Grassroots opposition builds against Tucker County’s proposed Fundamental Data power plant project

By Luanne McGovern, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy Just over two months have passed since a small legal notice was published in The Parsons Advocate. It stated that an unknown company [...]

South Fork Coal Company: ‘a trail of pollution, debt and disregard’

By Willie Dodson, Appalachian Voices Cherry/ Gauley River named among America’s most endangered rivers; thousands oppose coal-hauling in the Monongahela National Forest; new violations; and a call to action Pollution [...]

American Rivers names Gauley River to America’s Most Endangered Rivers® of 2025, due to toxic coal mining pollution

The threat of toxic pollution from coal strip mining in the headwaters of one of the Gauley’s primary tributaries — the Cherry River — has made it one of America’s [...]

Book review: A love letter to nature in Sheila McEntee’s “Soul Friend” explores the ordinary and the profound

Reviewed by Cynthia Ellis, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy Perhaps you intended to keep a journal during the COVID-19 pandemic. Perhaps you’ve recently discovered a deeper connection with the natural world [...]

‘It will destroy this place:’ Tucker County residents fight for future against proposed data center

By Caity Coyne, West Virginia Watch As a little known company has proposed a data center and natural gas plant in the tourism destination — known for its natural wonder [...]

Breeding bird surveys in jeopardy amid budget threats

By Cynthia Ellis, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy Usually in May and June, throughout the mountains and across the state, West Virginia’s birders are volunteering their time to complete Breeding Bird [...]

Op-Ed: Save the Fernow Experimental Forest — and protect West Virginia’s future

By Hannah DeHetre, WVU Biology, PhD Candidate The Fernow Experimental Forest is one of only a few research forests in the United States that has collected continuous, decades-long data that document [...]

New book ‘Holler’ tells the story of Appalachian climate activists 

By Katie Myers, BPR, West Virginia Watch  An interview with author Denali Sai Nalamalapu on storytelling, fossil fuels, and the Mountain Valley Pipeline.  This coverage is made possible through a [...]

Concerned organizations petition Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to challenge the grant of primacy to West Virginia for permitting and oversight of Carbon Capture and Sequestration Wells

By West Virginia Surface Owners’ Rights Organization The West Virginia Surface Owner’s Rights Organization, along with three environmental organizations, and represented by lawyers from Appalachian Mountain Advocates, have petitioned the [...]

Thoughts from our President

Dear friends and fellow Highlands advocates, Spring may be blooming across much of West Virginia, but in Canaan Valley, we’ve still been waking up to frosty mornings in the 20s. [...]