A bill to expand wilderness areas in West Virginia's Monongahela National Forest passed the House of Representatives Tuesday night, in an overwhelming Earth Day vote.

The legislation, authored by House Natural Resources Chairman Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., would designate nearly 38,000 acres of new and expanded wilderness areas in the Monongahela.

"To be in a wilderness area is, to me, a humbling experience," Rahall said Wednesday. "To be a part of designating wilderness is even more humbling, because the ultimate goal in protecting these areas is to retain the landscape as God created it."

The Wild Monongahela legislation passed by a vote of 368-17. Also approved by the House Tuesday evening was Rep. Peter DeFazio's Cooper Salmon Wilderness Act, which designates 13,700 acres of the Rogue River-Siskyou National Forest in Oregon as wilderness and segments of Oregon's Elk River totaling 10.8 miles as Wild and Scenic.

Included in the legislation are the expansion of the existing Cranberry, Dolly Sods and Otter Creek wilderness areas and establishment of the new Big Draft, Roaring Plains West and Spice Run wilderness areas.

The bill now goes to the Senate.

The House-passed bill does not include another new wilderness area, Cheat Mountain, that was part of Rahall's original bill introduced in late January.

Read more in Thursday's Charleston Gazette.

A bill to expand wilderness areas in West Virginia's Monongahela National Forest passed the House of Representatives Tuesday night, in an overwhelming Earth Day vote.

The legislation, authored by House Natural Resources Chairman Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., would designate nearly 38,000 acres of new and expanded wilderness areas in the Monongahela.

"To be in a wilderness area is, to me, a humbling experience," Rahall said Wednesday. "To be a part of designating wilderness is even more humbling, because the ultimate goal in protecting these areas is to retain the landscape as God created it."

The Wild Monongahela legislation passed by a vote of 368-17. Also approved by the House Tuesday evening was Rep. Peter DeFazio's Cooper Salmon Wilderness Act, which designates 13,700 acres of the Rogue River-Siskyou National Forest in Oregon as wilderness and segments of Oregon's Elk River totaling 10.8 miles as Wild and Scenic.

Included in the legislation are the expansion of the existing Cranberry, Dolly Sods and Otter Creek wilderness areas and establishment of the new Big Draft, Roaring Plains West and Spice Run wilderness areas.

The bill now goes to the Senate.

The House-passed bill does not include another new wilderness area, Cheat Mountain, that was part of Rahall's original bill introduced in late January.

Read more in Thursday's Charleston Gazette.