The Forest Service was directed
to manage this special area with emphasis on the outstanding opportunities
for outdoor recreation, wildlife habitat, cultural resource protection
and scientific study. Other resources are managed in harmony with
these emphasized activities. Cattle and sheep graze much of the
open area, maintaining these areas in their open state, providing
visual quality and benefiting wildlife while also providing beef
and wool to local communities.
Parts of the National Recreation
Area are leased for natural gas production; openings built for
gas wells are seeded with game-supporting grasses. Some areas
are leased to farmers who raise corn or hay, continuing the rural
agriculture landscape that has existed here for nearly 200 years.
The Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks NRA provides a wealth of products,
resources and recreational opportunities.
Visitor facilities include
the Seneca
Rocks Discovery Center,
Seneca
Shadows and Big
Bend campgrounds,
and the Spruce
Knob Tower. Many
thousands of acres of unspoiled quiet land await discovery.
Use your imagination to see how the area may have looked
to the early settlers, as they crested the mountain ridges
or moved up the river. Imagine living a self-sufficient
life on a high hillside farm. Envision the Native Americans
gathering food on hunting forays. You will discover not
only beauty, but a sense of history in the NRA.
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![Seneca Rocks](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090510203454im_/http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/mnf/rec/rec_graphics/srdc/srdc_fog_rocks_082600.jpg)
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For more information on the Spruce
Knob - Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area please contact the Seneca Rocks
Discovery Center at (304)567-2827
or the Potomac Ranger District at (304)257-4488.
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