Your Questions — Answered
For Well-Informed Decisions
How does the West Virginia Scenic Rivers Act affect landowners?
Although many state scenic laws currently contain verbiage that includes buffer zones, or conservation corridors, for different categories of rivers, the rights of landowners under this bill will be of prime importance. Farmland will remain farmland. Current licensed timbering operations will remain in operation. This bill will encourage collaboration between industry and the state for the mutual benefit of both to maintain and protect river beauty, water quality and tourism/recreation potential. Further, the legislation prohibits the state government from using eminent domain. Riparian owner support of a State Scenic River System is necessary and vital to its success.
What are the proposed scenic river categories in the legislation?
Currently, there are three proposed classifications of scenic river:
Wild River Areas (Class I). These river areas represent vestiges of primitive West Virginia and would be kept unpolluted. Those free-flowing rivers or sections of rivers with shorelines and scenic vistas unchanged, or essentially unchanged, by man, with no extensive paralleling roads and with only a limited number of crossing roads or spur roads existing at the time of designation as a state wild river. Additional access would be limited to trails.
Scenic River Areas (Class II). Those free-flowing rivers or sections of rivers the lands adjacent to which area partially or predominantly used for agriculture and other dispersed human activities which do not substantially interfere with public use and enjoyment of the rivers and their shores. Lands adjacent to any such river would remain in the type of use existing at the time of designation as a state scenic river or else be allowed to revert to natural conditions.
Recreational River Areas (Class III): Those rivers or sections of rivers in areas affected by the works of man but still possess actual or potential scenic values. Included are rivers with some housing or other developments near their shorelines, rivers with parallel roads or railroads, rivers with some impoundments, and rivers polluted, for example, by acid mine drainage, strip-mine or mountain-top removal, or commercial logging. These rivers would be managed to prevent further loss of scenic values, to improve the scenic aspects of their surroundings, and to restore the quality of the waters. A polluted river section in an otherwise natural area could be improved to the point where it would be upgraded to Class I.
Who determines river classification and how is a river proposed for scenic river designation?
The draft legislation proposes that the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR) manage the State Scenic River System. The Director can propose the inclusion of a river or stream from the U.S. Department of Interior's National River Inventory (NRI) to be part of the State Scenic River System. nly the State Legislature can consider the request and include the river or stream in the law. Any group or person may propose a stream or river be included in the System via an application form to be established at a later date. The current draft also recommends that a committee comprised of local citizens, watershed, conservation, and recreational representatives review such requests and recommend to the Director of DNR whether or not the stream or river meets the requirements of a wild, scenic, or recreational river before being proposed to be added to the System.