skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Biden administration moves to protect Alaska wilderness; opening statements and first witness in NY trial; SCOTUS hears Starbucks case, with implications for unions on the line; rural North Carolina town gets pathway to home ownership.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The Supreme Court weighs cities ability to manage a growing homelessness crisis, anti-Israeli protests spread to college campuses nationwide, and more states consider legislation to ban firearms at voting sites and ballot drop boxes.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Wyoming needs more educators who can teach kids trade skills, a proposal to open 40-thousand acres of an Ohio forest to fracking has environmental advocates alarmed and rural communities lure bicyclists with state-of-the-art bike trail systems.

Could Birthplace of Rivers Help Richwood Recover from Floods?

play audio
Play

Thursday, October 6, 2016   

RICHWOOD, W. Va. – A new Birthplace of Rivers National Monument could help Richwood recover from this summer's devastating floods, according to local officials.

Richwood Mayor Bob Henry Baber said it's difficult for the city council and the local chamber of commerce to focus on much beyond immediate flood recovery right now. But he said they're all unified behind what would be the state's first national monument.

"We all know that our future for the long haul lies in tourism,” Mayor Baber said. "And the Birthplace of Rivers - that title, that name, that designation - is critical to realizing that vision."

Presidents often create new national monuments near the end of their terms. The city of Richwood would be the closest town to the portion of the southern Monongahela National Forest that would be converted into a national monument. Conservation groups backing the designation estimate it would bring 50,000 more visitors and more than $5 million a year to the area.

At least 26 West Virginians died in the June floods, and Richwood was one of the areas hit hardest. Baber said flood recovery is taking all their energy now. And he said that's frustrating, because they would like to be doing more in support of a new national monument.

"It's sort of like thinking about where you're going to be in a couple of weeks when you've got a huge gash in your arm,” he said. "But we know how beautiful the place is we live, we know how blessed we are. We just want to share it with more people, and have more people come and enjoy it."

The 120,000 acres of highlands that would become the monument include the existing Cranberry Wilderness in the Monongahela Forest. The area also includes the headwaters of the Cranberry, Cherry, Gauley, Elk, Williams and Greenbrier rivers.

Baber added that the designation wouldn't require the federal government to buy any more private land, and it would publicize to the rest of the country what's already there in the National Forest.

"Get the secret out. I just don't think enough people really are aware of the Cranberry and the Mon, and the Birthplace of Rivers designation,” the mayor said. "I think, is going to lift that up in the national consciousness."

More information about the proposed Birthplace of Rivers National Monument is online at birthplaceofrivers.org.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
Several Mississippi correctional facilities offer both short-term (12 weeks) and long-term (six months) alcohol and drug programs with individual and group counseling for treating alcohol and drug addictions. (Wesley JvR/peopleimages.com)

Social Issues

play sound

Mississippi prisons often lack resources to treat people who are incarcerated with substance-use disorders adequately but a nonprofit organization is …


Social Issues

play sound

April is Second Chance Month and many Nebraskans are celebrating passage of a bipartisan voting rights restoration bill and its focus on second chance…

Health and Wellness

play sound

New Mexico saw record enrollment numbers for the Affordable Care Act this year and is now setting its sights on lowering out-of-pocket costs - those n…


Migrants are put on buses from Texas to other states, often without knowing where they are going. (afishman64/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

The future of Senate Bill 4 is still tangled in court challenges. It's the Texas law that would allow police to arrest people for illegally crossing …

Social Issues

play sound

Residents in a rural North Carolina town grappling with economic challenges are getting a pathway to homeownership. In Enfield, the average annual …

Social Issues

play sound

A new poll finds a near 20-year low in the number of voters who say they have a high interest in the 2024 election, with a majority saying they hold …

Social Issues

play sound

A case before the U.S. Supreme Court could have implications for the country's growing labor movement. Justices will hear oral arguments in Starbucks …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021