give back to the trail? Join the Shenandoah Mountain Trail Crew at Hone Quarry on the GWNF this coming Monday.
The focus is on much needed treadwork starting about a mile in on Big Hollow Trail, if the ground isn't too frozen. Also brushing is needed, mostly up on Hone Quarry Mtn (starting about 2 miles in). It will likely be an out-and-back, rather than the full loop, to make sure everyone is back at the parking lot no later than 4 pm. Required: Contact the Work Trip Leader, Judy Bartlett, to let them know you are coming or to ask questions: Judy Bartlett, [email protected] or 505-639-1717 (text or voice). She’ll send an email Sunday evening to those who signed up with the final plans. Thanks for helping to improve North River District trails for the enjoyment of all trail users! Date: Monday, Jan 15, 2024 Time/Place: To carpool: 9:00 am, Dayton Market (in the overflow parking up the hill behind the market). Map At trailhead: 9:30 am, Big Hollow Trailhead at Hone Quarry Day Use area, just across low-water bridge on right or on trail access spur road on left with high clearance vehicle. Parking is limited. Map Maximum number of volunteers needed: 12. RSVP to Judy is required. What to bring: Lunch, water, and, if you have, PPE (hard hat, gloves, & safety glasses), loppers, and hand clippers. They will provide additional tools and PPE. What to expect: As mentioned above, they’ll focus on treadwork if the ground isn’t too frozen; otherwise, brushing. (If you’d prefer not to do treadwork, there’s alway a need for brushing!) There will likely *not* be time to hike the full Hone Quarry loop (5.4 mi, 1200’ elevation gain). Trailwork will occur on the way out and then leaderes will choose a turn-around time that allows for a comfortable hike back to the parking area, arriving no later than 4 pm. In December, the Biden administration proposed a nationwide forest plan amendment to conserve and restore old-growth forests so nature can continue to be a key climate solution. Read about it here.
![]() Want to give back to the trail? Join the Shenandoah Mountain Trail Crew at Hone Quarry next month. They will focus on brushing Big Hollow and Hone Quarry Ridge Trails, where prescribed burns have opened the canopy and caused the understory vegetation to become overgrown. Trail Maintainer Christa Neher has been working hard on cutting it back but could use a little extra help. Contact the Work Trip Leader, Judy Bartlett, to let them know you are coming or to ask questions: Judy Bartlett, [email protected] or 505-639-1717 (text or voice). She will send more details a couple of days in advance to all who RSVP. Thanks for helping to improve North River District trails for enjoyment by all trail users! Date: Monday, Jan 15, 2024 Time/Place To carpool: 9:00 am, Dayton Market (in the overflow parking up the hill behind the market). Map At trailhead: 9:30 am, Big Hollow Trailhead at Hone Quarry Day Use area, just across low-water bridge on right or on trail access spur road on left with high clearance vehicle. Parking is limited. Map Maximum number of volunteers needed: 12. RSVP to Judy is required What to bring: Lunch, water, and, if you have, PPE (hard hat, gloves, & safety glasses), loppers, and hand clippers. They will provide additional tools and PPE. What to expect: Hike Hone Loop (5.4 mi, 1200’ elevation gain) and clip back vegetation for 1-2 hours on Hone Quarry Ridge (435) and Big Hollow (430), mainly cutting back laurel and Fetterbush. Plan to be back at the parking lot by 3:30 - 4:00 pm at the latest. |