ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 5, 1997 TAG: 9701060019
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
At age 70, Bernard Katz is getting too old for primitive camping, but he still wants more of the Jefferson National Forest protected as wilderness areas.
``I doubt if I will ever get around to seeing or visiting these areas,'' the retired federal employee from Reston wrote in a letter to the U.S. Forest Service. ``But just knowing they are there, somehow makes me feel good (funny as that may sound to you).''
The Jefferson National Forest is revising its land management plan, something it does every 10 years, and received 575 letters during the public comment period that began in August and ended in December.
The plan determines such things as how much timber will be cut, where roads and trails can be built, how wildlife habitat will be enhanced and whether to designate areas as wilderness.
``Wilderness was one of the top issues,'' said Nancy Ross, who is in charge of the revision process.
The Jefferson National Forest permanently protects 8 percent of its land as wilderness - 58,000 of 700,000 acres. The designation requires an act of Congress. It forbids logging, road construction, mining and anything with a motor - from cars and trucks to chain saws.
The Forest Service has identified 164,000 acres of roadless areas that will be studied for wilderness designation.
The Wilderness Society, which has about 9,000 members in Virginia and 320,000 nationwide, said logging and road building are threatening to spoil remote areas of the Jefferson National Forest.
Peter Kirby, director of the society's southeast region, said three of the best candidates for wilderness designation are Little Wolf Creek near Burkes Garden, Hoop Hole in Botetourt County and Bear Creek near Marion.
``More wilderness is needed for backcountry hiking, camping, nature study, hunting and fishing, and for the conservation of biological diversity, visual beauty, old-growth forest, wildlife habitat and high-quality water and fisheries,'' Kirby wrote.
But even bird lovers are divided on the wilderness issue. Some said the forest needs more timbering to open up meadows where birds such as the ruffed grouse and the golden-winged warbler thrive. Others said more interior forest, where birds like the Cerulean warbler live, is needed.
Harlan Smith of Blacksburg wrote that there is plenty of private land surrounding the Jefferson National Forest that can be used for timber harvesting and grazing and for animals that require small openings in the forest.
``What the private lands do not have is unbroken forest interior, habitat for bears and interior birds,'' Smith wrote. ``They do not have extensive zones of freedom, for humans or nonhumans, from civilization.''
Donald Spiller, a retired forester from Wytheville, wrote that the public benefits very little from wilderness areas.
Many people, particularly the elderly and the handicapped, are unable to use areas where the only access is by foot or horse, he said.
Wilderness designation also limits the ability to fight forest fires, salvage trees that are knocked down during storms and control pests such as gypsy moths, Spiller wrote.
``Most importantly, lock-up will nullify any past work and investment of taxpayers' dollars in roads, reforestation, timber stand improvement, and often wildlife habitat improvement,'' his letter said.
In the past, wilderness designation acts caused intense debate among politicians.
In 1975, James River Face Wilderness in southern Rockbridge County became the first Virginia area designated wilderness. Shenandoah Wilderness was added in 1976, and it took another eight years to get 10 more areas protected in the Jefferson and the George Washington National Forest.
``Only widespread public support would win over Virginia congressmen who had never heard of wilderness,'' Sally Soest wrote in a newsletter recounting the history of wilderness designation.
Ross said the Forest Service will invite opponents and supporters of wilderness designation to a series of workshops beginning in April.
``Protection means different things to different people,'' she said. ``We think there is some common ground.''
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