Conservancy Seeks Funds to Buy Gauley Tract

The non-profit land conservancy Arc of Appalachia has a drive underway to fund the purchase of 1,336 acres along five miles of the Gauley River above Summersville Lake. Although much of the Gauley flows through a protected national recreation area, the purchase would bring conservation protection to a significant additional river segment that flows along privately owned land. 

The anticipated project cost is about $3,6 million, about 60 percent of which had been raised as of Nov. 25. (See the information below for linking to the donation site.)

Dam releases feed the famous whitewater runs below Summersville Lake. The property in question lies just above the lake, the Arc campaign website says, along "a peaceful, rarely visited portion of the river. A particularly beautiful, fast-moving tributary of the Gauley, Big Beaver Creek, runs through the property for an entire mile. Two smaller tributaries, Crooked Run and Little Run, also dissect the property."

The Arc website emphasizes the wildlife that would be protected, "including black bear, bobcat, coyote, wild turkey, mink, beaver, white-tailed deer, and a high diversity of salamanders—a benchmark indicator of a healthy forest. Other species that are especially notable include the green salamander, eastern hellbender, and the federally endangered candy darter." 

"The Five Miles on the Gauley project will also protect a rare habitat along the frequently-flooded cobble zone of the Gauley known as Riverscour, a vanishing plant community native to the Eastern third of our nation that shelters a large number of unique, imperiled species."

Nancy Stranahan, director of Arc of Appalachia, says, "We hope buying Five Miles on the Gauley will just be the beginning of forest protection projects of even greater scale in West Virginia."

Property across the river will remain in private hands. Asked whether this would diminish the impact of the Arc's purchase, Nancy says, "Protecting a river is always about protecting the forested lands and their tributaries that feed the rivers, and thus every forest acre protected represents an incremental achievement toward that goal."

"We don't have to protect 'perfectly,' " she says. "Every acre counts."

For More Information

Arc of Appalachia Gauley campaign site (includes donation links, environmental details, and FAQs)

Maps of "Five Miles on the Gauley" property