This blessing requires diligent responsibility. The State and the Nation have a responsibility to care for these resources to sustain viable economics for future generations. Conservation is not shutting down the economy but rather sustaining it. We can look to many sites in the world that are now near desert which used to be lush to somewhat lush. Climates do change but man must not accelerate that process within the limited space in which we survive.
Conservation can only prosper in a world of economic sustainability.
West Virginia is expanding its recreational base. This recreational economic expansion should go hand in hand with the State s taking a more deliberate role in marketing trees while protecting healthy regeneration, not tree farms. At the present date, on a daily basis, more trees are timbered than in the logging boom of the 19th and early 20th centuries. This timbering provides many necessary jobs but sacrifices sustainable bio-diversity. The State can collect much-needed revenue by more directly selling its sustainable timber resources that it itself directly owns and manages.