By: Matt Combs, Reporter | Posted: Feb. 19, 2018 | Source: The Register-Herald
With the ongoing debate whether to allow logging in West Virginia’s state park or not, the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), along with the state’s two U.S. senators, announced a grant to pay for a study of the timber within West Virginia’s state forests.
The West Virginia Division of Forestry (WVDF) will receive a $92,820 grant from the ARC for a timber and forest products inventory of the state-owned forests.
Along with the forestry grant, the senators also announced another ARC grant for the City of Spencer in Roane County.
“The support the Appalachian Regional Commission provides for economic and community development projects throughout West Virginia is vitally important,” U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said in a news release. “This funding will improve critical infrastructure in Spencer and support maintenance projects for the state forests we all cherish. These are important investments in our state and I will continue to advocate for ARC.”
Of the state’s seven state forests, five are located in the 3rd Congressional District and include Greenbrier State Forest in Greenbrier County, Calvin Price State Forest on the border of Greenbrier and Pocahontas counties and Camp Creek State Forest in Mercer County.
According to the news release, the inventory is an essential component of a long-term plan for forest management inside the state forests.
Along with the $92,820 from ARC, the inventory will also receive an additional $89,180 from the West Virginia Department of Commerce.
Email: mcombs@register-herald.com; follow on Twitter @mattcombsRH.
