The Latest News

Scenic Virginia Names SELC the winner of its 2009 Scenic Hero Award

added 10.29.09

[L-R] Scenic Virginia president Jane Sale Henley with Kay Slaughter, David Carr, Trip Pollard, Deborah Murray, Marirose Pratt, and Julia Bradley.

Scenic Virginia, an organization dedicated to the preservation, protection, and enhancement of Virginia’s scenic beauty and community character, has named SELC the winner of its 2009 Scenic Hero Award, its highest honor. Presented in Richmond on October 21 during the organization’s seventh annual Scenic Awards Luncheon, the award recognizes SELC for “working diligently to preserve the visual quality of our environment.” SELC also earned kudos from Scenic Virginia for its opposition to unsightly billboards and mountaintop removal coal mining, as well as for championing the Virginia Ridge and Valley Act and successfully challenging the King William Reservoir.

Previous Case Activity

SELC wins passage of Virginia wilderness law!

added 3.30.09

On March 30, President Obama signed the Virginia Ridge and Valley Act into law, along with other measures in the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act. With a 285-140 vote in the U.S. House, Congress passed the bill on March 25. Permanently protecting more than 53,000 acres in the publicly owned Jefferson National Forest, this is the largest wilderness bill in the Southern Appalachians in the last decade.

The Virginia Ridge and Valley Act establishes six new wilderness areas, a wilderness study area and two new national scenic areas, and expands several existing wilderness areas, all in the  mountains of southwest Virginia. The Omnibus Public Lands Management Act also includes dozens of other land-protection measures around the country, among them a wilderness bill in West Virginia. The Senate passed the bill March 19 on a 77-20 vote.