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SELC Defends Old-Growth Forest in Virginia

added 12.14.08

SELC is calling for the George Washington National Forest to drop a logging plan that imperils an irreplaceable resource: old-growth forest, with some trees more than 200 years old. The proposed Marshall Run timber sale targets 187 acres in the mountains west of the Shenandoah Valley in Rockingham County. SELC commissioned an independent survey of the area, which found that rare stands of old growth occupy nearly 30 percent of the logging sites.

A Special Place at Risk
According to SELC forest experts Sarah Francisco and David Carr, there's even more at stake. Marshall Run is part of a 17,000-acre, largely undisturbed tract known as Beech Lick Knob. The Forest Service recently acknowledged that Beech Lick Knob meets the criteria for a roadless area, but the agency still hasn't cancelled the project. Our concern is that logging and access-road construction could jeopardize Beech Lick Knob's status as a roadless area, which should be protected from road building and large-scale commercial timbering.

Long-Term Solutions
As the George Washington National Forest revises its long-range management plan, SELC is advocating long-term protection of old growth, roadless areas, and other precious resources.