It takes a community to preserve our special places
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There is a unique kind of magic in West Virginia. Anyone who loves spending time outdoors knows it. Whether you are sitting by a quiet creek waiting for a bite, hiking up a steep mountain trail, or navigating a new singletrack on your bike, we Mountaineers don’t just like our state’s beauty--we live in it. And with more folks visiting the Mountain State every year, making sure our wild spaces, hidden waterfalls and old trails stay open to the public isn’t just a nice thought. It is the very heart of who we are.
The mission of the West Virginia Land Trust, since its founding in 1994, is to protect special places in the Mountain State. During this time, the WVLT has protected over 62,000 acres that include family farms (conservation easements), rivers and streams, wildlife habitat, historical sites, and lands for outdoor recreation.
For the past 14 years, the WVLT has been under the guidance of Executive Director Dr. Brent Bailey. If you ask Brent whether saving this land is just a nice thing to do, he will set you straight pretty quick. “No, it's not nice, it's essential,” he says as he prepares for a well-earned retirement. He likes to remind folks that the Land Trust is in the "forever business." What gets saved now stays saved for good -- keeping the water clean, protecting the local wildlife and preserving the history resting in our hills, whether it is a massive 1,000-acre timberland or a simple 100-acre field.
That heart shows up plain as day in the Land Trust's "We protect special places" slogan, especially in a short video put together by local filmmaker Robert Tinnell and the folks at Allegheny Image Factory. Called “Together We Protect Special Places," it can be found on YouTube or on wvlandtrust.org. If you take a few minutes to watch it, you can’t help but feel a pull in your chest for the folks out there doing the hard work to keep West Virginia wild and wonderful.
So far, the Land Trust has established nine public preserves across the state, with two more on the way. Places like the Piney Creek Preserve near Beckley -- which is a favorite spot on the WV Waterfall Tour -- or the ancient timber at the Marie Hall Jones Preserve in Doddridge County. To protect the Cheat River watershed and provide recreational access, the WVLT has opened the Jenkinsburg Recreation & Natural Area and the Shavers Fork Wilfong Preserve, each unique locations for outdoor enthusiasts.
You might wonder why we need an independent land trust when we already have state agencies managing wild lands. The simple truth is that nonprofits and private parties can move faster than state agencies. When a piece of private land goes up for sale, the owner often wants to see it stay green instead of getting turned into a row of houses. That is when conservation-minded folks step in, figure out a plan, raise the funds, pull together the legal paperwork and secure the land as either a conservation easement, or even better, a publicly available preserve.
It takes a whole community to make that happen. The Land Trust has grown to 11 employees, but they also rely on a network of board members, local donors and everyday volunteers putting in hours because they love this land and support the mission.
Chip Chase of the White Grass Touring Center and longtime supporter put it best: “Access in this day and age is what people actually want and need. Saving land is a legacy that goes beyond us, our little short lives, and goes on to children, grandchildren, and on and on. Every little piece is important.”
As Dr. Bailey wraps up his time leading the team, we owe him and the whole West Virginia Land Trust crew a debt of gratitude for looking after the places we love. Here's hoping the next 14 years are just as fruitful. If you want to see what they are up to or find a preserve near you, visit wvlandtrust.org -- and be sure to get outside and enjoy nature in West Virginia whenever you get the chance ... doctor's orders.
David P. Davis, Ph.D., a scientist and nature lover, is a NatureWV correspondent.