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Summer 2021 FRIENDS OF BLACKWATER ©Brian Peterman Working to protect West Virginia’s High Alleghenies, Blackwater River, & Blackwater Canyon. PO Box 247 - Thomas, WV 26292 - phone: 304-345-7663 - www.saveblackwater.org - [email protected] Welcoming New Faces and Saying Goodbye to Others Blackwater Watershed Project Updates A big sunny hello to all the Friends of Blackwater Canyon! My name is Jocelyn Phares, and I am a West Virginia native. I was born in Elkins and raised on the rivers of this beautiful place. Ensuring West Virginia’s public lands, waters and all the creatures depending on them are protected is truly my calling. I am thrilled to be back in my beloved home state for the first time in several years. I love our Wild and Wonderful state, and I am eager to help preserve its beauty for generations to come! In 2016, I graduated from West Virginia University with a BA in Interna- tional Studies and a minor in Global Environmental Change. In January 2021, I completed my J.D. in Portland, Oregon at Lewis and Clark Law School with a certificate in Natural Resources Law. In 2018, I externed with the World Wild- Active Treatment Planning life Fund in Wellington, New Zealand. I also clerked for Earthrise, a non-profit environmental law firm. In my final year of law school, I worked as a clerk and The plan for an active water treatment plant on the research assistant for the Global Law Alliance. The Global Law Alliance focuses North Fork is moving along. It will treat the three main on regulating the international trade of endangered species. sources of acid mine drainage. Tim Danehy of BioMost Between graduating WVU and beginning Law school, I traveled inter- in Mars PA is in charge. He done an analysis of the flow nationally for 8 months and worked as a ski instructor in Colorado. I recently DNR Fisheries and pollution measurements for Long Run, Mine Portal 29 became a certified open-water diver, and I am learning to surf. I adore sharing Employees from the DNR Fisheries unit out of Elkins along the rail trail and Burns Blow-Out across the North my passions for outdoor sports with others and I hope to inspire environmental have begun a project to measure water temperature in Fork in all seasons. These measurements are needed to Photo of Jocelyn. stewardship in everyone I meet! the headwater streams of the North Fork. They placed calculate the size of the treatment tanks and the amount of the sludge removed to be disposed of. Siting of the Hello! I first came to West Virginia as a delegate to the National Youth devices in 4 locations in the upper North Fork of the Science Camp in Pocahontas County in 1997. I then returned for many sum- Blackwater which will chronicle changes in temperature plant is being discussed and addition funds sought to mers to work at the camp, where I led climbing, biking and backpacking trips, over a year. These readings will allow them to make sci- cover the very expensive project. Funding for the plan- as well as music and science activities. I studied geology at Montana State entific decisions about whether to invest in a trout fishery ning comes from Friends of Blackwater through a grant from the WV DEP 319 program. Engineers from BioMost University and cello at the University of Northern Colorado before teaching in in the North Fork. With a new water treatment facility on public schools in Montana and Alaska. While out west, I was lucky enough to the North Fork the whole length of the river may support and the state AML division met with Friends of Blackwater climb and hike some fantastic places, including Devil’s Tower and Denali. a reproducing trout population. in May to discuss plans. In 2009 I was able to move to West Virginia for a full-time position with the National Youth Science Foundation to develop new programs for WV middle and high school students. We worked with the WV Department of Education, the Green Bank Observatory (then still the NRAO), and NASA grants to pilot several successful science enrichment camps WV kids. After those projects, I spent a few years away working in Indiana and Montana as a bicycle mechanic and orchestra cellist, including realizing a decades-long dream of performing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Though I’m grateful for that opportunity, I happily returned to Tucker County for good two years ago. Earlier this spring, I accepted job at Stumptown Ales in Davis, final- ly putting to professional use my last 20 years of home beer and wine mak- ing,and one day Judy stopped by the brewery to ask if I might be interested in Earth Day Clean-Up Rail Trail Banners Photo of Josh helping with water monitoring, and