North Shenandoah Mountain Restoration and Management Project

Several people stand in circle around a wooded area listening to a forester speak The North Shenandoah Mountain Restoration and Management Project is a large landscape planning effort completed collaboratively with the public, local communities and state and private partners. The project goal is to improve watershed conditions, wildlife habitats and forest health. Planned project activities include:

controlled burns,
fuel reductions,
targeted tree thinning,
replacing impassable culverts with fish passage structures,
stabilizing stream banks,
restoring yellow pine stands,
controlling non-native invasive vegetation and
improving pollinator habitat.

The planning for this project was completed on June 6, 2020. View the project documents.

Where

The project area is located in Rockingham County, Virginia and Pendleton County, West Virginia and covers approximately 103,000 acres within the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest and includes 25,000 acres of private land. The project includes unfragmented oak and pine forests that are recognized as a hotspot for biodiversity in the Central Appalachian Mountains.