The Appalachian Trail Conservancy is offering $150,000 in grants to strengthen the ties between the scenic footpath and eight Virginia and West Virginia counties through which it passes.
And there’s more money where that came from.
Community impact grants announced this week by the conservancy will be funded by a $19.5 million contribution from Mountain Valley Pipeline, which is building a natural gas pipeline that will pass under the Appalachian Trail as it runs along the state line in Giles County.
In August, Mountain Valley entered into a voluntary stewardship agreement with the conservancy and The Conservation Fund. Money from the joint venture of five energy companies constructing the pipeline will be used for sustainability efforts such as the grants and the purchase of land near the trail to preserve scenic views.
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The gift — the largest of its kind to the conservancy for a single region — came after discussions about the environmental damage caused by running the 303-mile pipeline over panoramic mountain ridges and through unspoiled forests.
“Through these grants, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy aims to advance environmental health, land stewardship, education, green infrastructure planning and outdoor economies to better support marginalized communities,” Julie Judkins, the conservancy’s director of education and outreach, said in the announcement.
The grants will be available to nonprofit groups in the Virginia counties of Bland, Botetourt, Craig, Giles, Montgomery, Roanoke and Tazewell, and Monroe County, West Virginia.
Members of the conservancy and other environmentalists have long expressed concerns about how a 125-foot-wide right of way for the buried pipeline will be visible for nearly 100 miles along the trail that runs from Georgia to Maine.
Construction has also caused widespread problems with erosion and sedimentation, which led to successful legal challenges by environmental groups and a stop-work order from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
FERC allowed construction to resume Oct. 9, after Mountain Valley regained two of three sets of permits that were set aside by a federal appeals court.
Since then, the company has released few details of when and where work will be restarted on the $5.7 billion project.
“MVP continues to evaluate and adjust its planned construction activities in line with the project’s permits and authorizations and expects to conduct work where permitted to do so,” spokeswoman Natalie Cox said in an email Tuesday.
When the stewardship agreement was announced in August, both the conservancy and Mountain Valley said it was made independently of decisions by federal agencies on the suspended permits.
Mountain Valley has yet to receive permission to pass through 3.5 miles of the Jefferson National Forest, which includes the Appalachian Trail crossing. The company plans to bore 60 feet under the trail, creating a tunnel for a 42-inch diameter steel pipe that will channel natural gas at high pressure from the Marcellus and Utica shale formations to markets along the East Coast.
The stewardship agreement was not the first time big money was used to compensate for the pipeline’s impact.
In 2017, Mountain Valley signed a contract with Virginia that required it to pay $27.5 million to mitigate tree-cutting and adverse impacts to historical resources. Almost half went to the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, which has passed the money along in grants to various applicants.
Grants from the conservancy must address at least one of the following criteria:
Provide educational opportunities to learn more about local public lands, the Appalachian Trail and the history of lands in the region.
Build capacity for job training in outdoor recreation, public lands administration, trail development or similar fields.
Assist in breaking down barriers to support community members, indigenous populations and visitors seeking recreation and stewardship opportunities in the region.
Promote community planning to enhance and protect outdoor recreation assets and local cultural resources.
Increase access to green spaces and public lands by developing land stewardship through traditional knowledge, culture and sustainability efforts.
All applications must be received by Nov. 24. More information is available at appalachiantrail.org/impact-grant-2020.