We need to raise $1.5 million by our contract deadline of Sept 9, 2024,
Scroll down to follow our campaign’s progress bar.
NEWS FLASH! Please note that since most but not all of our pledges have come in, we are adjusting our reporting to what has been received to date in cash. As we write, we still have $320,135.16 to raise. However, a very special anonymous donor has graced us with a donation of a “gap loan” to cover what we were lacking so that we can sit at the closing table on 9/9/2024 and fulfill our contract deadlines and not lose the property. However, we are still obligated to raise the remaining balance, so please - if you are considering donating to Wild Rock Canyon, please do!
Saving Wild Rock Canyon, 1200 acres in West Virginia
The nonprofit Arc of Appalachia preserves and manages 11,000 acres in Ohio. We now have an EXPANDED VISION - to manage a growing suite of preserves across both southern Appalachian Ohio AND West Virginia - in a region stretching from the Appalachian Front to the Appalachian Mountains.
There is no better way to preserve beauty, balance, and biodiversity in the Appalachian heartland than to include West Virginia in the Arc of Appalachia’s work canvas. And we haven’t found a better “first footprint” for the Arc in West Virginia than Wild Rock Canyon.
Our contract price is at an incredible $1200/acre - one-third that of land in southern Appalachian Ohio. If we succeed, Wild Rock Canyon will be more than double the size of any previous Arc of Appalachia acquisition, and it is much, MUCH larger than forest parcels for sale in Ohio.
Black bears, deep-forest warblers, and salamanders (in high diversity & numbers) are signature wildlife species for this immense, unbroken forest. See many of Wild Rock Canyon’s wildlife in the gallery of photos below.
Lying just 12 miles east of New River Gorge National Park, Wild Rock Canyon boasts an elevation change of 1000 feet from ridgetop to valley floor. Its waters flow into the New River and the Kanawha, which joins up with the Ohio River just east of Gallipolis. That means that the Arc’s existing preserves in Ohio and Wild Rock Canyon all belong to the same Ohio River Watershed, uniting OH-WV in one natural physiographic region.
West Virginia is the 3rd most forested state in the nation - just under 80% in forest cover. And yet it is 39th in population - with only 1.7 million people in residence. For effective forest preservation and healthy intact forests, these are two very good things.
West Virginia, hands down, offers the most splendid wildlands preservation opportunities in the heartland forests of the Eastern United States. As an Ohio-based nonprofit, we are very fortunate West Virginia is so close and we are eager to dissolve the artificial boundaries that lie between our two states.
Wild Rock Canyon is 1200 acres of uninterrupted forest - by Foxfire Realty
Renick Creek Waterfalls by Foxfire Realty
Bear print!!!! By Priscilla Titus
Black Bears abound - by Mary Parker Sonis
Renick Creek in Wild Rock Canyon by Foxfire Realty
John Howard seines Renick Creek as part of the Bioblitz - Photo by Josh Dyer
Fantail darters in the waters of Renick Creek by Mary Johnson
Eastern Black-nosed dace are the most common fish in Renick Creek by Mary Johnson
A crayfish endemic to Greenbrier Watershed - Cambarus smilax - by Mary Johnson
Aerial regional view of Wild Rock Canyon by Foxfire Realty
Elijah Crabtree hunts for salamanders during the Bioblitz by Nancy Stranahan
Curious Salamanders stick their heads out at night to see what all the fuss is about - by Mary Johnson
Cave Salamander (right) next to possibly a Cave/Long-tailed hybrid (left) by Aaron Crank
Seal Salamander by Aaron Crank
Immature Eastern Newt - a Red Eft - by Mary Johnson
An oddly-hued but beautiful American Toad by Andrea Jaeger
A terrestrial forest snail by Brit Wood
A theater of moths at the Bioblitz's light station by Lexie Stevenson
Gorgeous Rosy Maple Moth by Chelsea Gottfried
Blinded Sphinx Moth showing underwings by Chelsea Gottfried
A touch of Luna Moth artistry by Sam James
Tulip Tree Silkmoth by Jeff White
Worm-eating Warbler require large blocks of unbroken forests
Smaller Parasa Moth by Laura Weiss
Hooded Warblers are thick at Wild Rock Canyon - a bird that also demands large unbroken forests. Photo by Mary Parker Sonis
Location of Wild Rock Canyon, not far from Lewisburg, Greenbrier County, Foxfire Realty
The acquisition would protect much of the main channel and watershed of Renick Creek.
New River Gorge National Park lies just 12 miles west of Wild Rock Canyon
Flame Azalea - floral embers of the southern Appalachian Mountains by Nancy Stranahan
Meehan's Mint is a riparian ground cover at Wild Rock Canyon by Andrea Jaeger
Aaron and Caden erect mist-nets to inventory bats - by Mary Johnson
A handsome but offended Hoary Bat by Aaron Crank
Caden Banks is ready to release the Hoary Bat - Photo by Aaron Crank
Panorama - Renick Creek at Wild Rock Canyon by Lexie Stevenson
Eastern Chipmunk by John Howard
News Update: Now that most of our pledges have been fulfilled, we are simplifying our balance shown on the bar graph below as simply “cash received to date.” Pledges are no longer being shown.
To successfully preserve the East’s finest remaining forests in West Virginia will require significant funding from outside the state. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to unite the forests of southern Ohio and West Virginia in a focused preservation region. If we succeed, many spectacular properties are waiting to be saved in both Ohio and West Virginia. Given their small population, West Virginia can’t possibly do this work on their own, and we are eager to help.
You can save an acre for $1200, or you can preserve 1% of the Wild Rock Canyon for $15,000. Regardless of the size of your donation, please give what you can. Here’s a fun fact. You can buy a square yard for just 25 cents!! That’s one really big tree or a bushel of wildflowers with a chipmunk thrown in for free! Do your own math and have fun with it.
Closing Deadlines. We need to have cash in our hands at the closing table at 1:00 pm in Hinton, WV on September 9, 2024, And, thanks to our “gap loan” donor, we have already wired our funds to the closing attorney’s office. By the time you read this, the purchase may be already complete!!!!
However, we STILL need to raise the remaining balance and we STILL need your help! Although our “gap loan” donor supplied the funds we needed for closing, he did so with the understanding that we will continue to fundraise for the balance needed.
It isn’t too late to make a donation toward Wild Rock Canyon, and the faster we can complete this campaign, the faster we can start on a new exciting project in Ohio or West Virginia, or both! Let’s take this project across the finish line!