Ramsey's Draft Wilderness - History

History

The US Forest Service first purchased land in this area in 1913 for Shenandoah National Forest, the precursor to the present day George Washington National Forest. The Forest Service has managed the Ramsey’s Draft area essentially as a wilderness since 1935 as much of it had never been logged. A road more than three miles (5 km) upstream from U.S. 250 constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s lasted until 1969, when rainwater from Hurricane Camille wiped out much of the road at the stream crossings. Another flood in November 1985 further eliminated the original road and changed the course of the stream in multiple areas, shortly after the area was officially designated a wilderness under the Virginia Wilderness Act of 1984.

The boundaries of Ramsey’s Draft wilderness have long been the subject of discussion. The original wilderness proposal, developed in the early 1970s and backed by the Virginia Wilderness Committee and the Potomac Chapter of the Sierra Club, included most of Shenandoah Mountain between Rt. 250 and FDR 95, the western slope down to private land along Shaws Fork, and much of the Bald Ridge area. The U.S. Forest Service recommended the core ~6,500 acres, and this is the tract that became law.

Since the 1984 Virginia Wilderness Act, several citizen proposals have been developed to expand the boundaries of the Ramsey's Draft Wilderness. None of these have been enacted.

Since 2007, the Forest Service has been working on a revision to its Management Plan for the George Washington National Forest. The draft Plan proposes adding wilderness acreage to the present Ramsey’s Draft Wilderness eastern and northern boundaries. The Forest Service notes that a major concern about the Ramsey’s Draft addition is the opposition of the county board of supervisors.

In 2004, Virginia Wilderness Committee and local mountain biking groups formed the Friends of Shenandoah Mountain to advocate for expansion of the Ramsey's Draft Wilderness to the north and east, and for a separate wilderness on the western slope of Shenandoah Mountain. This new proposal also includes a large National Scenic Area and additional wilderness areas to the north of Ramsey's Draft. A component of this proposal is an adjustment of the present western boundary of Ramsey's Draft Wilderness to remove the Shenandoah Mountain Trail from the wilderness area to accommodate mountain biking interests. The Friends proposal is supported by a large number of businesses, organizations, and faith groups.