Dozens of people gathered Saturday on the steps of the state Capitol with a message for Congress: protect public lands. Conservation groups, outdoors enthusiasts and other residents participated in the Rally For Public Lands.
The event was hosted by the Protect Our Public Lands campaign and West Virginians for Public Lands.
Campaign organizer Emma Searson said the rally was to call on Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito to protect federal public lands, which Searson said are in danger.
West Virginia has many beautiful places such as the Monongahela National Forest, the New River Gorge National River and Kanawha State Forest, Searson told the crowd.
Congress has seen several efforts to sell off public lands and to make it easier to sell them off, she said. There also are efforts to end the Antiquities Act, which allows the president to protect wild lands as national monuments.
"It's really our job as citizens to make sure that none of these are successful," Searson said. "These are places that matter to us for so many reasons and it's our job to let our representatives know that - [to make sure] that they know how important our public lands are.
Searson said the coalition is gathering signatures for a letter to Manchin and Capito telling about the public land programs and laws that people care about. In the last couple of weeks, the group has gathered enough signatures from business leaders and groups to represent more than 7,400 people, she said.
Delegate Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, spoke of the importance of public areas like Kanawha State Forest and the "victory" last year to halt a mountaintop removal site near the forest.
"No one's against anybody making a buck," Pushkin said. "Nobody's against all mining, but that's a [state forest] and there's absolutely no need to have a mountaintop removal site right outside a state forest."
Pushkin said the Legislature has had several "bad bills" that attack water safety and roll back regulations for chemical tanks but there are people working for the environmental lobby doing a good job, too.
"We've made so many bad ideas a whole lot less bad," Pushkin said. While the Democrats are outnumbered, that's the best they'll be able to do right now, Pushkin said.
"But I just want to tell you historically, protecting air, water and public lands is not a partisan issue," Pushkin said. "It never was."
Philip Smith, a former state chair of Trout Unlimited, spoke of the importance of public lands to those who hunt and fish.
"The reason I love this state is because of these mountains and our public lands," Smith said.
Smith, originally of Roane County, said growing up he went to the Monongahela National Forest for recreation.
"That's where I learned to love the outdoors, and learned to love the state," Smith said.
Once wild places are gone, they're gone, he said. Smith said he does not support federal lands being sold off or put under state management.
About 75 people attended the rally.
Reach Lori Kersey at lori.kersey@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1240 or follow @LoriKerseyWV on Twitter.