Roaring Branch (Lycoming Creek Tributary)
Roaring Branch, a wildland in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests of western Virginia, has been recognized by the Wilderness Society as a special place worthy of protection from logging and road construction. The Wilderness Society has designated the area as a "Mountain Treasure".Virginia's Mountain Treasures, report issued by The Wilderness Society, May, 1999 With old-growth hardwood pine forests, a stand of 300-year-old hemlocks, and a stream qualifying for Wild and Scenic river status, the area is one of the finest natural settings in Southwest Virginia. A trail leading into the area begins with a one-mile section of hand-laid steps built by the Youth Conservation Corp in the 1970s. This wildland is part of the ''Clinch Ranger District Cluster''. Location and access The area is located in the Cumberland Mountains of Southwestern Virginia, about 4 miles southwest of Big Stone Gap, Virginia and 24 miles northwest of Mount Carmel, Tennessee. It is west of US 5 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wise County, Virginia
Wise County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county was formed in 1856 from Lee, Scott, and Russell Counties and named for Henry A. Wise, who was the Governor of Virginia at the time. History The Cherokee conquered the area including Wise from the Xualae between 1671 and 1685. It was later contested by the Six Nations and the Shawnee. Cherokee and Shawnee hunting parties fought a protracted battle at the headwaters of the Clinch River for two days in the summer of 1786, a victory for the Cherokee although losses were heavy on both sides. The first white explorers to reach present-day Wise county are said to have been Thomas Walker and Christopher Gist, both in 1750. Several forts were built all along the Clinch from 1774 onward, but only after Chickamauga Cherokee leader Bob Benge was slain in 1794 was present-day Wise considered safe for white settlers even to hunt in. One of the earliest settlers within the county was William Wells around 1792. In t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Big Stone Gap, Virginia
Big Stone Gap is a town in Wise County, Virginia, United States. The town was economically centered around the coal industry for much of its early development. The population was 5,643 at the 2010 census. History The community was formerly known as "Mineral City" and "Three Forks" before officially taking its name in 1888. The "Big Stone Gap" refers to the valley created on the Appalachia Straight, located between the town and Appalachia. The town served as an important center for coal and iron development in the 1880s and 1890s and residents hoped its coal and iron ore deposits would make it "the Pittsburgh of the South." The Big Stone Gap post office was established in 1856. The Christ Episcopal Church, John Fox, Jr. House, Southwest Virginia Museum Historical State Park, Terrace Park Girl Scout Cabin, June Tolliver House, and C. Bascom Slemp Federal Building are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In October 1978, John W. Warner, then the Republican can ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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George Washington And Jefferson National Forests
The George Washington and Jefferson National Forests is an administrative entity combining two U.S. National Forests into one of the largest areas of public land in the Eastern United States. The forests cover of land in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. Approximately of the forest are remote and undeveloped and have been designated as wilderness areas, which prohibits future development. History George Washington National Forest was established on May 16, 1918, as the Shenandoah National Forest. The forest was renamed after the first President on June 28, 1932. Natural Bridge National Forest was added on July 22, 1933. Jefferson National Forest was formed on April 21, 1936, by combining portions of the Unaka and George Washington National Forests with other land. In 1995, the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests were administratively combined. The border between the two forests roughly follows the James River. The combine ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Wilderness Society (United States)
The Wilderness Society is an American non-profit land conservation organization that is dedicated to protecting natural areas and federal public lands in the United States. They advocate for the designation of federal wilderness areas and other protective designations, such as for national monuments. They support balanced uses of public lands, and advocate for federal politicians to enact various land conservation and balanced land use proposals. The Wilderness Society also engages in a number of ancillary activities, including education and outreach, and hosts one of the most valuable collections of Ansel Adams photographs at their headquarters in Washington, D.C. The Wilderness Society specializes in issues involving lands under the management of federal agencies; such lands include national parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges, and areas overseen by the Bureau of Land Management. In the early 21st century, the society has been active in fighting recent politic ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Clinch Ranger District Cluster
The Clinch Ranger District Cluster is a region in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests recognized by The Wilderness Society for its rich biodiversity and rugged scenery. It offers a unique habitat for rare plants, salamanders and other rare species. Description The region includes wilderness areas protected by Congressional action, as well as inventoried wilderness and uninventoried areas recognized by the Wilderness Society as worthy of protection from timbering and roads. The cluster contains the following areas, all within the Clinch Ranger District of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests:Virginia's Mountain Treasures, report issued by The Wilderness Society, May, 1999 *Northern section of the Clinch Ranger District ** Stone Mountain Wilderness ** North Fork of the Pound *Southern section ** Little Laurel Branch ** Roaring Branch **Little Stony Creek ** Devils Fork (conservation area) **Laurel Fork (conservation area) Location and access The ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cumberland Mountains
