Valley Conservation Council's Advocacy Policy
Purpose: To clarify VCC's position on short- and long-term conservation advocacy
The Valley Conservation Council is a proactive organization that believes its long-term objectives can best be reached by building relationships and consensus across diverse community interests. VCC takes a non-confrontational, cooperative approach educating people about the conservation tools available for their use, empowering them to make appropriate decisions regarding community planning.
VCC is often asked to lend its support to organizations on short-term local issues that seek to stop a particular development from going in. VCC believes that its efforts are best channeled in long-term efforts that assist the planning processes that precede project approval and groundbreaking. If communities have strong comprehensive plans, good zoning and use private conservation measures, then appropriate development should take place in areas suited for development.
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The controversial siting of industrial scale wind energy facilities along ridgetops is a regional concern in VCC's service area. This photo shows turbines in Tucker County, West Virginia. |
There is inappropriate development happening in the Shenandoah Valley. The Valley Conservation Council, however, sees its mission as educating landowners, public officials and citizens to help them make appropriate land-use decisions. Once those decisions have been made, VCC does not believe its time is well spent trying to counteract them.
Exceptions that may require VCC short-term advocacy or an after-the-fact challenge might include defending an easement that VCC holds or an issue or project so widespread and of such magnitude that it would be precedent setting in a negative way. The VCC Board of Directors will examine these kinds of exceptions on a case by case basis.
