GLENWOOD-PEDLAR RANGER DISTRICTS

District Ranger
P.O. Box 10
Natural Bridge Station, VA 24579
ph.(540) 291-2188
http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/gwj/gp/

updated February 8, 2007

Beautiful stream in the Wilson Mtn Virginia Mtn Treasure area

CURRENT AND UPCOMING

Proposed Robinson Hollow timber sale.

Photo: copyright Sherman Bamford

Robinson Hollow Timber Sale – logging project in an area of broad flatlands south of Waynesboro. Located in watersheds with several scenic small ponds used for flood control. Many of the cutting units are covered with small stunted trees; logging is unlikely to improve the conditions of these forests, given the site conditions in the area. One higher elevation unit (near the Blue Ridge Parkway) contains a significant number of larger, older trees.

Glenwood-Pedlar roadside herbicide spraying – along numerous roads in the two ranger districts.

RECENT

Arnold Valley Timber Sale - Additional information plus photos - Proposed 225 acre timber sale in the Arnold Valley, a highly scenic area that was classified under a "Forest Product" (a.k.a. Logging) emphasis prescription in the 2004 Jefferson National Forest plan revision. Arnold Valley is the spectacular valley visible from the Arnold Valley overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway (although perhaps only a small portion of this particular timber sale is visible from Blue Ridge Parkway overlooks, if at all. More of the area is visible from the lower reaches of the valley - accessed via the James River side). Three cutting units are located adjacent to or near to Thunder Ridge Wilderness. Three other cutting units are located near the Wildcat Mountain Trail or Cave Mountain Recreation Area; including some areas with steep slopes. According to recent Forest Service figures (1997), 125 year old Stand 3006/22 is one of the oldest stands in the portion of Arnold Valley immediately north of Thunder Ridge Wilderness. UPDATE: VAFW filed a formal appeal opposing this timber sale in August 2006.

Hamilton Knob Timber Sale - 65 acres of logging in the Hamilton Knob area. Approved logging in the South Pedlar All-terrain vehicle area. Some portions of the project have trees over 130 years old, according to Forest Service surveys.

Bennetts Run Timber Sale - Proposed 126 acres timber sale on Bennetts Run south of Buena Vista, Virginia and north of the Three Sisters Knobs area. The project area is the site of flash flooding that previously devastated downstream areas. Bennetts Run is a high quality trout stream and could be impacted by this project.

Big Levels Burns - proposed 3,718 acres of prescribed burning in and around the northern reaches of the Big Levels area. There is concern that burning or fireline construction could impact roadless values and could impact some species found in the biologically unique Big Levels area. The Forest Service took initial comments on this proposal in May & June 2005.

Pulaski Tract Timber Sale - timber sale near the Spec Mines area that was excluded from the full public involvement process. The cutting units included several cutting units in rich, lowlying areas near the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Forest Service approved this project in 2005.

Gum Springs Timber Sale - 27 acres of logging north of Big Levels (Augusta County) that was excluded from the full public involvement process. The project is located immediately north of a George Washington National Forest special interest area. A sinkhole was identified in the project area by a citizen, but the Forest Service provided no special mitigation measures to protect this rare resource. The Forest Service approved this project in 2005.

Parkers Gap Timber Sale - Commercial logging on 145 acres, including logging in a conservation area for the globally rare species; logging in the watershed of North Creek, a wild trout stream and waterway eligible for Wild and Scenic River Status; logging on steep slopes; and logging in a highly important recreation area and highly scenic area near the Blue Ridge Parkway and trailheads for the Appalachian Trail and Apple Orchard Trail. A controversial even-aged logging and thinning project located in an unprotected national forest tract between the North Creek Special Area and Thunder Ridge Wilderness. Several of the cutting units are located along scenic Rt. 812 (Warbler Rd.) just below Sunset Fields. The cutting units are at the headwaters of North Creek and include portions of several stands over 100 yrs. old and includes tracts of land previously identified by the Forest Service as old growth, but subsequently arbitrarily eliminated from old growth status by the agency.

Trilliums (May '06) near site of planned log landings for the Parkers Gap timber sale. Logging could begin here any day.

Photo: copyright Sherman Bamford

This project is the reincarnation of an unwise logging proposal that the FS had been unsuccessfully pushing (in several forms) for over 12 years. Ten years ago, a state fisheries biologist cautioned the FS against logging this area because of its location at the sensitive headwaters of a trout stream (North Creek). Due to the steep slopes and sensitive nature of this watershed the Forest Service had proposed logging the area using helicopters six years before; in the 2004 Parkers Gap project, the Forest Service eliminated the helicopter logging option and decided to use cable and ground-based logging methods - logging methods that usually have a greater impact on soils.

Logging road near Thunder Ridge Wilderness area

The Forest Service failed to conduct surveys needed to ascertain the status of a globally rare species found in the project area. The Forest Service failed to allow a special session of a Conservation Team for this species to be convened before a decision was made on the logging project. The Forest Service withheld or ignored studies and key documents that called into question the Forest Service's premise that logging and previous ice storm damage would not reduce forest cover to a level insufficient for that needed to support the globally rare species - thus jeopardizing the survival of the species. Virginia Forest Watch and other groups appealed this project in the winter of early 2004. The Forest Service's appeals reviewing officer recommended that the agency rule in favor of Virginia Forest Watch's appeal (reversing the decision). However, former Forest Supervisor Bill Damon -who oversaw the same national forest where this project takes place - overruled the appeals reviewing officer and decided to let the project proceed.

Photos of Muddy Road Construction Upper Pedlar Timber Sale, Pedlar Ranger District, US Forest Service.

Photos by Bob Fener

Upper Pedlar Timber Sale - 105 acres of logging a short distance from the popular Statons Creek Falls and below the Blue Ridge Parkway in Amherst County. A reservoir that may be a drinking water source for the city of Lynchburg is nearby. One of the cutting units contained a patch of old growth that was flagged and surveyed by Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project biologists. The old growth patch was located on the other side of Statons Creek from a Forest Service sign that identified an area as containing "virgin timber." This project was appealed by Virginia Forest Watch and other groups in the winter of early 2004, but has gone through final approval by the Forest Service.

December 13, 2005: Runoff causes logging shutdown Lynchburg News & Advance article about Upper Pedlar Timber Sale.

Logging in Wilson Mtn Virginia Mtn Treasure area

Shady Mtn Timber Sale - A 127 acre logging project in the Pedlar RD, south of the Blue Ridge Parkway, that could affect rare mussels like the James spinymussel and green floater. This timber sale was planned near trout waters and camping areas along Little Irish Cr. The FS dismissed impacts to the nearby Appalachian Trail offhand by saying the logging would not be apparent to "casual and inattentive hikers," ignoring altogether the many serious or attentive hikers that use this world-class trail. Older forests would also be especially hard hit by this logging project - according to FS data, only 10% of forests in the project area are older forest groves over 130 yrs., but the FS plans to log 1/5 of these remaining older forests in the area. Virginia Forest Watch appealed this project in May 2003.

Logging road in view of Peaks of Otter

McJennings Timber Sale - This 179 acre logging project in the Glenwood RD just to the north of the Peaks of Otter was approved by the FS in September 2001. One of three destructive logging projects in the Harkening Hill area over the last decade. Wildlaw opposed this project for Virginia Forest Watch and other groups in the courts.