Road Built in Wrong Spot in State Forest: ; Drillers Acknowledge Error, Agree to Pay for Felled Trees
By Rick Steelhammer
rsteelhammer@wvgazette.com
Instead of following the path of an existing access road to reach a new natural gas drilling site in Kanawha State Forest, a gas production company construction crew carved a new mile-long swath through the forest, uprooting hundreds of trees and wiping out a section of Wildcat Ridge Trail.
“They made the roadway in the wrong place,” said Kanawha State Forest Superintendent John Hendley. “They were supposed to follow an old, established road, but someone in charge of the construction crew went out on his own and gave an order putting the road in the wrong place.”
The unauthorized Equitable Production road enters the forest via its West Boundary Road and veers across Wildcat Ridge Trail to reach a drill site near the head of Dunlap Hollow.
Kanawha State Forest and Equitable officials say an agreement is being finalized to compensate the forest for trees destroyed in building the road. Timber appraisals are being completed to identify a dollar amount for the lost trees’ value.
“We met with some of Equitable’s upper tier of management, and they acknowledged that a mistake had been made, and that while nothing could put everything back the way it was, we were satisfied with what they came up with,” said Hendley.
“The meeting also allowed us to establish clearer guidelines for future gas development work done here,” Hendley said, adding that Equitable is considering remediation work in addition to paying for the uprooted trees. “They are concerned and doing what they can to correct what happened.”
“We met with the appropriate state officials and a different access route was established,” said Equitable spokeswoman Pat Kornick. “We will follow that route.”
Kanawha State Forest Foundation Vice Chairman Julian Martin, a frequent hiker in the 9,300-acre preserve, said he counted the rings of one of the felled trees found alongside the unauthorized haul road and found it to be 108 years old.
“Fragmenting that section of mature forest with a road that is 60 feet wide won’t do the wildlife there any good,” he said. “I’d like to see drilling, like logging, banned in the forest. At the very least, drilling and road-building here should be more closely monitored.”
Martin said the Kanawha State Forest Foundation has not taken a position on gas development practices in the forest.
Kanawha State Forest, managed by the parks and recreation section of the Division of Natural Resources, is the only state forest in which timber harvesting is prohibited. A law passed by the Legislature in 2000 outlawed logging in the preserve.
In addition to the road to the new drilling site near the head of Dunlap Hollow, a new gas well is being drilled in the forest’s Pine Ridge area, old wells are being repaired in the Polly Hollow area and gas field development work is taking place in the Hoffman Hollow area behind the forest’s shooting range.
“With the boom in natural gas production due to high energy prices, drilling will probably be pretty active out here for a while,” said Hendley.
“Since I came here in 1997, four or five new wells have been drilled in the forest and some others have been capped off,” he said. “Most of the time, the work is pretty benign and doesn’t affect recreation. That roadway was an exception.”
Old gas roads are incorporated into Kanawha State Forest’s system of fire trails, as well as hiking and mountain bike trails.
“Any time someone uses a trail here, chances are good they’ve traveled on an old gas road to get there,” Hendley said.
But this year’s gas development work has generated a series of complaints from the forest’s recreational users.
“The work hasn’t gone unnoticed,” he said.
To contact staff writer Rick Steelhammer, use e-mail or call 348- 5169.
(c) 2006 Charleston Gazette, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.