Justice: West Virginia Groundhog Day event canceled amid temporary Wildlife Center closure

Gov. Jim Justice announced during his virtual press briefing on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, that West Virginia’s Groundhog Day festivities have been canceled this year after a federal licensing issue caused the temporary closure of the state Wildlife Center in Upshur County, W.Va. (Gov. Jim Justice briefing screenshot)

West Virginia’s Groundhog Day festivities have been canceled this year after a federal licensing issue caused the temporary closure of the state Wildlife Center, Gov. Jim Justice announced Wednesday.

Justice said the Upshur County facility is temporarily closed after the U.S. Department of Agriculture decided not to recognize “indefinite variance” for a “secondary containment fence” issued at the wildlife center 24 years ago.

The federal agency’s decision came as part of the center’s annual relicensing procedure, Justice’s office said in a news release. The Wildlife Center is unable to exhibit animals and will be closed to the public until a new license is secured.

The closure will affect the state’s Groundhog Day event planned for Friday, which draws crowds to see if French Creek Freddie, West Virginia’s version of Punxsutawney Phil, sees his shadow and predicts an early spring. Last year the event drew more than 200 onlookers, the Gazette-Mail reported .

Justice said the fence permit was one of two ways federal agencies have tried to punish the state recently in incidents that he implied were politically motivated.

“You’re smart enough to figure this out. I mean you can figure it out,” Justice said. “We’re a state that probably doesn’t align with the thinking of the Biden administration at all.”

“This is a move by folks that are trying basically to punish states,” Justice said. “You see what’s going on with President Trump. For god sake’s a living, you see what’s going on with me… It is absolutely purposeful and direct and it is the last thing that our federal government needs to be doing.”

According to Justice’s office, the federal Fish and Wildlife Services also recently told the state Division of Natural Resources the state has to stop stocking trout in waters with a known population of Candy Darter, Guyandotte River crayfish and Big Sandy crayfish.

The state’s fish hatchery operations are conducted with federal funding, the governor’s office said, and the federal agency was obligated to review the potential effects of trout stocking on federally listed aquatic species.

The governor said DNR biologists do not believe the animals are as affected by trout as the federal government believes they are. The state will conduct a study to examine the effects, he said.

Justice’s office said the DNR hopes to negotiate and continue the stocking program, but as of today four streams will be removed from the program.

The streams are:

• Camp Creek in Mercer County,
• Laurel Creek of Cherry in Greenbrier/Nicholas counties,
• North Fork of Cherry in Greenbrier County, and
• Pinnacle Creek in Wyoming County.

Other streams, including Cranberry, will be placed on a modified schedule.

Neither the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service nor the U.S. Department of Agriculture responded to a request for comment Wednesday.

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