e c n e r w a L search for more than 250 species and perch e l y Citizens unite upon the mountain spine to watch the autumn K © raptor migration. Hunters tramp the steep to protect slopes seeking black bear, turkey, grouse, and a spectacular forest. whitetail, while fly fishermen wade the coldwater streams that are among the last bastions of native brook trout in Virginia. But timber interests also find the by Nancy Sorrells mountain alluring, as do wilderness advocates who want to protect the integrity of the old growth forest. Tourists enjoy walking the Civil he 72-mile-long Shenandoah Mountain War breastworks educational trail along the situated on the eastern front of the mountain top, while backpackers prefer the s l l e g i r r Allegheny Mountains in the 1.1- isolation of Ramsey’s Draft Wilderness. And b e o i S r t y million-acre George Washington National Forest thousands of people in the Shenandoah Valley, S c n d a T a (GWNF) ranks as one of the most biologically many of whom have never set foot on r N B © diverse places in the entire United States, Shenandoah Mountain, turn on the tap each © Augusta County farmer Dave Horn heads up a Shenandoah Mountain offers some of the most including Hawaii. e moun tain, located in morning and drink the clean water that this Elkhorn Lake on the North River was built to provide municipal water for Staunton and serves as steep slope on Shenandoah Mountain to hunt a popular fishing spot for warm- and cold-water angling. challenging mountain biking in the East. western Virginia between Routes 33 and 250, special area protects. e headwaters of both for grouse. has five roadless areas, one of which is the largest the Shenandoah and the Potomac rivers arise roadless area on national forest land east of the here. agreement that recognizes the importance of e GWNF stakeholders’ agreement— are supported, including mountain bike trails Mississippi—the Little River Roadless Area at Some might think that the sheer diver sity all that is special about Shenandoah Mountain among the first of its kind in the eastern as well as commercial timber harvesting and 29,000 acres. e North River Gorge, which that is Shenandoah Mountain might doom it and several other special wild areas. Groups United States—would protect 90,000 acres prescribed burning—both of which increase slices through the land, is eligible to be a National to extinction, as groups with oppos ing interests that don’t ordinarily work together and that are of Shenandoah Mountain as a combination wildlife habitat for many species. Scenic River. It is a place so special that its diverse draw battlelines to defend what is important to often in opposition were able to come together, of National Scenic Area and Wilderness, e various groups see this collaboration and sometimes seemingly incompatible users them. e siren’s call is intoxicating for all those compromise, and support each other’s goals for Beech Lick Knob as Wilderness, and allow for as a win-win, helping each to achieve goals have found common ground atop that place they constituents, includ ing the Ruffed Grouse how the larger GWNF should be managed. It several additions to existing Wilderness Areas. that are difficult or even impossible to call Shenandoah Mountain, and together, they Society, the Wilderness Society, turkey hunters, was not easy, but the end result could serve as It espouses large-scale landscape planning accomplish alone. But how did this all come have created a unique plan to collectively cherish mountain biker groups, nature and plant a model for the nation. is unusual n using a “tiers of management” approach. Pro - together? e k l and protect it. societies, roadless advocates, and the timber collaboration resulted in an agreement signed e tected old growth wilderness and the unique Several years ago a number d n e mountain, rich in both human and industry. by 14 groups that was submitted to the e flora and fauna that flourish there sits at the of forest users and activists W d natural history, is a land of many faces. Mountain But a few years ago, those groups found GWNF as joint comments on the draft i center of the map. As one moves toward the attended an event hosted by the v a bikers love its single-track adven ture; birders common ground and forged an unprece dented management plan in October 2011. D perimeter, more levels of active manage ment George Washington National © Above, cerulean warbler populations are declining faster than any other warbler species; the bird requires old growth forest habitat. Background photo ©Lynn Cameron Finding Com mon Ground 18 ◆ VIRGINIA WILDLIFE ◆ WWW.HUNTFISHVA.COM NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014 ◆ 19 Forest stake holders’ group. e Shenandoah In the end it came down to talking with plan is one of nine mega-projects that, and not at each other, and coming to the together, form the overall GWNF manage - realization that on a forest o f 1.1 million acres ment plan. In addi tion to forest users and there is plenty for all. e GWNF, within a activists, the GWNF stakeholder process two-hour drive of ten million people, can included review and comment by federal and meet the needs of almost everyone. ere is state natural resource agencies—including this the ability to engage in permanent protection Department. that creates wildlife habitat in old growth Each national forest is required to have a areas, as well as active management for timber management plan outlining specific planned harvesting and the wild animals and birds that uses and unique places and situations of that require early successional growth forests. It is forest. Like all government planning docu - worth noting that some 65 species o f birds ments, the Forest Service plans are required to and mammals are in significant decline due to be periodically updated based upon public an imbalance o f forest age classes where older input and research. To a number of forest users forest currently dominates the Appalachians. along all points of the spectrum, each iteration Finding common ground relies upon n o r of the plan designed to appease certain user trust and compromise. On Shenandoah e m a C groups contained “poison pills” for other Mountain, perimeter wilderness lines were n n y groups. e various plans, they thought, pulled back slightly to allow mountain bikers L © would divide, not unite, and the result would and game carts access to the mountain. In the Shenandoah Mountain has 150 miles of trails, many with scenic vistas like this one at Cliff Trail on be continuous argument with no solutions. final proposal, no roads will be closed, and no Hone Quarry Recreation Area. is lose-lose scenario became partic - new roads created within sections that are ularly obvious to Mark Miller, field director for proposed as wilderness areas, and more peri - “e most difficult thing for all of the the Virginia Wilderness Com mittee, and John meter areas are now designated as timber groups in this process was keeping our eye on Hancock, a timber industry executive and management areas. the prize, because we all sometimes fall back Virginia Forestry Association board member. Once the stakeholder agreement had into our shells and speak of our own needs,” ey began talking with other forest users— been created and signed by all groups, it had Miller acknowledges. But the success in this l mountain bikers, wildlife managers, wilder- to be submitted. Despite 18 months of pro - project was the recognition by us that there e t t o gress, distrust sometimes crept into the act of are many needs and the forest can meet most H ness advo cates, hunters and equestrians—and d r a decided they had enough in common to try to implementation. Which would come first: of those needs.” In addition to the stakeholder h c i work together on some thing that was a win- protection and preservation, or timber man - signatories, over 200 civic, religious, and R © win based on identifying shared goals. agement? Each side worried that they might business groups have signed on to support Wake Robin trillium illustrates the great And so they began meeting, and meeting, support the other and then be left without permanent protection of Shenandoah Moun - biodiversity found here. and meeting. “Nobody thought it would support for their cause. Finally the wilderness tain. work,” remembers Miller. “We met for 18 advocates stepped up and proffered to get the A part of the collaborative process has months, poured over maps, hashed out ball rolling by publicly supporting timber been the collective recognition that there are agreements, wrote a draft that most of the management and the creation of young forest some uses of the forest that will never be group accepted with a minority report as well. if forestry groups would support expanded compatible with the stakeholders’ aims. As e plan went through 16 different itera - wilderness and scenic area legislation before the Forest Service plan awaits approval, there t n i l F tions!” Congress. Agreed! are still threats to Shenandoah Mountain and y l l i When they were finished, they had a to the forest in general. At the top of the list is B © The proposed National Scenic Area, groundbreaking landscape management plan the specter o f hydraulic fracturing for natural Cow Knob salamander, at high risk for extinction, with four embedded Wilderness that called for tiers of management ranging gas. Much of Shenandoah Mountain sits over is found almost exclusively on Shenandoah Mtn.