Pocahontas County may be the third largest West Virginia county in area, but it's nearing the bottom of the list in population. In fact, the population here is expected to drop below 8,000 in this Census and be down to 7,500 in 2020.

A lot of factors contribute to that-a lack of jobs, lack of infrastructure and, in Marlinton, lack of faith that the Greenbrier River will stay within her banks.

But Pocahontas County, while it does not offer state tax money from coal mining or yet, gas well drilling, still offers the state much as a destination for visitors who come here for exactly the reasons our people have gone away-no industrial smokestacks, lovely mountain views and a beautiful river that runs the length of our county, not to mention a four-season resort, state parks and forests and thousands of acres of national forest which keeps our bucolic complexion nearly spot free.

Which means that, while our stable population is declining, our transient population can more than double it and the people who visit here do expect us to have a hospital emergency room, roads fit to drive upon, adequate law enforcement and other taxpayer funded services-all things that we as taxpayers expect to have.

One way for the state to understand Pocahontas County's unique predicament is for us to have a representative in the House of Delegates through a single member district, which both U.S. Senator Joe Manchin and Governor Earl Ray Tomblin have said they support, although the house will redistrict itself once the 2010 Census figures are available.

Having State Senator Walt Helmick represent Pocahontas County is an anomaly that we will likely not replicate once he is no longer in his seat-and he can't stay there forever. The senatorial district is much too large and we cannot have population growth quickly enough to ensure a senator from here once Helmick is no longer a candidate for state senate.

The answer has to be single member delegate districts, which the county commission will rightly support with a letter.

But it's going to take more than that.

Single member districts must have about 18,500 people, which means Pocahontas County might not be in one district, but could be split into two or more. If our population drops to 8,200, then more than 10,000 people would have to come from another county.

For instance, the northern district could remain with Randolph County, while the central and southern portions are thrown in with Greenbrier. Since both larger counties have more population, that leaves Pocahontas County in virtually the same situation we're in now-represented by folks from counties with larger populations.

But let's say we get a portion of Pendleton County and some of Nicholas, perhaps a little of southern Randolph and some of northern Greenbrier, then our chances are better for our own elected representative to the House of Delegates. A 1991 proposal had Pocahontas County in its entirety, along with a portion of western Randolph County.

What all this speculation means is that our county commissioners must be the leaders when the house is ready to work on redistricting next year.

In 1991, the measure that would have created a single-member district was defeated by the more powerful Elkins contingent, without much of a whimper from Pocahontas County.

Our commissioners should stand up and have us be counted this time around.