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Virginia Department of Forestry gives Rockbridge County $3,764, outlines access, timber and road plans at Moores Creek State Forest
Summary
A Virginia Department of Forestry official presented a $3,764 in-lieu payment to Rockbridge County and described a Good Neighbor Authority partnership to construct a 1.1-mile management road into Moores Creek State Forest; the department also described timber-management practices and limits tied to topography and waterways.
Zach Olinger, manager of state forests for the Virginia Department of Forestry, presented the Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors a $3,764 in-lieu-of-taxes payment and described upcoming management work at Moores Creek State Forest. "I'm not asking for money. I'm giving you money," Olinger told the board during the Sept. 8 meeting.
The payment represents 25% of gross proceeds returned to the county from timber sales on state forest land, Olinger said. He said the department does not receive general fund money from Richmond to operate state forests and that revenue is generated on the forests themselves. Olinger said the payment was split across two fiscal years and that the county may designate the funds for any purpose.
Olinger also described a new management road being built through a partnership with the U.S. Forest Service under a Good Neighbor Authority agreement. The 1.1-mile road, he said, will not be open to public vehicular traffic but will provide improved nonmotorized access for hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians and enable additional management access; he said the road is scheduled to be completed in October.
Moores Creek State Forest, Olinger said, totals about 2,300 acres, of which roughly 700 acres are practically manageable under the department's management plan. He described a roughly 100-year rotation for hardwoods and said the agency harvests only a small percentage of growing timber each year, with restrictions near streams and reservoirs meant to protect water and topography.
Board members asked whether the city of Lexington's decisions about a nearby dam and reservoir would affect state-forest operations; Olinger said the city, not the department, owns the dam and surrounding reservoir shoreline and that any decision by the city would be theirs to make. He said changes to the dam were unlikely to affect the department's management of the state forest.
Olinger left contact information with the county through a staff member and said department staff would return to the board as needed.
Why it matters: The payment provides a small, flexible revenue stream to the county and the road project will change public access and management options for Moores Creek State Forest, which has both recreation and timber-management objectives.
