The recent news of The Nature Conservancy’s acquisition of a large tract of land in Dolly Sods adjacent to the Bear Rocks Preserve brings economic and environmental implications to Tucker County more so than anywhere else.
As one of the East Coast’s premiere hiking destinations, the Dolly Sods Wilderness area brings visitors from far and wide looking to experience its iconic landscape. Approximately 500 of the 1,143 acres purchased directly border The Nature Conservancy’s Bear Rocks Preserve. This 500-acre parcel will be added to the preserve.
“The parcel adjacent to Bear Rocks to the north will be managed as a preserve,” The Nature Conservancy State DirectorThomas Minney said. “We are thinking of how do we enhance a visitation experience, activities like wildlife viewing, hiking, the types of things they do at bear rocks to the tract to the north?”
The Nature Conservancy does not plan to open the northern parcels of land that are not directly connected to Bear Rocks to the public at this time.
Two significant donations from the Ann C. and Robert O. Orders Jr. Family Foundation and Maryland resident Dave Montgomery made the acquisition of this property possible. “We put our own time and treasure into this,” Minney said. “We did have two very significant financial donations, but there was actually no donation of land.”
The Nature Conservancy is actively fundraising to complete the project. “We still have $200,000 to close out the project,” Minney said. “Hopefully we can fundraise to close that gap, and we can move onto the next conservation project.”
Although this most recent acquisition took approximately a year to complete, Minney views this as part of the Conservancy’s long-term vision. “All of this is a very long-term investment, and a very long term strategy. We look at this over a couple decades. How do we build and secure a conservation landscape? When this opportunity came up, we saw this as a natural investment, that will have outcomes for biodiversity and the local community,” Minney said.
The Dolly Sods Wilderness area brings a significant number of tourists to the area. As West Virginia aims to boost its tourism numbers, which are greatly outshone by neighboring states, Dolly Sods plays a big role.
“Some of the most important tourist destinations in West Virginia, like Dolly Sods, Canaan Valley, the Cheat River, these are place TNC and other investors have been investing for many decades,” Minney said. “It helps not only protect nature, but also contributes to some of those businesses and industries that benefit from those landscapes.”
“This acquisition is exciting for us, because we’ve been working for the past two years to figure out how we can be in a spot to figure out how nature and economies can thrive together,” Minney said. “How can we help contribute to the economic diversification? The purchase of this tract and the enhancement of Bear Rocks, this helps protect that iconic landscape. We hope enhancing that experience for visitors will contribute to the great things that are happening in Davis, Thomas, and the Canaan Valley.”
