Lewis Wetzel Wildlife Management Area is located in Wetzel County

Wetzel County, West Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 17,693 people, 7,164 households, and 5,079 families residing in the county. The population density was 49 people per square mile . There were 8,313 housing units at an average density of 23 per square mile...

 about 0.75 miles (1.2 km) south of Jacksonburg, West Virginia

Jacksonburg, West Virginia

Jacksonburg is an unincorporated census-designated place in Wetzel County, West Virginia, United States. It lies at an elevation of 748 feet . As of the 2010 census, its population was 182....

 on County Route 82. Located on 13590 acres (5,499.7 ha) of steep terrain with narrow valleys and ridgetops. The WMA second growth mixed hardwoods and hemlock

Tsuga

Tsuga is a genus of conifers in the family Pinaceae. The common name hemlock is derived from a perceived similarity in the smell of its crushed foliage to that of the unrelated plant poison hemlock....

 with thick understory

Understory

Understory is the term for the area of a forest which grows at the lowest height level below the forest canopy. Plants in the understory consist of a mixture of seedlings and saplings of canopy trees together with understory shrubs and herbs...

 of mountain laurel and rhododendron

Rhododendron

Rhododendron is a genus of over 1 000 species of woody plants in the heath family, most with showy flowers...

.

The wildlife management area is named for Lewis Wetzel

Lewis Wetzel

Lewis Wetzel was a frontiersman and Indian fighter who roamed the hills of what is now the state of West Virginia and Ohio. Wetzel County, West Virginia is named for him. Zane Grey, the great Western novelist, wrote about Wetzel in his books Spirit Of The Border, Betty Zane, and The Last Trail...

, an early settler and frontiersman in this area of West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

. Wetzel County

Wetzel County, West Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 17,693 people, 7,164 households, and 5,079 families residing in the county. The population density was 49 people per square mile . There were 8,313 housing units at an average density of 23 per square mile...

 is also named for Wetzel.

Hunting and Fishing

Hunting opportunities include deer, grouse

Ruffed Grouse

The Ruffed Grouse is a medium-sized grouse occurring in forests from the Appalachian Mountains across Canada to Alaska. It is non-migratory.The Ruffed Grouse is frequently referred to as a "partridge"...

, raccoon

Raccoon

Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...

, squirrel

Squirrel

Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots , flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa and have been introduced to Australia...

, and turkey

Wild Turkey

The Wild Turkey is native to North America and is the heaviest member of the Galliformes. It is the same species as the domestic turkey, which derives from the South Mexican subspecies of wild turkey .Adult wild turkeys have long reddish-yellow to grayish-green...

.

Fishing opportunities on the South Fork of Fishing Creek can include smallmouth bass

Smallmouth bass

The smallmouth bass is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of the order Perciformes. It is the type species of its genus...

, spotted bass

Spotted bass

The Spotted Bass , also called "Spotty", "Leeman", or "Spots" in various fishing communities, is a species of freshwater fish sunfish family of order Perciformes. One of the black basses, it is native to the Mississippi River basin and across theGulf States, from central Texas through the Florida...

, and trout

Trout

Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...

. County Route 20 follows the South Fork of Fishing Creek.

Rustic camping is available seasonally in the WMA. A 100 yards (91.4 m) shooting range is also available.

See also

• Animal conservation
• Camping
  Camping
  Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...
  
  
• Fishing
  Fishing
  Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
  
  
• Hunting
  Hunting
  Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
  
  
• List of West Virginia wildlife management areas

External links

• West Virginia DNR District 1 Wildlife Management Areas
• West Virginia Hunting Regulations
• West Virginia Fishing Regulations
• WVDNR map of Lewis Wetzel Wildlife Management Area