BECKLEY, W.Va. — West Virginia contains the finest remaining temperate hardwood forests in the eastern United States, according to the executive director of a national conservation organization that recently invested nearly $2.8 million to help protect them.
That conviction led the Arc of Appalachia to purchase nearly 2,000 acres bordering the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve at a Beckley auction, preserving a remarkable stretch of the Piney Creek Gorge and advancing a long-standing vision to connect the city to the national park by trail.
According to Nancy Stranahan, executive director of Arc of Appalachia, the conservation of West Virginia’s natural resources is a matter of national rather than state importance.
“There is no other state in the union that has the natural resource treasures that West Virginia has,” Stranahan said. “These are not West Virginia treasures. These are national treasures.”
The purchase included five of eight tracts offered at auction, securing forests that conservationists say represent one of the largest remaining undeveloped landscapes adjacent to the national park.
The acquisition resulted from a partnership among the Arc of Appalachia, the West Virginia Land Trust, Green Forests Work, the Beckley Area Foundation, the Piney Creek Watershed Association, and other conservation supporters who worked together to secure the property before it could be sold for private development. The organizations coordinated fundraising, planning, and public outreach leading up to the auction.
Why Beckley mattered
Stranahan said the organization did not simply stumble upon the property. It came because Beckley had already spent years working toward a larger vision. “We definitely are there because of Beckley,” Stranahan said.
For more than a decade, city leaders and conservation partners have worked to establish a trail system extending north from Beckley toward the national park. Roughly six miles of trail have already been completed, stopping only where private ownership prevented the route from continuing.
A key part of that vision was already in place through the West Virginia Land Trust’s Piney Creek Preserve. Over the past decade, the nonprofit conservation organization has protected hundreds of acres along the gorge, preserving a corridor of forest and stream valley while supporting Beckley’s goal of extending a public trail toward New River Gorge National Park and Preserve.
The newly acquired property closes that gap. Securing the parcels needed to complete the trail corridor became Arc of Appalachia’s highest priority during the auction, Stranahan said. The organization was prepared to commit substantial funding to ensure the opportunity was not lost.
“They built all this trail and then stopped on the faith that someday they could,” she said. “That’s compelling. Of course, we want to help you.”
The organization has agreed to work with local partners to allow the trail to cross the property. Initially, it will serve hikers, though future improvements could eventually accommodate mountain bikes if a bridge can be constructed across a difficult section.
Gary Morefield, who helped launch the Piney Creek trail system in partnership with the National Park Service more than a decade ago, said the acquisition marks a milestone in a vision that has been years in the making.
Morefield spearheaded the development of the first section of the trail near the Beckley YMCA soccer complex, culminating with the opening of the Ship Rock Trail in 2013. Since then, community leaders and conservation partners have steadily worked toward extending the route north to the New River Gorge.
“It just takes time for ideas to come to fruition,” Morefield said. “All of these projects have been great projects, but it takes time to see them through.”
With the Arc of Appalachia’s purchase helping close the remaining gap between Beckley and the national park, Morefield said the long-term vision is finally coming into focus.
“Now we’re getting to see our dream come true,” he said.
One of southern West Virginia’s overlooked landscapes
Although millions of visitors travel through the New River Gorge region each year, relatively few know the Piney Creek Gorge.
East of Beckley, Piney Creek carves a deep canyon rimmed with sandstone cliffs before joining the New River, forming a landscape of hardwood forests, rocky bluffs, whitewater, mountain streams, and secluded hollows that has remained largely undeveloped despite its proximity to one of America’s newest national parks.
The newly protected property encompasses much of that landscape. Some forests were selectively harvested decades ago, but Stranahan said they are recovering quickly and, given enough time, could develop many characteristics of mature Appalachian forests.
For now, most of the property will remain a quiet nature preserve, with educational programs offered periodically as the forest continues to regenerate. Public trailheads elsewhere on the preserve are expected later, as the organization builds the staff and funding needed to manage them responsibly.
Looking beyond the American West
For Stranahan, the Beckley purchase is more than a successful conservation project. It reflects what she believes should be a national shift in conservation priorities.
America’s early conservation movement largely focused on the West because much of the East had already been heavily logged or converted to agriculture by the time national parks captured the public’s imagination.
Today’s eastern forests tell a different story, she said. “The most intact temperate deciduous forest of the entire biome in the world is right here in the eastern United States,” Stranahan said. “Who’s got the best of the best? The answer: West Virginia.”
She believes the state’s extraordinary biodiversity, extensive forest cover, and rugged mountain terrain make it one of the country’s greatest remaining conservation opportunities. “We need to romance the East,” she said.
A beginning rather than an ending
Although the Arc of Appalachia has already expanded into West Virginia through acquisitions such as Wild Rock Canyon in Greenbrier County, Stranahan sees the Beckley purchase as only the beginning of a much larger commitment.
The organization plans to gradually expand environmental education, stewardship, and trail management in West Virginia as support grows, much as it has done over decades in Ohio.
Looking back on the auction, however, she hopes the transaction will accomplish something even larger than protecting nearly 2,000 acres.
“We need to pour a lot of conservation money into West Virginia,” she said. “These are national treasures.”
Whether that broader investment follows remains to be seen. But after years of planning, Beckley now stands closer than ever to a trail reaching the New River Gorge, and one of southern West Virginia’s most remarkable forest landscapes will remain intact for future generations rather than disappearing beneath development.
What’s next for the Preserve?
While the newly acquired lands are now permanently protected, visitors should not expect an immediate network of new trails or recreational facilities. Arc of Appalachia’s first priority is conserving the landscape itself while allowing the recovering forests to continue maturing.
The future Beckley-to-New River Gorge trail will be developed by local partners across the acquired corridor, extending the existing Piney Creek trail system toward New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. Initially, however, the organization’s other preserves will remain largely undeveloped, with occasional guided educational programs introducing visitors to the area’s forests, wildlife, and natural history rather than extensive public infrastructure.
Stranahan said Arc of Appalachia intends to expand its stewardship presence in West Virginia over time, much as it has in Ohio, where decades of investment have allowed the organization to build trail systems, education programs, and maintenance facilities. As support grows, she expects similar opportunities to emerge in West Virginia.
“We are absolutely committed,” Stranahan said.
For now, the greatest accomplishment is that nearly 2,000 acres of one of southern West Virginia’s most remarkable landscapes will remain forest rather than be subdivided. But if Arc of Appalachia’s long-term vision succeeds, the purchase may ultimately be remembered not only for the land it protected, but for opening one of the state’s most spectacular and least-known landscapes to future generations of hikers, students, and conservationists.
“We need to pour a lot of conservation money into West Virginia,” Stranahan said. “These are national treasures.”
