The foundation is also worried about the effects the timbering may have on nearby trails.
It’s a bitter cold November morning in Coopers Rock State Forest.
Nearby, hunters are roaming the woods as the buck hunting season is underway. But Gwen Jones is out here for a different reason.
She’s hiking a trail, looking to see where the Division of Forestry plans to timber.
“One of my concerns is that we will lose these trails at a time when people are looking for opportunities to get out and be more active,” she said.
Jones is a member of the Coopers Rock Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting recreational activity and protecting wildlife at Coopers Rock.
Jones and other members of the foundation are concerned about the Division of Forestry’s plans to timber.
It’s called the Scott Run II Project and the Division of Forestry says it’s designed to improve the wildlife habitat and the population of oak trees in a more than 200 acre area near Scotts Run.
Barbara Breshock is the State Lands Manager with the West Virginia Division of Forestry.
“We’re trying to improve conditions for the oak to be able to regenerate by reducing some of the shade on the forest floor,” she said.
“Something else we’re trying to do as far as wildlife is provide more age diversity. We’re also looking to establish a savannah, in this case, an oak savannah,” she said. “We would choose trees that have a good healthy crown, look to be around for many decades, and space those trees in such a way that they would have full sunlight.”
The Division of Forestry, along with the DNR, would plant grass and legumes in the savanna to attract nearby wildlife.
But Gwen Jones and other members of the Coopers Rock Foundation have three issues with the project, linked around one aspect.
“Buffering,” she said, “buffering trails properly, buffering streams properly, and proper buffering for the snail habitats.”
“Those are the three big areas of concern for us. It’s going to have a tremendous impact on the recreationists, on the hunters, on the day users, for the forest.”
Buffering involves leaving a 100 foot zone of trees untouched around intermittent streams, and 50 feet around trails.
The foundation argues the timber project will significantly decrease the recreational activity on the Raven Rock trail, a popular place at Coopers Rock that is located in the timbering project zone.
But Breshock says the long term benefits of the project will outweigh any short term challenges.
“There’s potential for additional recreational opportunities in there, more than what you have now,” she said.
“People that like to see various species of birds can see more of them by coming into an area that has a more diverse habitat,” she said, “hunters may appreciate this more because of the hunting opportunities; more turkey can be attracted to the savanna area for example.”
An additional concern of the foundation is the preservation of a snail habitat in Coopers Rock State Forest.
West Virginia is home to the flat-spired three-toothed snail, only found in and around large boulders and other crevices in the Cheat River Gorge.
The Division of Forestry has marked trees around these areas in the forest with blue paint, so that they will not be disturbed during the timbering.
But Cooper Rock Foundation member Jan Kiger says she has concerns.
“There’s been a limited amount of study done on the snail,” she said.
“The area that they are timbering really hasn’t been studied,” she said. “Get somebody in there to study and make sure we are not going to impact their habitat, and just be a little bit stronger in their buffers.”
The DNR will conduct a field review of the buffer zones around the snail habitat, and the foundation is invited to attend.
Recently, the Division of Forestry completed two other timbering projects at Coopers Rock State Forest: one that cleared a power line right of way and another project expanded a wildlife clearing.