I am a landowner next to the lower Glady Fork River in eastern Randolph County.  I’ve had an association with this stream and its tributaries for sixty-five years.  

Hiking, biking, skiing, camping, fishing, or hunting along Glady Fork has brought immense joy to me and my family and friends over the years. 

My father was an avid outdoorsman and he brought me into the mystique of the Glady Fork region at a very early age. Elkins was my dad’s hometown and I still consider it my hometown despite having lived in numerous places around the country.

The U.S. Forest Service says that the Glady Fork is eligible to be included as a Wild and Scenic River Act waterway.  They recognize that Glady Fork is free-flowing and is an outstanding example, along with some other Monongahela National Forest headwater streams, of a wild and scenic river. 

I’ve dealt with many other designated wild and scenic rivers around the country and have seen the recreational and environmental and aesthetic value that surrounds the places that can maintain that designation.

Although the Forest Service says the waterway is eligible to be a Wild and Scenic River, and have said that for a while, it does not guarantee that things will not change in the near-term or long-term. 

Once those wild and scenic characteristics are gone it is almost impossible to get them re-established without great effort and expense. Things happen and agencies can change their minds, particularly if they see degradation occurring to the waterway over time. Having that wild and scenic designation instills a sense of pride and comfort in the people who live within those watersheds. That sense of pride creates a “protective spirit” in the people who live there.

Glady Fork is one of the headwater streams in the Monongahela National Forest. These waters are critical drinking water sources and provide the outdoor recreation we all enjoy.

I support the Wild and Scenic River designation because it recognizes what I love about the Glady Fork, but the designation does not impose any new rules or regulations.  I know that I can continue to enjoy the Glady Fork the way I’ve always enjoyed it — and that my children and grandchildren will too!

I support Congress enacting permanent Wild and Scenic Rivers designations for the Glady Fork and for 15 other waterways in the Monongahela National Forest. 

f, as I am hoping, they have the opportunity in this spring’s legislative session, I urge our Senators and Representatives to sponsor and file the WV Headwaters Protection Act.

Tom Rice

Elkins