ELKINS W.Va. (WVDN) – Effective immediately, building, maintaining, attending, or using a wood or charcoal fire or campfire is prohibited on all National Forest lands, roads, and trails within the confines of the exterior boundary of Monongahela National Forest, except for the areas listed below.
Any individual or group lawfully camped in the Forest Service developed campgrounds and cabins, when the fire is in a Forest Service provided fire ring designed and installed for the purpose of a campfire at the designated campsite, are EXEMPT from this restriction. This includes:
- Bear Haven Campground
- Big Rock Campground
- Bishop Knob Campground
- Blue Bend Campground and Small Pavilion
- Cranberry Campground
- Day Run Campground
- Gatewood Campground
- Hopkins Mountain Fireman’s Cabin
- Island Campground
- Laurel Fork Campground
- Middle Mountain Cabins
- Pocahantas Campground
- Red Creek Campground
- Summit Lake Campground
- Tea Creek Campground
- Williams River Campsites
The purpose of this fire restriction is to protect public health and safety and natural resources by prohibiting recreational fires during periods of high fire danger. Due to the current long-term drought the Forest has been experiencing, and associated low ground fuel moisture content, any fire start would prove difficult to suppress. This order is also to compliment and manage in partnership with cooperators from the state of West Virginia that are implementing similar restrictions on a state-wide basis.
By enacting this order, we will be eliminating potential ignition sources from dangerous and unwanted wildfires and working with our cooperators in the state of West Virginia to provide one unified management strategy for all public lands in the state of West Virginia.
Further information may be obtained at https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/mnf/alerts-notices.
