Agreement Narrative: Central Appalachia Habitat in Virginia
Primary Funder: U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities
Location: Western Virginia
Innovation: Our project will increase capacity for planning and implementing active forest management projects on state and private lands in western Virginia, with a focus on the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s (NFWF) Central Appalachia Habitat Stewardship Program’s Southwest Virginia and Blue Ridge focal geographies. RGS & AWS will hire a forest wildlife specialist as a partner position with Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (VDWR) to lead efforts on state lands and to coordinate with private landowners near dynamic forest restoration blocks (DFRBs) in western Virginia to achieve specific objectives and anticipated results: Virginia Department of Forestry (DOF) is in support using Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) funds to advance the work. NFWF funds will be used to prepare new DFRB plans across 26,634 acres for four state-owned wildlife management areas (WMAs) in the project area, Gathright WMA, Short Hills WMA, Crooked Creek WMA and Big Survey WMA. RGS & AWS will utilize MVP mitigation funds through an agreement with U.S. Endowment and DOF to implement active forest management treatments on the state-owned WMAs.
Impact: Our project will result in the following outputs and outcomes on state lands: 120 acres of midstory treatments to promote natural regeneration of oak seedlings and saplings, 281 acres of crop tree release treatments to promote desired mast-producing trees in 20-30-year-old forest stands, 465 acres of commercial timber harvest to create young and open forest conditions, 100 acres of nonnative invasive plant control, 90 acres of forest management to promote older forest conditions, and 802 acres of prescribed burn implementation. In addition, 100 acres of noncommercial habitat improvements will be completed on private lands.
Partners: We will collaborate with Virginia Department of Forestry, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, Appalachian Mountains Joint Venture and The Nature Conservancy.
