AmeriCorps Site Sponsor applications for the 2024/2025 program year being accepted now!
AFNHA is actively recruiting for sponsor sites to host AmeriCorps Members starting in September, 2024.
AFNHA Hiking Challenge
Interested in hiking? Participate in our all-experience-levels hiking challenge, and get a FREE embroidered patch upon completion!
The Management Plan has been approved by the national Park Service! thanks to everyone for your help!
View the plan below.
Celebrate the Forest!
The Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area celebrates the central Appalachian forest - its history, culture, natural resources, and forest heritage. We focus on cultural heritage, conservation, and tourism to support rural community development in western Maryland and the highlands of West Virginia.
In March 2019 we received our National Heritage Designation. In August 2022 we officially submitted our Management Plan to the National Park Service for approval. Thanks to everyone that supported this effort. Onward and upward!
Learn about our organization
Learn about the Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area, who we are, what we do, and the stories we share.
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Get involved in AFNHA - learn about AmeriCorps service, help plan for the future, volunteer to help, join, or donate.
Visit the
Appalachian Forest
Go hiking, camping, fishing, rafting, museums, ride trains, and much more in Maryland and West Virginia.
News
Our newest interpretive program will kick off with the opening of our new rotating exhibit “Creating Home: Indigenous Roots and Connections in the Appalachian Forest”. The exhibit will be open to the public May through October at the Appalachian Forest Discovery Center. We will celebrate with a Seneca Artisan Showcase on May 18.
Do you own or live in a historic property? Are you a professional who upgrades or maintains residential or commercial properties in West Virginia or Maryland? We'd like you to take a brief anonymous survey about your experiences.
The Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation has awarded a $197,000 grant to AFNHA to expand the successful Highlands Creative Economy initiative which will use regional collaboration to enhance cultural heritage, natural, and human assets to grow tourism and benefit communities.
For the third time, the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree will come from the Monongahela National Forest. Volunteers and organizations in the AFNHA region have supplied ornaments that will adorn the tree, and community members will have the opportunity to see the tree as it travels through our area on its way to Washington D.C..
Visitors to Monongahela National Forest may have the opportunity to participate in the National Visitor Use Monitoring survey, which will be conducted from Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024. This official survey is conducted on each national forest every five years. The last survey for Monongahela National Forest was done in Fiscal Year 2019. The survey will be carried out by Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area employees at both developed and dispersed recreation sites and along Forest Service Roads.
AmeriCorps Stories
The Upshur County Historical Society: An Occasional Newsletter was just published mid-April. The annual journal is dedicated to providing educational articles on historical topics related to Upshur County. As the AFNHA member serving with the UCHS this year, I had the opportunity to contribute an article on Bush’s Fort, the primary frontier fort in the region that would become Upshur County. Readers have requested an article on this topic for years, and so I was glad to help see that request fulfilled.
Over the years, the WV Governor’s Cup Ski Race has played an important role in the ski history of Tucker County, WV. Considered the longest running race throughout the southeast, Alpine Festival, Inc. will be presenting its 64th race in 2024. Racers will have a chance to win some amazing prizes and only a select few will get their names placed on the famous WV Governor’s Cup Trophy.
This year AFNHA is assisting the forest service in completing the National Visitor Use Monitoring Survey. Being a surveyor is providing a wonderful opportunity to travel around the state and enjoy the beauty of our forest as well as write a few haikus!
My year at Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge has been incredibly rewarding and something I will always remember fondly. I am very grateful for my time as an AmeriCorps member and I am lucky to have served at two different National Wildlife Refuges. I felt that I was able to learn more and really advance my skill set through my year-long position with AFNHA. I highly recommend AmeriCorps and AFNHA to anyone that is looking to get their foot in the door in the field of conservation and gain valuable experience.
This year for the first time the Seneca Rocks Discovery Center and the USDA Forest Service hosted 4th graders from Pendleton County for a day full outdoor recreation, cultural heritage, and fun! 56 students from the surrounding area visited stations set up on the Discovery Center grounds focusing on cultural heritage of the area and outdoor recreation activities in the hope to encourage more exploration of the public lands around them.
Elkins, West Virginia has the unique distinction of being home to many musicians who play traditional Appalachian “old time” music. Elkins is also home of the Augusta Heritage Center, a non-profit organization that began conducting music, crafts and dance workshops as well as concerts, dances and audio and video documentation beginning in 1973 and celebrating its fiftieth year in 2023. AmeriCorps Member Josh Wanstreet is helping Augusta preserve traditions through archives, music lessons, and more.
America250
Many towns in West Virginia experienced lightning-fast growth as they became a part of a network of railroads. These towns usually had abundant resources like coal or timber that provided jobs for the towns’ residents. Many towns were built by companies– employees of coal companies would live in houses owned by the company they worked for. However, this was not always the case. One town that was built by residents instead of a coal company is Thomas, West Virginia.
Let’s spend some time thinking about the organisms that have stood tall for well over 250 years. That’s right- we’re talking about trees. There are some trees in our region that have existed for over 250 years or are descendants of trees that play a role in history - from the Pringle Tree in Buckhannon to Cathedral State Park.
The Rosie the Riveters of WWII are an inspiration to all for their courage and commitment and for blazing the trail that changed the way women were viewed in the workforce. Ruth Linger Bell was one of these great women who stayed home to serve the government
The Rosie the Riveters of WWII are an inspiration to all generations for their courage and commitment and for blazing the trail that changed the way women were viewed in the workforce. The "Rosie the Riveter" movement is credited with helping push the number of women working up to 20,000,000 in four years. My mother, Leona Phares, was one of these great women who left their homes in the AFNHA region to work in factories in larger cities.
Down the road from the Green Bank Telescope is the hometown of a person who helped pave the way for space exploration. NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson was born in White Sulphur Springs in 1918. At Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, Katherine was invited to work with the space task force and was the only non-white, non-male member of the team who worked to get a man to space.
The dark days of winter are full of traditions spreading cheer and ringing in the new year. Throughout the AFNHA region, many communities come together to celebrate in their own special way. Read more about the unique traditions of Shanghai and Fasnacht.