Decade-long, landscape-scale collaboration at Jennings Randolph Lake (JRL), a US Army Corps of Engineers project on the North Branch of the Potomac River (MD and WV).
Since 2013, RGS and our Backbone Mountain Chapter have been collaborating with JRL staff and partners to improve forest habitat and recreational opportunities through forest management and planting projects. RGS is excited to expand on our successful collaboration with JRL as well as to include nearby private landowners, improving habitat at scale.
Summary of collaboration and habitat work to date:
2013—RGS and JRL sign memorandum of understanding to collaboratively implement JRL’s natural resource management goals
2013—RGS funds weed control, fertilizing, and planting 2-5 acres of trees on old quarry site (site 4 on map).
2014—RGS helps plan and implement 45-acre forest management and habitat improvement project on east or WV side of Jennings Randolph Lake.
2015—RGS, MD Forest Service, and Office of Surface Mining Reclamation, and Enforcement (OSMRE) plan and plant a 24-acre mineland reforestation project.
2019—RGS and US ACE forester Glenn Werner (US ACE Raystown Lake Forester) plan and implement 46-acre forest management and habitat improvement project on 67-acre stand on west or MD side of Jennings Randolph Lake.
Next steps:
- JRL and NRCS forester Dylan Kesner will implement a 58-acre overstory removal, tentatively planned for 2024, within the 133-acre stand on the west or MD side of Jennings Randolph Lake.
- RGS will work with neighboring private landowners to implement good forest management and/or mineland reforestation projects.
- In 2023, JRL, RGS, and others will consider additional habitat and/or forest management projects as part of JRL’s updated Environmental Assessment.
