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CANAAN VALLEY -- The Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge has added nearly 2,000 acres by acquiring the area known as "Big Cove."
Through a partnership with The Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acquired the land in January 2024, using funds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. TNC originally purchased the 1,971-acre tract from Western Pocahontas Properties in 2023.
"We are excited to add Big Cove to Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge," said Scott Kahan, Northeast Regional Chief for the National Wildlife Refuge System. "By working with partners like The Nature Conservancy, we can conserve key habitats that will prove vital as wildlife and people face the impacts of a changing climate."
Big Cove -- considered the heart of one of the most intact landscape corridors and biodiversity hotspots in West Virginia -- is now conserved in perpetuity for the benefit of wildlife and people as part of Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Big Cove sits at the northern end of the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge and to the west of the Dolly Sods Wilderness.
Big Cove's "planned acquisition has been part of a decades-old, state-wide vision to protect those lands for biodiversity and that are home to migratory birds and threatened and endangered species normally located much further north in New England and Canada," a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service press release states. "Conservation of this property will help protect rare species and wildlife habitat; increase public access to hunting, fishing and recreation; and help secure the area's clean water supply through increased protection of the largest intact wetlands complex in West Virginia."
The country's 570 national wildlife refuges contribute $3.2 billion per year to local economies and support more than 41,000 jobs, according to the Service's report "Banking on Nature."
"With the right balanced vision, development and conservation do not have to be in conflict," said TNC West Virginia Executive Director Thomas Minney. "In fact, they are very complementary in ways that benefit the residents and visitors of Tucker County."
The acquisition of Big Cove will enable access to an additional 2,412 acres, including previously unreachable parts of the refuge, which the Service plans to open to hunting and wildlife viewing. The added acres will be managed in accordance with Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge's current Comprehensive Conservation Plan.
The refuge will mark 30 years of conservation in the valley this summer.
"We are very excited to see this project come to fruition," said Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge Manager Bob Frank. "It's the best way we can think of to celebrate the Refuge's 30th anniversary."
For more information, visit www.fws.gov.