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Virginia Forests
Our first National Forests were established for the American people more than one hundred years ago. Since then the timber industry has turned our publicly owned National Forests into a patchwork of clearcuts and logging roads. Commercial logging has taken a harsh toll on the land: draining nutrients from the soil, washing topsoil into streams, destroying wildlife habitat, and intensifying the severity of wildfires. The U.S. Forest Service commercial logging program continues to waste taxpayers’ funds by subsidizing logging while creating more environmental damage and a bigger restoration bill for the taxpayers each year.
Virginia is blessed with two beatiful National Forests- the George Washington and the Jefferson. There are many special places in each of them, so check special places for Sierra Club's latest adventure in our precious National Forests.
Virginia's National Forests - The Issues:
Jun 28, 2008
Tour de Cut, Marshall Run area
We will visit the site of the proposed Forest Service Marshall Run timber sale, where 185 acres of logging threatens the heart of the Root Run watershed on the southeastern side of the 17,000 acre Beech Lick Knob Virginia mountain treasure area. Beech Lick Knob area boasts rich forests with undulating hills and trout waters. The Tour de Cut is designed to be an educational, yet fun, event for people of all walks of life.
Sep 06, 2008
Tour de Cut, North Mountain Trail
We’ll hike a superb ridgetop trail surrounded by spectacular views of the northern Shenandoah Valley. Enjoy high grassy ridges, rock formations of a variety of colors and sizes, and wooded groves atop North Mountain. The trail overlooks the site of the future Laurel Run/Road timber sale 1000 ft. below, where the Forest Service plans to cut 484 acres of the forest in 22 separate even-aged cutting units. In addition, a 15 mile long industrial wind turbine development is proposed on the very ridge where we will hike, and other remote areas just to the south of us.
Oct 04, 2008
Tour de Cut, Chestnut Oak Knob
We will begin with a pleasant 2 ¾ mile ascent of the Dowells Draft Trail, a wooded trail surrounded by the peaks of distant Ramseys Draft Wilderness and Crawford Mountain. We will then hike cross-country a short distance to visit several recent clearcuts surrounding nearby 2798 ft. high Chestnut Oak Knob. After this, we will follow a road to the bottom of the mountain, passing several tributaries of Dowells Draft.
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