Residents visit Congress to make Elk River Wild and Scenic

Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer

Imagine a pristine stream that sits timeless among the mountains with native trout swimming in the cool spring water.

This image is slowly dwindling in the state of West Virginia as more and more streams become victim of industry. In order to maintain the beauty of the Elk River, Congressman Nick Rahall presented a bill to the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands to include five miles of the Elk River in the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

Two residents of Slaty Fork and Pocahontas County Commission president Martin Saffer were invited to testify before the committee on behalf of the Elk River and Pocahontas County.

Commissioner Saffer explained that the county commission feel the study will greatly benefit the county and the river.

“Our beautiful rural county has been discovered and we are at a crossroads of decision, in arriving at a balanced use of our natural resources which will better serve us into the future,” he said in his testimony.

Saffer continued, describing to the committee the assets the Elk River has to offer the county.

“This portion of the Elk River, having its birth in our yet-pristine county, is truly a unique environmental resource,” he said. “Its waters are cold and pure and it is a trout-fisherman’s dream. Its banks are free of development and its waters lap a shoreline where beaver and wildlife yet thrive. The Elk is an important part of our beautiful landscape which draws many visitors and tourists who walk in rich forests and wilderness, and canoe and fish unsullied streams and rivers.”

Tom Shipley, owner of Sharp’s Country Store in Slaty Fork, took the opportunity to share the history of the Elk River and the settlers who utilized the resources it produced.

“I am here to represent the descendants of the 1700s pioneer settler, William Sharp,” Shipley said in his testimony. “I am the eighth generation to reside in Pocahontas County. My forefathers owned much of the land on and around the proposed area of study.”

Shipley explained that in the 200 plus years since his family came to the area, Slaty Fork has grown into a logging town and tourist attraction, without degradation of the Elk River.

“The river is largely, now, as it was,” he stated. “The Wild and Scenic classification will help the river so that it can be studied and the knowledge from that study can help the government through the years.”

Fellow business owner and resident, Gil Willis, of the Elk River Touring Center, added that, in order to continue offering a getaway to tourists, the river needs to be protected.

“Hopefully, a Wild and Scenic study, then designation in the future, will provide long term, high quality outdoor experiences for our state and county residents,” Willis said. “In Pocahontas County, tourism is the biggest industry. In order for us to maintain our unique tourism offerings and destinations, we have to continue to add to and improve what we have. We have to continue to mold and shape our tourism.”

The bill has been passed on by the committee by “unanimous consent” to the House of Representatives for their consideration, Saffer said. Once the decision has been made, a two or three year study of the Elk River will commence.