Stewards VISTA: Guardians of the West Fork Watershed Y1

Guardians of the West Fork Watershed is the only nonprofit focused on the environment in our 880 square mile watershed, an all-volunteer organization whose main work for 25 years has been abandoned mine drainage remediation, litter, erosion, and since 2014, the West Fork River Water Trail. Our watershed is at the edge of the northern Appalachian coal field, and has had more mining than much of the surrounding area, and of West Virginia. Clarksburg was promoted as ¿Fuel City¿ in the oil, gas, coal, and manufacturing boom of the 1910s and 20s. Harrison and Lewis Counties have both lost about 25% of their population since 1950, and continue to decline. Our largest watershed health problems now are sewage and sediment, from unmaintained septic and sewer systems, pastures, unpaved roads, and we hope to expand our programs to help people address those. We are a mostly rural and wooded area, but there is little easy access to nature for our residents, and access to natural environments, especially water, improves child development, everyone¿s physical and mental health, and makes our communities more attractive places to work and live. The Guardians see that focus as an overarching goal, keeping an eye on the monitoring, research, and activities affecting watershed health, leveraging all the work being done, coordinating with as many organizations as possible, and both educating the people of our watershed and translating their needs and watershed health needs to the governments and other organizations, to build a better environment and ways for everyone to live and prosper from it.