I was happy to get on board! Friends of Blackwater and Q&A Associates part- Last fall, in collaboration with historian David Vago, Hello FOB family! I’m sad to tell you that my West Virginia chapter has nered with the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, Blackwa- we created vinyl banners that are currently hanging come to a close. Since leaving FOB at the end of March, I’ve moved to Frank- ter Bikes Association, and the West Virginia Division of along the Blackwater Rail Trail on the chain link fence lin, NC to work with Mainspring Conservation Trust to conserve land in the Natural Resources to hold a special clean-up on Camp- downstream of Thomas. These banners focus on the his- southern Blue Ridge mountains. After two years in Tucker County, I know that 70 road for Earth Day. Camp-70 is a 5-mile long road tory surrounding the city of Thomas, particularly about nothing can replace the community and mountains that I called home, but behind Shop & Save, leading through the Little Canaan the railroads and the various industries that helped make I’m happy to be settled in NC closer to family. I’m already counting down the Wildlife Refuge.More than a dozen volunteers came to the town boom in its heyday. The first one is about the weeks until I come visit for a snowy winter weekend. I learned so much from the Clean-up on Saturday! The hosting groups had tables coke ovens, followed by the various industries, and last- working with Judy and the FOB team- some of my favorite memories are host- and tailgates spread out every ten yards, making it easy ly, the two railroad companies that operated in Thomas. ing the Backcountry Film Fest at White Grass, taking new volunteers out to for volunteers to follow along the designated clean-up There are five banners created, each one being 6×8 feet water monitor, working with some incredible Americorps to improve our Forest area. Despite the rainy weather that afternoon, the event tall. We placed them at the very top of the fencing and Service trails, and spotting three huge beavers on Beaver Creek! The miles proved to be successful. Volunteers collected over six before fastening them securely with zip ties. Our walking that I walked and ran in Canaan Valley, along the edges of the Blackwater bags of trash and a cracked container of tractor fluid! The tour brochure of all the historic signs along the 3.7 miles Canyon, and in the Monongahela Forest are so special to me, and I’m so proud wastes were taken to Sunrise Sanitation. Following the of the rail trail can be picked up in the box at the end of to have played a tiny role in protecting and restoring those public lands. Thank clean-up, volunteers enjoyed several pizzas donated by the vinyl sign display. Page 2 Summer 2021 you all so much for playing a role in that as well. I’ll be back soon! Sirianni’s Cafe! Summer 2021 Page 3 Give Turtles a Brake! The Forest Service Versus Nature By Steven Kirchbaum the project area. These areas It’s that time of year – many animal spe- must be excluded from logging cies are moving about their landscape, often as they not only provide nu- trying to increase their chances of reproducing. merous benefits for wildlife but And one species – we humans -- are often driv- they are also essential to com- ing motor vehicles at high speeds, which can batting the effects of climate have tragic consequences for some of our fellow change as they pull carbon creatures. from the atmosphere and have One of the most vulnerable species on significant carbon stores built our highways are turtles. No matter how many up over decades and centuries. times I see them crushed and lifeless on a road, Friends of Blackwater and it breaks my heart. It must happen hundreds or Center for Biological Diversity thousands of times a day in the USA. remain concerned about the What makes it even worse is that a dis- management of the West Vir- proportionate amount of the turtles being killed ginia northern flying squirrel on are adult females, who make long distance the Monongahela National For- forays searching for nest sites. Some turtles est. The proposed project will are terrestrial, such as Box Turtles and tortoises, thin 2,233 acres of overstory some are amphibious, such as Wood Turtles, but hardwood trees to increase the most are aquatic. They all lay eggs and nest on land. themselves. Field studies and statistical analyses clearly spruce component in the over- Aquatic species like Sliders and Cooters, and Map, show that even modest rates of death or removal (inten- story, midstory, and understory tional or incidental) of adult or juvenile turtles can lead to of several stands.
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