America's "Great Idea" is coming to West Virginia and you can help. High Allegheny National Park will help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Park system (in 2016), and the 150th Anniversary of the State of West Virginia, “created out of the crucible of the Civil War.”
Most of the land in High Allegheny National Park is already federally owned, so implementation costs for a new Park will be minimal. There will be no reduction in local revenue sharing. Money will flow into local economies from tourism and increased property values. High Allegheny National Park will give national and global recognition to the Mountain State’s scenic grandeur -- from Dolly Sods and Mount Porte Crayon, to Spruce Knob and Seneca Rocks, Camp Allegheny, and Gaudineer Knob.
High Allegheny National Park will provide a rich and coordinated tapestry of outdoor experience for visitors from across the Nation. Tourism dollars will flow to gateway communities around the new Park, including the towns of Elkins, Petersburg, Franklin, Davis and Thomas.
High Allegheny National Park will be established by transferring portions of the Monongahela National Forest to the National Park Service, including the Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area (NRA); the Dolly Sods Wilderness; and the Otter Creek Wilderness. Interconnecting public lands will be Preserve Areas, where hunting will be allowed; and adjacent private working farms and forests will be eligible for entirely voluntary Heritage Area conservation easements.
The headwaters of the Potomac, Monongahela, and Greenbrier Rivers lie within High Allegheny National Park. The Park’s diverse forest ecosystems of the Park region are home to clear mountain streams and highland bogs -- as well as spectacular scenery and native wildlife, ranging from black bear and white-tail deer to rare northern flying squirrels and golden eagles.
And High Allegheny National Park is about much more than nature! The West Virginia Highlands are filled with hidden gems from our nation’s history and pre-history. The historic Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike, a National Scenic Byway, passes through the Park. Travellers along this historic Byway will experience such Civil War sites as the Rich Mountain Battlefield, Beverly Historic District, Cheat Summit Fort, Camp Bartow, and Camp Allegheny. The historic Blackwater Industrial Complex in Tucker County preserves the coal, coke and timber empire of famous West Virginia entrepreneur and Senator Henry Gassaway Davis.
Thanks to High Allegheny National Park, visitors from
around the world will travel to the West Virginia Highlands where they will: View rare wildlife; tour Civil War Battlefields, lumber camps, CCC cabins, historic coke ovens, mansions of lumber barons, working farms, and frontier forts from the French and Indian War; ride rugged and scenic mountain bike trails and tourism railroads; listen to great Appalachian Music at the Augusta Heritage Festival, the Purple Fiddle, and Mountain State Brewing Company; and climb the world-famous Seneca Rocks, Champe, and Nelson Rocks!
Visitors to High Allegheny National Park will: paddle and fish the South Branch of the Potomac, the Blackwater, the Dry Fork, and Seneca Creek; hike mountain trails; hunt on designated public land; ski the cross country trails of Otter Creek Wilderness and Whitegrass and the slopes of Canaan Valley and Timberline; dine at Muttley’s, Sirianni’s, the Cheat River Inn, or Graceland; visit local museums and shop small town antique stores; attend county fairs and festivals; explore the work of local artists and artisans at galleries like the West Virginia Highlands Artisans Gallery, Artists at Work, and Mountain Made. And the endless list goes on!