Shenandoah Mountain Act

This bill creates a new National Scenic Area on about 92,562 acres of national forest along Shenandoah Mountain in Virginia. It aims to protect clean water, wildlife, forests (including old-growth), and views, while still allowing hiking, biking, and other nonmotorized recreation. The Forest Service must keep water quality high and manage the area to meet these goals .

Motor vehicles can use existing roads, but no new roads can be built. Public access on current roads stays open, and private landowners keep access to their land. The agency can add or improve parking along forest roads and maintain or build nonmotorized trails. Within two years, the Forest Service must create a trail plan with public input, and then a broader management plan for the area. Recreation can continue and be improved as long as it fits the area’s conservation goals .

Logging is generally not allowed, except for safety, wildfire control, trail access, scenic overlooks, or to fight insects or disease. People can still gather firewood for personal use along roads with permission. The area is closed to new mining, oil and gas, geothermal, wind or solar development, and new utility corridors. Existing dams and reservoirs can keep operating, and new ones can be built if needed for city water. Firefighting and planned burns are allowed to protect people and the forest .

The bill also creates or expands several Wilderness Areas within the region: Skidmore Fork, Ramseys Draft addition, Lynn Hollow, Little River, and Beech Lick Knob, totaling tens of thousands of acres with the highest level of protection under federal law. The law does not create buffer zones around these areas, so activities outside their boundaries are not restricted just because they can be seen or heard inside them .

• Who is affected: Local communities, hikers, anglers, cyclists, nature lovers, and private landowners with inholdings. Forest visitors should expect more trail options and protected scenery; motorized access stays on existing roads .
• What changes: Stronger land and water protections; new wilderness designations; limits on logging and industrial development; planned improvements to nonmotorized trails and parking; continued firefighting and forest health work .
• When: Trail plan due within two years of enactment; management plan due soon after the trail plan is finished. Maps and boundaries will be filed and available to the public .