Should New River Gorge National River be redesignated as New River Gorge National Park?/NPS file photo
West Virginia's official state motto is "Montani Semper Liberi," which translates to "Mountaineers are always Free." That might explain U.S. Shelley Moore Capito's move to both rename New River Gorge National River as New River Gorge National Park and allow sport hunting to continue within its boundaries.
I became somewhat familiar with the river and its surrounding heavily wooded mountains and small coal towns back before the national river was designated. Back then, I was guiding whitewater trips on weekends and holidays down the New, an incredibly beautiful river set in an ancient, rumpled landscape that justifies West Virginia's "Wild, Wonderful" slogan.
Hunting and fishing are big in West Virginia, which offers ample opportunities for both in its national and state forests and countless rivers and streams. When the late U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-West Virginia, moved in 1978 to secure the New's designation as a national river, he made sure that hunting and fishing would be allowed within its borders.
Now Sen. Capito wants to build on the New's reputation by having the 72,000-acre national river redesignated as a national park.
"Redesignating the national river to a national park will shine a light on the New River Gorge and its many offerings to help drive tourism and spur the local and regional economy," the Republican said last week when she introduced the requisite legislation.
But "national park" regulations differ than those for "national rivers," and one big difference is that hunting is banned in national parks. Sen. Capito, or her staff, tackled that head-on by inserting language to her bill that states that "(N)othing in this section modifies the obligations of the Secretary under section 1106 of the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978."
That particular section notes that not only will the Interior secretary "permit hunting and fishing on lands and waters under his jurisdiction within the boundaries of the New River Gorge National River," but that "(N)othing in this Act shall be construed as affecting the jurisdiction of the State of West Virginia with respect to fish and wildlife."
If that language remains in the renaming legislation, not only would sport hunting be allowed in New River Gorge National Park, but the state of West Virginia would be charge of managing both fishing and hunting.
At the National Parks Conservation Association, Joy M. Oakes, their senior director for the Mid-Atlantic Region that includes New River, said that oftentimes legislation doesn't exit Congress in the same form that it enters the body.
"I think one potential is to have a redesignation of 'national park and preserve' as has been done at Great Sand Dunes, as Congress did in establishing a number of the national parks in Alaska in the 1980 Alaska National Interest Conservation Lands Act," said Oakes. "Now, (those are) much larger parks and preserves, but the same principle of hunting being allowed in a designated area and not allowed in the area designated as a national park.
"I think there's a way forward," she continued. "People will need to figure out would hunting be allowed. I think that's a useful conversation to have."
NPCA does have a concern that if Sen. Capito's legislation gained passage as currently written that it could set a precedent that might open the door for sport hunting in "national parks" added to the system in the years ahead.
"Yes, it would set an unhelpful precedent in the park system," said Oakes. "National parks are places that are intended to be set apart, they're different. We have a lot of public lands where hunting is allowed. There are national park units throughout the system where hunting is allowed, national rivers, national preserves, national recreation areas. And the national parks are different.
"People expect national parks to be different. And part of that difference is that level of Park Service oversight and management consistent with the values that the park is set up to protect."
Comments
There is nothing magic about the name "national park" that prohibits hunting. 36 CFR 2.2 specifies that hunting is allowed in a unit of the National Park System whenever legislation authorizes it. The name designation of the park is irrelevant.
For example, elk hunting has long been permitted in Grand Teton National Park. Subsistence hunting is permitted in many of the national parks and national preserves in Alaska.
Conversely, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore allow hunting but Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore does not. The reason - the legislation for each of those areas specifies whether or not hunting is allowed. The title "national lakeshore" does not indicate in itself whether or not hunting is permitted.
36 CFR 2.2
(b)Hunting and trapping.
(1) Hunting shall be allowed in park areas where such activity is specifically mandated by Federal statutory law.
(2) Hunting may be allowed in park areas where such activity is specifically authorized as a discretionary activity under Federal statutory law if the superintendent determines that such activity is consistent with public safety and enjoyment, and sound resource management principles. Such hunting shall be allowed pursuant to special regulations.
(3) Trapping shall be allowed in park areas where such activity is specifically mandated by Federal statutory law.
(4) Where hunting or trapping or both are authorized, such activities shall be conducted in accordance with Federal law and the laws of the State within whose exterior boundaries a park area or a portion thereof is located. Nonconflicting State laws are adopted as a part of these regulations.
The proponents of the national park are correct too that the popularity and support of this redesignation from National River to National Park only exists because hunting and other historical uses were grandfathered in and allowed when the National River was created in 1980. WV actually has room for two more parks: one in the Cranberry wilderness area and the other in the Seneca Rocks and Blackwater falls area as well.
Much of the time it seems that in the name of tourism and conservation the residents of WV much of which are of lower income cannot afford traveling the state to enjoy their sport of hunting and fishing nor can afford expensive hunting lease property. While government agencies seek the control of more land , let's remember the true conservationists who has a great affection for the land and is the people who reside here and has invested their lives here. Why deny them the privilege to hunting any where in the New River Gorge after all with the locked gates many of the older hunters have already been denied access because they can no longer walk the distance to good hunting, respectfully yours