As natural gas extraction expands across the Central Appalachian region, that industrial-scale energy development is encroaching on public lands that are critically important for fishing and hunting. In this report, Trout Unlimited takes a deeper look into those public places, outlining the potential risks posed by gas drilling operations and providing recommendations from sportsmen and women that promote responsible energy development.

Monongahela National Forest

The Place

The Monongahela National Forest is the fourth largest national forest in the east. Located almost entirely within West Virginia’s deep shale gas region, the forest has five federally-designated wilderness areas and one national recreation area contained within its boundaries, as well as the headwaters of six major rivers: the Cheat, Potomac, Greenbrier, Elk, Tygart and Gauley rivers.

By far the largest tract of public land in West Virginia, the Monongahela provides extensive hunting opportunities, boasting abundant big and small game, including black bear, wild turkey, white-tailed deer, snowshoe hare, woodcock, grouse, beaver, red and gray fox, mink, bobcat, fisher, and otter. Fishing for wild and native trout abounds in the headwaters of great rivers such as the Potomac and the Greenbrier.

 

 

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The Threat

Over the past decade, through the hard work of the state’s anglers and conservationists, West Virginia has taken significant steps to protect fish and game habitat, including granting Clean Water Act protection status to its native brook trout streams. Despite these protections, as shale gas development spreads across the state, there is increasing pressure to develop both privately held and federal mineral rights located within the Monongahela’s boundaries.

Eastern brook trout, the only trout native to the eastern United States, survive in only the coldest and cleanest water. A decline in brook trout population in a stream can serve as an early warning that the health of an entire stream is at risk. The impact from potential erosion and habitat fragmentation due to the construction of gas drilling pads, pipelines and access and maintenance roads could stress native brook trout populations in the Monongahela’s streams. Road noise and drilling activities could also drive game out of traditional territories and into less desirable habitat.

West Virginia consistently ranks in the top 10 in the United States for license sales to visitors who come to the state to hunt and fish. Natural resource impacts from gas drilling in the national forest and surrounding land could negatively impact the quality of the West Virginia sporting experience, reducing revenues generated from out-of-state hunters and anglers who may choose to hunt and fish elsewhere.

The Need to Protect

West Virginia hunters and anglers want to be part of the solution to responsible energy development by working with the U.S. Forest Service to permanently withdraw lands in the Monongahela National Forest from leasing where the federal government owns the subsurface oil and gas rights. On the 38 percent of forest lands where the oil and gas rights are privately owned, sportsmen and women want the Forest Service to require strict monitoring, reporting and inspection of drilling-related activities to limit impacts to interior forests and wildlife and valuable streams and aquatic species.