
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 7, 1994                   TAG: 9407080036
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press HARRISONBURG
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

GROUPS TRY TOPRESERVE FOREST

State and national conservation groups are trying to prevent loggers from cutting timber and building unpaved roads in roadless areas of the George Washington National Forest.

The Southern Environmental Law Center filed an appeal of the timber sale to preserve one of the few remaining large tracts of primitive, unfragmented public forest on the East Coast, director David Carr said Wednesday.

The Charlottesville-based organization filed the appeal June 30 on behalf of the Wilderness Society, Sierra Club, Preserve Appalachian Wilderness and three state conservation groups.

The George Washington National Forest approved the timber sale within the Crawford Mountain and Elliott Knob roadless areas May 16. But it may not offer bids on the sale while the Forest Service's regional office in Atlanta considers the appeal.

Without the appeal, Carr said about 250 acres of woodlands would have been logged within the 19,000 acres of roadless woods north of Staunton this summer.

Carr said the combination or road building and logging would impact 800 acres of the area, which he called one of the top three habitats for black bear in Virginia.

Steve Parsons, a spokesman for the George Washington forest, said the appeal has not yet been received in Atlanta, and he could not comment on it.

by CNB