The Cumberland Mountains are a mountain range in the southeastern section of the Appalachian Mountains. They are located in western Virginia, southwestern West Virginia, the eastern edges of Kentucky, and eastern middle Tennessee, including the Crab Orchard Mountains. Their highest peak, with an elevation of above mean sea level, is High Knob, which is located near Norton, Virginia. According to the USGS, the Cumberland Mountain range is long and wide, bounded by the Russell Fork on the northeast, the Pound River and Powell River on the southeast, Cove Creek on the southwest, and Tackett Creek, the Cumberland River, Poor Fork Cumberland River, and Elkhorn Creek on the northwest. The crest of the range forms the Kentucky and Virginia boundary from the Tennessee border to the Russell Fork River. Variant names of the Cumberland Mountains include Cumberland Mountain, Cumberland Range, Ouasioto Mountains, Ouasiota Mountains, Laurel Mountain, and Pine Mountain. They are name ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mount Carmel, Tennessee
Mount Carmel is a city in Hawkins County, Tennessee, Hawkins County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,429, an increase of 634 since the 2000 census. It is part of the Kingsport, Tennessee, Kingsport–Bristol, Tennessee, Bristol (TN)–Bristol, Virginia, Bristol (VA) Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, TN-VA MSA, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City, Tennessee, Johnson City–Kingsport–Bristol, TN-Virginia, VA Combined Statistical Area – commonly known as the "Tri-Cities, Tennessee, Tri-Cities" region. History Mount Carmel is in Hawkins County, which was once called Spencer county, and was a part of the State of Franklin. The State of Franklin comprised eight counties in western North Carolina in the late 1700s. Governed by John Sevier, it operated as an independent state for four years before it ultimately rejoined North Carolina. Mount Carmel once garnered national attention in the mid-2000s b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization's work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility. The agency was founded on March 3, 1879. The USGS is a bureau of the United States Department of the Interior; it is that department's sole scientific agency. The USGS employs approximately 8,670 people and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia. The USGS also has major offices near Lakewood, Colorado, at the Denver Federal Center, and Menlo Park, California. The current motto of the USGS, in use since August 1997, is "science for a changing world". The agency's previous slogan, adopted on the occasion of its hundredt ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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National Wild And Scenic Rivers System
The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542), enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free-flowing condition for the enjoyment of present and future generations. The Act is notable for safeguarding the special character of these rivers, while also recognizing the potential for their appropriate use and development. It encourages river management that crosses political boundaries and promotes public participation in developing goals for river protection. The Act, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in the height of the United States environmental era, states:"It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States that certain selected rivers of the Nation which, with their immediate environments, possess outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural or other similar ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Inventoried Roadless Area
Inventoried Roadless Areas are a group of United States Forest Service lands that have been identified by government reviews as lands without existing roads that could be suitable for roadless area conservation as wilderness or other non-standard protections. The Inventoried Roadless areas include approximately of land in 40 states and Puerto Rico. Most of these lands are in the western portion of the lower 48 states and Alaska.Maps of inventoried roadless areasUS Forest Service Maps Idaho alone contains over of inventoried roadless areas. The inventoried roadless areas range from large areas with wilderness characteristics to small tracts of land that are immediately adjacent to wilderness areas, parks and other protected lands. Roadless Area Review and Evaluations (RARE) The first review of Forest Service roadless lands was started in 1967 after the creation of the Wilderness Act by Congress in 1964. This effort was called the “Roadless Area Review and Evaluation” or “ ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Roadless Area Conservation
Roadless area conservation is a conservation policy limiting road construction and the resulting environmental impact on designated areas of public land. In the United States, roadless area conservation has centered on U.S. Forest Service areas known as inventoried roadless areas. The most significant effort to support the conservation of these efforts was the Forest Service 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (Roadless Rule). Concept Access roads provide convenient access for industry as well as for a variety of recreational activities, such as sightseeing, fishing, hunting, and off-roading. However, these activities can cause erosion, pollution, species loss, and loss of aesthetic appeal. In addition, the building of roads can lead to further development of "splinter roads" that take off from them, and the encroachment of human settlement and development in sensitive areas. In the United States, about 30%, of National Forest lands in 38 states and Puerto Rico are roadless a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |