History
The MNF was established following passage of the Weeks Act in 1911. This act authorized the purchase of land for long-term watershed protection and natural resource management following the massive cutting of the Eastern forests in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1915, 7,200 acres (29 km2) were acquired to begin the forest, called the "Monongahela Purchase", and on April 28, 1920 it became the "Monongahela National Forest". By the end of 1924, the MNF had a total ownership of some 150,367 acres (609 km2).
Although white-tail deer never became completely extirpated from the MNF, from the 1890s to the 1920s their numbers throughout the state (as with most of the eastern US) were being officially reported as "almost zero". In January 1930, eight deer procured from Michigan were released into the Forest near Parsons. From 1937 to 1939, a total of 17 more deer were released in the Flatrock-Roaring Plains area of the Forest. These releases served as the nucleus for reestablishing the healthy breeding populations of eastern West Virginia. (By the mid-1940s, deer were so numerous in the area that crop farmers had to patrol their fields by night.)
In 1943 and 1944, as part of the West Virginia Maneuver Area, the U.S. Army used parts of the MNF as a practice artillery and mortar range and maneuver area before troops were sent to Europe to fight in World War II. Artillery and mortar shells shot into the area for practice are still occasionally found there today. Seneca Rocks and other area cliffs were also used for assault climbing instruction. This was the Army's only low-altitude climbing school.
The fisher (Martes pennanti), believed to have been exterminated in the state by 1912, was reintroduced during the winter of 1969. At that time 23 fishers were translocated from New Hampshire to two sites within boundaries of the MNF (at Canaan Mountain in Tucker County and Cranberry Glades in Pocahontas County).
In 1980, and again in 2005, the MNF was the venue for the annual counterculture "Rainbow Gathering".
Read more about this topic: Monongahela National Forest
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