|
Description
When a tree falls in the forest, how long before a new one grows in its place? That's the crux of the problem facing The Nature Conservancy in Canaan Valley, West Virginia.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
To understand the challenges facing Canaan Valley you must understand its history--and consider its future. Ten or 20 centuries ago, as glaciers shifted southward at the end of the last ice age, northern species gradually died out. Though the glaciers never made it to the Canaan Valley area, the cold weather did, and plants and animals there adapted to a cold climate.
When the ice age ended and the climate warmed, many of those plants and animals moved northward with the receding ice. Newly uncovered earth became repopulated as the species settled in the mountains where the high altitude allowed them to survive far south of what's now their normal range. One such place is Canaan Valley, the largest high-elevation valley east of the Rockies.
Before humans, Canaan Valley had red spruce and lots of it, mixed with balsam fir and hardwoods. It stayed that way until logging arrived in the early 1900s and continued without abate, ravaging the thriving Canaan balsam fir and red spruce. As railroads moved products to market... |
More articles from American Forests
Looking for Georgia's lost Franklinia: could he find this small, showy..., January 01, 2008
Planning in Central Florida: an example for us all? Can this diverse r..., January 01, 2008
A revolution with green roots: this young Slovak activist began by pla..., January 01, 2008
Looking for additional articles?
Click here
to search our database of over 3 million articles.
|
