This week’s member organization spotlight highlights Conservation West Virginia. The following profile was submitted by President Neal Barkus and board member Eli Hall. There is a Q & A section between our communications coordinator, Anna Saab, and Neal and Eli later in the profile.
Conservation West Virginia was born out of the Rockwool controversy in Jefferson County in 2018. That proposed heavy industry, so out of place in a rural county, created a firestorm of opposition. We were impressed then with the possibility of political change driven by environmental issues. That has been our mission and polestar since CWV’s founding in 2019.
Neal Barkus is a longtime environmental advocate with deep roots in West Virginia. Republished with permission from the Conservation West Virginia website.
We are organized as a tax-exempt nonprofit under 501(c)(4) of the tax code. That enables us to become involved in electoral politics to a degree that other groups in the environmental space cannot. In non-election years, we keep our constituents updated on environmental issues, track bills in the legislature, and take public positions on West Virginia water, public lands, and development issues. In election years, we survey and endorse candidates, reach voters on issues through digital platforms, and mobilize voters to turn out at the polls.
Anna: What project(s) do you feel are most urgent or important to CWV right now?
Neal and Eli: The political world is likely to change in the midterm elections, even in West Virginia. The most important thing we can do is to help the change along by identifying voter issues, distinguishing among the candidates based on their records and public statements, and motivating people to vote a ballot with conservation in mind. Over the last three election cycles, we learned what works for a small organization and what doesn’t. The challenge is to focus our resources on the right people and issues and develop the message that will change minds and influence voter behavior.
Anna: Can you speak a little about what makes this work personal to you?
Eli Hall comes from a family of coal miners and knows coal’s complex history firsthand. Republished with permission from the Conservation West Virginia website.
Eli: I grew up in a family that has either dug or transported coal for several generations, and I also grew up in a West Virginia where I just had to look up to see how the mountaintops had been stripped away. In this mix, I was surrounded by people who staunchly defended the coal industry, while simultaneously mourning the loss of fish in their local stream due to too much acid or silt. How we imagine a future for West Virginia, where we don’t have to trade our forests or drinking water for employment, is one of the questions that shapes my life.
Anna: What does the future look like for Conservation West Virginia?
Neal: We are hopeful that when the 2027 legislature opens its session, there will be several more delegates and senators who understand environmental issues, who are open to listening to our lobbyists, and who will work with the environmental community for change. We have a beautiful state, but the impulse in Charleston has been to chase one get-rich-quick scheme after another, with devastating consequences for our natural environment. The latest is the data center craze. The way to prosperity is to work with nature, not abuse her.
Eli: It’s important to dispel the idea that West Virginia is a state bound to be forever stuck in the past. History shapes us, but it does not exhaust all that we are. Trading our environment for the profit of the few creates a state today where many young West Virginians cannot imagine themselves. But that is how the legislature wants to march toward the future. We must have an alternative vision of West Virginia’s future. A future that doesn’t drive young people out of the state or eradicate our wildlife, and that is part of what Conservation West Virginia is working towards.
For more information on Conservation West Virginia, visit https://www.conservewv.org/.
