Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards is a new grassroots group that has RAPIDLY come up in Southwest Virginia. They’ve been organizing hard over the last year and are working to stop some of the nastiest mountaintop removal and strip mining in all of Appalachia. In Wise County Virginia, nearly 1/4 of the land in the entire county either has been, or is permitted to be, a mountaintop removal site or strip mine.

SAMS:

Just in one county, Wise, more than 20% of the private acreage has been mined or is under permit to be mined. Also, according to the 2000 census report, 48.7% of the households in Wise County have less than $10,000 in income. The injustice that these numbers exhibit can’t portray the horror created, but they clearly show that mountaintop removal mining is not advantageous to most residents of Wise County.

Check out their website, and join them in protecting southwest Virginia.

Affected residents in SW VA and leaders of the newly formed grassroots group Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards (SAMS) need your help. If you live close to Wise, please attend one of the meetings which occur the first and third Tuesdays of every month in Appalachia. If distance is a problem contact SAMS by calling the Mountain Link/Sams Office at 276-565-1083 or Kathy Selvage 276-328-1223.

This is what they’re fighting. Here is a map of mining in southwestern Virginia.

My heart and hope to the folks at SAMS! I wish yall the best of luck!
Do be in touch and let us know how what you’re up to and how we can help!

Update: Folks in SW Virginia might also want to check out Fragments from Floyd