America Gets Its 63rd National Park: West Virginia’s New River Gorge National Park and Preserve
In addition to extended and enhanced unemployment benefits, and stimulus checks, the massive omnibus and COVID-19 relief bill also includes several other—perhaps surprising—measures. National park lovers will certainly get excited by the prospect of a brand new national park: New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in West Virginia will become the nation’s 63rd national park.
Federally protected since 1978 by the National Park Service as the New River Gorge National River, one of the oldest river canyons in North America, the New River Gorge National Park designation will certainly raise the region’s profile on both a national and international level.
In the words of Dave Arnold, board member of the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority, and reported by the West Virginia Press:
“The road to the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve has been plowed and paved by over 60 years of vision and hard work. We have now gone from the minor leagues to the majors. We have joined the best of the best of America’s public lands.”
Dave Arnold
Joe Manchin, a Democratic senator from West Virginia, shares Arnold’s excitement, stating that “the New River Gorge is truly one of West Virginia’s most treasured playgrounds and largest tourist attractions because of its whitewater rafting, hunting, fishing, outdoor sports and natural beauty.”
Together with his fellow senator from West Virginia, Shelley Moore Capito, Manchin was a driving force behind this new designation of New River Gorge National Park and Preserve.
Its new designation as a “national park and preserve” means that hunting and fishing will be allowed in a significant part of the park—specifically in the “preserve.” There are currently seven other U.S. parks with that designation: six in Alaska and one in Colorado (Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve). The New River Gorge National Park and Preserve will be the eighth of its kind in America.
The newest national park will encompass more than 72,000 acres of densely forested hills and historic sites along the New River. Some 5,000 to 7,000 acres of that would be designated as “national park”, while the rest will be a “national preserve.”
More New National Parks?
For years, if not decades, there’s been a push to make the New River Gorge a national park, efforts that have now come to fruition. In addition to this West Virginia national park, there are several other places in the United States where people are working toward national park designations. Some of the most high-profile among them are: