Cause for Celebration
West Virginia's 'Crown Jewel' protected as U.S. Forest Service land
It was not until 2024 that the deal to purchase the Crites’ holdings in the canyon finally came together thanks to Joe Manchin’s incessant work on the project—first as governor, then as the U.S. Senator.
As governor, Manchin planned for lawmakers to provide $5 million in the fiscal year 2009 budget to purchase the canyon. That didn’t happen, and Manchin went on to serve two terms in the U.S. Senate, where he kept the canyon project at the forefront.
Manchin, who chaired the Natural Resources and Energy Committee, went after Land and Water Conservation Fund money to purchase the canyon from AWP. The effort can down to the wire, Dec. 30, 2024, when Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican, agreed to release a hold on the funds that Manchin, a Democrat, needed to purchase the canyon. During the celebration Oct. 26, 2025, Manchin shared details of his final day in Congress and the negotiations that led to other senators releasing their holds on funds.
“I had to sit down with all these different senators and pros who were trying to get the money that we needed. We needed all $14 million that was in that pocket. And the only thing I told them was ‘. . . if you have a project as grand as this project, then I’ll step aside. If you have something that can basically equal the 2,700 acres of Blackwater Canyon and that all of America can enjoy, then I’ll step aside.’”
Praised for his work
During the celebration, FOB honored and thanked Manchin for his incessant work on the project. Manchin said the purchase should have happened about the same time of FOB’s formation. Rather than exist as a singularly focused cause, FOB waited productively and promoted the canyon and the heritage of its communities, addressed water pollution issues and raised awareness of this “Crown Jewel” of West Virginia. As of 2025, it had 3,412 donors, 132 foundations and partners, 4,871 email subscribers and 10,747 social media followers. Its work had elicited more than 93,000 public comments to agencies.
With the canyon in public ownership, FOB is focusing on trail development, acid mine drainage abatement and other environmental impact challenges, such as the Corridor H Northern Route and the power plant/data center construction issue that suddenly appeared on the community’s radar in spring 2025. FOB, Highlands Conservancy, Sierra Club and Tucker United have taken the lead in opposing the center. And work is progressing on AMD projects along the North Fork.
Judy said that as long as the canyon was under AWP ownership, the status of the Canaan Loop Trail was murky, and it went without needed maintenance and improvement. Likewise, the dual-ownership status of a 5-mile section of the Rail Trail put it in limbo and thwarted maintenance. Volunteers stepped up and did what they could accomplish, but some of the boulders and large trees that litter the route will require professional removal. A landslide damaged the Big Run Culvert, a stone structure built by stonemasons during the railroad’s canyon development, in the spring of 2024. The structure is in danger of collapsing.
During 2025, FOB added more historical interpretive signage on the trails and hosted an exhibition of all the signs in one location. The Davis Riverwalk Trail was completed to the gaging station, as well. The trail is part of the 8-mile Blackwater Loop Trail that will pass through Blackwater Falls State Park as it links Davis and Thomas. Another trail, the 100-mile West Virginia Mountain Railroad Trail, is in the planning stages. It will stretch from Thomas to Cumberland, Md., and honor the region’s railroaders who opened up this wilderness to the East Coast, exploitation and eventual rebirth.
All this and much more has happened due to the determination of two very persistent West Virginians.
“Judy, if you know Judy, will not let anything go,” Manchin told the celebration crowd. “‘No’ is not in her vocabulary, except when she won’t let you do something, and she won’t give up. And the thing I admired about here is that her quest and her love for this . . . she was the voice and the person on the front end of everyone who felt so deeply about this area.”
“Senator Manchin did not give up,” Judy told the crowd. “Senator Manchin secured funding in the federal budget for this purchase. This funding and purchase will ensure that this breathtaking landscape, this act of creation, is protected.
“It’s our Canyon now!” Judy said, eliciting a roar of cheers and applause strong enough to shake the canyon’s golden leaves from their twigs.
More photos from the celebration:
