NATIVE NOTES
WEST VIRGINIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2003 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
CREATIVE !! INNOVATIVE !! TIME TO WORK !!
A small step for individual members but a huge step for our WV Native Plant Society. After a lot of discussion, over the past 2 years, your Board of Trustees voted to take the plunge. It is not sink or swim because we still have a towline attached to the dock.
We agreed to send future Native Notes Newsletters via Email. Thus, we need your email address, if you want to receive your newsletter only by electronic means.
Note: If you don’t have a computer, you will not be left out in the weed patch. You will still receive your printed newsletter, as you always have. If you own a computer, you still have the choice of a printed copy (that is the tow line tied to the dock). The fewer printed copies and mailings, the more $$$ for projects.
A single copy of the Native Notes Newsletter costs an average of $0.80 to print and $0.65 to mail. We hope to save $500 – 800 each year. The board would like to divert as much of this money as possible to projects. Some potential projects could be:
· locate and manage native plant sites
· monitor and eradicate or control invasive exotics
· provide education programs to the general public and our members
· print educational materials
ACTION: Will those who prefer Email Native Notes please notify President Lynn Wagner that you want to receive future newsletters and notices by Email. Contact Lynn at this address: lwagner2@earthlink.net
If you prefer printed newsletters and notices you (members and exchanges) you need to let us know by email, postcard, or phone call. Thanks!!!
Lynn Wagner presided over the annual meeting on September 13th in Elkins.
The treasurer’s report listed $7800. Lynn Wagner proposed that we have an obligation to use some portion of this money in ways that will benefit native plants and our membership. Lynn proposed the following projects:
· Contribution to the WVU Herbarium
· Organizational membership in the WV Highlands Conservancy - $50
· Small scholarship such as $500 to a student. WVNPS would develop criteria for awarding the scholarship
· A grant to Save Our Natives from Invasive Plants (SNIP) for an educational project such as a packet of information for distribution; more equipment to eradicate non-native plants and shrubs; T-shirts.
Lawrence Beckerle suggested a project to collect seeds of our rare endemics. Larry Stritch suggested we should join the efforts of the Plant Conservation Alliance if this project is approved. Donna Ford-Werntz said that the Center for Plant Conservation propagates seeds or germ plasm, and we might sponsor a WV plant.
Bill Grafton suggested:
· Updating the invasive plants checklist
· Pay for fees and expenses of trustees when they attend board meetings, or represent the WVNPS at other meetings
· Prepare a list of conservation plants for West Virginia
A budget committee of Lynn Wagner, Bill Grafton, Larry Stritch, and Steve Mace will prepare a report for the March 27, 2004 board meeting in Elkins. NOTE: If you have ideas or support any of the above suggestions please let us know!!!
$100 was approved for P.J. Harmon for reprinting and mailing of the West Virginia Invasive Plants Checklist
$200 was approved for the WVU Herbarium and $100 for the Marshall University Herbarium.
After 2+ years of discussion the Board agreed to start sending newsletters and notices by email. Lynn Wagner said she does not have email addresses for 27 member. These 27 and others who notify her that they prefer to receive a printed copy of the newsletter will continue to receive mailed versions. This will also apply to our exchange newsletters with other Native Plant Societies. Note: All members and exchanges will be contacted and offered the chance to respond “yes” or “no” on receiving all newsletters and notices by email.
A Bylaws Committee of Helen Gibbins (chair), Romie Hughart, Steve Mace, and P.J. Harmon was appointed to determine changes needed to get a quorum at every Board meeting.
Lawrence Beckerle reported on his attempts to work with the Departments of Highways and Environmental Protection to use more native plants for reclamation.
Romie Hughart will have a display at the National Hunting and Fishing Days at Stonewall Jackson State Park. P.J. Harmon will also have our WVNPS display set up for viewers.
Donna Ford-Werntz suggested WVNPS help publicize the list of outstanding botanists when it is completed.
The present officers and board of trustees were reelected by acclamation for 2004. Lawrence Beckerle’s term will be for 3 years.
We really do want your ideas on how your dues money is spent. Let us hear from you!!
Lynn Wagner – President Mary Sansom – Vice-president
PO Box1268 106 Ashley Lane
Shepherdstown, WV 25443-1268 Cross Lanes, WV 25314-1604
Ph: 304/ 876-7027 Ph: 304/ 776-7852
Email: lwagner2@earthlink.net
Helen Gibbins – Secretary Steve Mace – Treasurer
6128 Gideon Road PO Box 122
Huntington, WV 25705-2241 New Haven, WV 25265 – 0122
Ph: 304/ 736-3287 Ph: 304/ 882-2450
Email: gibbins@marshall.edu Email: sdmace@citynet.net
BOTANICAL BONANZAS OF WEST VIRGINIA
(bogs, balds, and beaver ponds to barrens, bedrock, and bluffs)
Altona-Piedmont Marsh Nature Preserve
This marl marsh is located about 1 mile west of Charles Town in Jefferson County. It is mostly managed by the WV Chapter – TNC. TNC has been given conservation easements by two of the three primary landowners (Henry Davenport and Jim Lehrer). Marcus Brothers housing development company owns the remainder of the marsh.
All visits to Altona-Piedmont must be with permission of the WV Chapter – TNC
(phone: 304/ 637-0160.
Altona-Piedmont is a botanical jewel that contains 15 rare plant species known from 5 or fewer West Virginia locations. Twelve species occur only in marl wetlands. Marl is soft calcium carbonate material that forms in some limestone areas and is mixed with clay and organic materials. Altona-Piedmont consists of 94 acres of marl marsh, open swamps and thickets and is located on Evitts run at an average elevation of 515 feet. The marsh is bisected by tracks of the CSX Railroad.
Access to Altona-Piedmont Marsh is a narrow dirt road on the north side of WV Route 51. A short distance out the road is the Washington Chapel ruins that are a tourist/historical attraction. Parking is limited to 2 vehicles. The CSX Railroad is another 1100 yards or so north of the ruins and the marsh is immediately to the east (downstream).
The marl marsh consists of swamp forests, shrubby thickets, and open herbaceous and grass-like plants. Most of the marl marsh is too fragile for a group to walk through. However, many of the rare plants can be seen from the railroad. Note: This CSX railroad is active, so be prepared to move to a safe spot at the marsh margin, if a train appears.
Some plant communities at Altona-Piedmont Marsh are:
Reed Canary grass Watercress - water speedwell
Calamus (Sweet flag) Broad-leaved cattail – water horsetail
Carex stricta Juncus balticus – marsh fern
Broad-leaved cattail Tall goldenrod – purple stem aster
Scirpus acutus Glaucous willow – silky cornel
Green ash – sycamore
More common plants of Altona-Piedmont Marsh are:
Carex granularis common rush
Carex lurida American three square
Carex scoparia great bulrush
Eleocharis smallii Scirpus lineatus
Eleocharis tenuis Sphenopolis obtusata
Redtop Glyceria canadensis
Bluejoint grass reed canary grass
Bottlebrush grass
Marsh fern Ranunculus sceleratus
Broad-leaved cattail watercress
Narrow-leaved cattail dame’s rocket
Calamus (sweet flag) tall meadowrue
Callitriche heterophylla Jack-in-the-pulpit
American burreed spotted touch-me-not
Common mud plantain turtlehead
Elodea canadensis common dodder
False nettle water speedwell
Cowbane common monkey-flower
Mentha arvensis blue vervain
Pycnanthemum virginianum purple gerardia
Yellow sneezeweed grass-leaved goldenrod
New England Aster purple sneezeweed
New York ironweed purple-stem aster
Desmodium canadense cut-leaved teasel
Buttonbush sycamore
Black haw black willow
Silky cornel white ash
Green ash
Carex buxbaumii Carex comosa
Carex conoidea Carex lacustris
Carex lanuginosa Carex lasiocarpa
Carex leptalea Carex prairea
Carex utriculata (rostrata) Carex stricta
Carex suberecta Carex tetanica
Eleocharis intermedia Eleocharis rostellata
Scirpus acutus Juncus balticus
Hierchloe odorata
Rare spring and early summer plants
Water horsetail marsh marigold
Lemna minor
Polygonum amphibium floating water-pennywort
Grass-of-Parnassus water-parsnip
Narrow-leaved willow-herb four-flowered loosestrife
Swamp lousewort water loosestrife
Wing-angled loosestrife hooded skullcap
Stachys tenuifolia var. hispida marsh bellflower
Mottled Joe-Pye weed
Glaucous willow
Many botanists feel the first killing frost is the last of botanical exploration for the year.
On November the 18th, Emily and I picked up county records of European black alder and Creeping wintergreen for Preston County. On Sunday, November 23rd, I went in search of Dryopteris X neowherryi that I had found many years ago in Monongalia County. It was still there and several green fronds were suitable for a herbarium collection. Numerous evergreen plants can still be identified and collected, pressed and put in various herbaria. Below are a few plants and the WV counties where Donna Ford-Werntz still needs a specimen to fill in blanks in the “soon to be printed” Atlas.
Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) collect over-wintering basal leaves
Wirt, Gilmer, Calhoun, Roane, Jackson, Putnam, Lincoln, Wayne, Logan, Boone
McDowell Monroe, Upshur, Taylor
Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) collect twig and buds
Tucker, Webster, Monroe
Ebony Spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron)
Clay
Cutleaf grapefern (Botrychium dissectum)
Berkeley, Morgan, Grant, Tucker, Tyler, Doddridge, Lewis, Clay, Boone, Logan,
Raleigh
Redbud (Cercis canadensis) collect twig and fruit
Pocahontas, Hancock
Spotted wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata)
Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, Tyler, Pleasants, Clay, Mason, Mingo, Logan
Boone,
Hazelnut (Corylus americana) collect twig and fruits
Wood, Jefferson, Morgan, Tucker, Putnam, Kanawha, Boone, Logan
Intermediate Wood Fern (Dryopteris intermedia)
Marshall, Morgan, Berkeley, Jefferson, Tyler, Lewis, Roane, Mason, Putnam, Cabell
Lincoln, Boone, Logan, Mingo
Marginal Shield Fern (Dryopoteris marginalis)
Berkeley, Brooke, Clay, Jackson, Kanawha, Lewis, Logan, Mason, Mingo, Wood
Teaberry (Gaultheria procumbens)Clay, Jefferson, Lewis, Lincoln, Marshall, Ohio,
Pleasants, Putnam, Roane
Ground-Ivy – (Glechoma hederacea) Mingo, Wyoming
Cudweed (Gnaphalium obtusifolium) Doddridge, Gilmer, Jefferson, Marshall, Ohio,
Pleasants, Taylor, Tyler, Wood
Downy Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera pubescens) Jefferson
Witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) Boone, Jefferson, Lincoln, Logan, Mason, Putnam,
Roane
Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) Barbour, Brooke, Calhoun, Clay, Jefferson,
Lewis, Lincoln, Logan, Marion, Marshall, Mingo, Monroe, Nicholas, Ohio, Taylor,
Tyler, Webster, Wetzel
Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) Boone, Brooke, Gilmer, Jackson, Jefferson, Lewis,
Lincoln, Mason, Ohio, Pleasants, Putnam, Wood
Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) Gilmer, Hardy, Jefferson, Lincoln, Mason,
Morgan, Pleasants, Roane
Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) Barbour, Doddridge,Pendleton, Preston,
Randolph, Tucker
Partridge-berry (Mitchella repens) Berkeley, Doddridge, Gilmer, Jefferson, Lewis,
Lincoln, Logan, Marion, Marshall, Mason, Monroe, Ohio, Pleasants, Putnam, Tyler,
Wood
Virginia Pine (Pinus virginiana) Boone, Brooke, Hancock, Jefferson, Lincoln, Logan,
Marshall, Mason, Ohio, Wetzel
Common Polypody (Polypodium virginianum) Berkeley, Brooke, Clay, Doddridge,
Kanawha, Lewis, Mason, Mingo, Monroe, Putnam, Roane, Wood
Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) Berkeley
Great Laurel (Rhododendron maximum) Berkeley, Boone, Brooke, Cabell, Doddridge,
Gilmer, Jackson, Jefferson, Lewis, Logan, Lincoln, Marion, Marshall, Mason, Mingo,
Pleasants, Putnam, Ritchie, Roane, Tyler, Wetzel, Wirt, Wood
Hispid greenbrier (Smilax tamnoides) Boone, Clay, Doddridge, Jefferson, Lewis,
Lincoln, Logan, McDowell, Marshall, Mingo, Morgan, Nicholas, Pendleton, Pleasants,
Putnam, Tyler, Wyoming
Periwinkle (Vinca minor) Boone, Hardy, Lewis, Lincoln, Logan, McDowell, Marshall,
Mason, Monroe, Pendleton, Pleasants, Putnam, Raleigh, Wayne, Wirt
Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) Cabell, Hancock, Harrison, Jefferson, Lewis, Lincoln,
Logan, Mason, Mineral, Mingo, Morgan, Ohio, Pendleton, Putnam, Roane, Wayne,
Wood
Believe it or not: No one has collected a specimen of mistletoe in the past 30 years in WV. Tis’ the season!!!!!!
Note: If we collect these plants in the above counties, these plants will be proven to grow in all 55 counties of West Virginia!!!! Can we do it??????
On July 26, 2003, six members visited the Yatesville Wildlife Management Area in Kentucky. Those in attendance were Romie hughart, Dick Thompson, Dan Stevenson, Judy Dumke, Helen and Neil Gibbins, and Don Tillack (new chapter member).
Wildflowers observed:
Drummond St. John’s-wort Wing stem
Pinesap Hairy Ruellia (Ruellia caroliniensis)
Common St. John’s-wort Sensitive brier (Mimosa quadrivalvis)
Small-flowered St. John’s-wort Purple sneezeweed
St. Andrew’s Cross Milkwort (Polygala incarnata)
Round-leaved Boneset Green wood orchid (Habenaria clavellata)
Wild sensitive plant Downy rattlesnake plantain
Rose pink
It was a good day weatherwise and also wildflower wise!!! By: Romie Hughart
On August 16, 2003, had what was probably, the best outing of the year. There were lots of plants and good weather as the group found 36 species in bloom at Mill Creek Wetland Mitigation Area near Fort Gay, in Wayne County, WV. Members on the trip were Romie Hughart, Dick Thompson, Michael Marks, Dan Stevenson, Pat and Mary Anderson, and Rose Ritter.
Wildflowers observed:
Asiatic dayflower Virgin’s bower
Leatherflower Wing stem
Common burdock Spotted touch-me-not
Tall ironweed Pale touch-me-mot
Elephant’s foot Bushy Aster
White Avens White wood Aster
Late goldenrod Cardinal flower
Woodland sunflower White snakeroot
Common Joe Pye weed Indian tobacco
Mistflower Dittany
Round-leaved Boneset Larger Buttonweed
Hedge bindweed Pale Indian plantain
American germander Pimpernel
Downy rattlesnake plantain Nodding Ladies’ tresses
Seedbox Ragged fringed orchid
Hairy Ruellia Wild sensitive plant
Tall agrimony Rose pink
Common Evening-primrose
By: Romie Hughart
East Lynn Study Update
During our bi-weekly taxonomic study at East Lynn this year, Dick Thompson and I recorded 123 species in bloom.
We found a couple of species this year that we had not encountered previously. Of course, the big find this year was Butterweed (Senecio glabellus). This was a new West Virginia record. We found 2 plants of ragged fringed orchid (Habenaria lacera). One produced a flower bud but it was killed before it bloomed. We found a whorled pogonia (Isotria verticillata) while searching for spreading pogonia (Cleistes divaricata) on a blueberry knoll overlooking the lake. We found a nice stand of Goat’s rue (Tephrosia virginiana). Another flower we found, which I’ve not observed in the northern part of West Virginia was striped gentian (Gentiana villosa) that has such a unique leaf structure. We found 7 or 8 green wood orchids (Habenaria clavellata) in a small group. Another find was 13 late coral root (Corallorhiza odontorhiza) in the same area as the green wood orchids.
Note on Butterweed: A plant was found that could not be identified at East Lynn WMA. Later, I found a picture of the flower in the book “Wildflowers of Mammoth Cave National Park”. A pressed leaf, flower, and photo was submitted to Donna Ford-Werntz for the WVU Herbarium. It was confirmed to be Butterweed (Senecio glabellus), known as a noxoious weed in 35 states. USDA- NRCS considers the plant to be a wetland indicator usually found in moist, open or shady places. We found it on a bare road passing through a deciduous forest close to the top of a gently sloped hill. It has been found in Kentucky, Ohio, and Maryland.
It was an interesting year at East Lynn Lake. A disappointment was not finding pink lady slipper. We survey a couple of habitats suitable for pink lady slippers every 2 weeks, but did not have success. We have also looked for Cardinal-flower without success. There is always next year!!!
PO Box 635
Lavalette, WV 25535
This conference dealing with native plants and the geology of the Blue Ridge Province held on October 3-5, 2003 in Shepherdstown, WV was attended by more than 100 participants. There was a great deal of excellent information exchanged during the sessions and during breaks and evenings. The conference was sponsored by the West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland Native Plant Societies and the National Park Service.
Lynn Wagner, President of WVNPS was a member of the Executive Committee that deserves a lot of credit for the success of the conference.
There were numerous field trips that were well attended despite rainy weather on Saturday. Larry Stritch, President of the Eastern Panhandle Chapter led a field trips on the National Conservation Training Center property and to Shannondale WMA, as well as, teaching a popular fern workshop. Bill Grafton, WVNPS newsletter editor, was one of the guest speakers talking on, “The Changing Dynamics of Appalachian Forests”.
Grafton’s talk emphasized the changes caused by Native Americans, early European colonists, the farmers, miners, and timber industrialist of the 1800s through today.
Emphasis was also on high deer population impacts and the massive influx of exotic pests being introduced by international trade.
Gary Fleming, Vegetation Ecologist in Virginia, talked about the several dozen plant communities known to occur in the Northern Virginia Blue Ridge. He emphasized that trees are dominant and are used to name most of the plant communities. Examples were: Mountain Oak, oak-hickory, eastern hemlock, cove, basic and acidic mesic forests, shale barrens. Most of these communities can be identified by 3-5 indicator wildflowers, ferns, grasses or shrubs. Gary had really nice photos of the communities and indicator species.
Cris Fleming, Regional Ecologist for Maryland, presented a slide program on rare plants of the Harpers Ferry area. It was excellent!!
Some of the rare plants listed by Cris Fleming for the Harpers Ferry area are:
Virginia Nailwort Woolly lipfern Torrey’s mountain-mint
Awned Cyperus Swamp loosestrife Halberd-leaved mallow
Arrow arum Shumard oak Starry false Solomon’s seal
Rock skullcap Blue false indigo Short’s rockcress
Lobed spleenwort Crested iris Spring forget-me-not
Ellisia Spring avens Downy alumroot
Short’s aster White trout lily Sweet-scented Indian-plantain
Winged loosestrife Carey’s sedge Silky dogwood
Harginger-of-spring Large-fruited sanicle
Some of the plants Larry Stritch showed his group at Shannondale are listed below:
Gaura Great Blue Lobelia Late-flowering thoroughwort
Paper mulberry bladdernut Cutleaf grapefern
Ninebark Brachyelytrum grass Elm-leaved goldenrod
Bulblet fern Maidenhair fern Spinulose wood fern
Dittany Wild liveforever Chinquapin Oak
Lopseed Southern lady fern Bluestem or wreath goldenrod
Canada moonseed Small white aster Spotted wintergreen
Partial lists of plants identified are listed below. For a complete listing of plants identified on the field trip, go to: http://www.wvnps.org/fieldnotes2.html
Valley Bend Wetland
Purple-stem aster Grass-leaved goldenrod Cardinal flower
Whorled milkwort Three square Bladderwort
Cow lily Panicled aster Interrupted fern
Coontail Large burreed small white aster
Fall phlox crooked stem aster white campion
Meadowsweet Great Solomon’s seal Three-lobed coneflower
Bladder campion rose-of –Sharon Feather geranium
Field chickweed Smooth hawksbeard Spotted spurge
Peppermint Reed Canary grass Rice cutgrass
Calico aster Cutleaf coneflower Bottle gentian (Gentiana andrewsii)
Thimbleweed Bigleaf aster New York ironweed
From Pam Mick
· Interrupted fern (Osmunda claytoniana), Spider Ridge, Wood County, May 2003
· Large twayblade (Liparis lilifolia) , Spider Ridge, Wood County, May 2003
From Kevin Campbell
· Swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor), New Martinsville, Wetzel County, 1/18/02
· Yellow Bartonia (Bartonia virginica), Dolly Sods, Tucker County, 8/5/02
· Buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata) Grants Branch, Randolph County, 6/24/03
· Bristly Black currant (Ribes lacustre) near entrance to Schoolhouse Cave, Osceola, Randolph County, 6/26/03
· Lesser Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera repens) near Cranberry Glades, Pocahontas County, 6/28/03
· Ostrich fern (Matteuccia pensylvanica), 3 miles north of St. Marys, 7/23/03
From Cindy Slater
· Kidney-leaved Twayblade (Listera smallii), near Cranberry Glades, Pocahontas County, 6/28/03
From Chris Gatens
· Fly honeysuckle (Lonicera canadensis),Canada yew (Taxus canadensis), and Bartram’s serviceberry (Amelanchier bartramiana), Sinks of Gandy exit, Randolph County, 6/26/03
Field note from Dot Montgillion
Bee keepers are growing a new shrub that is excellent for honey production. She acquired some seed and found them easy to grow. It is call B B plant. She gave me (Bill Grafton) a small potted specimen to try to identify. Later she called and had learned the plant is in the genus Euodia (sometimes spelled Evodia). We now know the plant is Euodia daniellii. The plants were introduced into the US in the early 1900s as ornamentals with sweetly scented flowers, yellow autumn foliage, and red fruits.
We also know Euodia is an invasive exotic. Hopefully, this note will alert beekeepers to not plant Euodia.
Note: The Missouri NPS publication dated 2002 – Volume 23 and titled “Missouriensis” contained a 4-page article and photo of Evodia daniellii that was a new state record that is naturalizing in Missouri.
From Bill Grafton
Never a dull moment, when you go looking for orchids with the Orcdnuts (Scott Shriver and Clete Smith and are joined by Bernard Cyrus. The first day was spent in Kumbrabow State Forest on October 18th. We had some success as Autumn coral root, round-leaved orchid, and nodding ladies’ tresses were found in fair numbers. We spent the night in the home of Jim & Beth Bullard for the night. They were out of town, or we would have had a nice visit with two very exceptional botanists and birders. Thanks, Jim and Beth. On October 19th, we headed up to Cheat Mountain where the highlight was seeing no deer all day, and finding 3 excellent patches of Ladies’tresses along FS Road 92. One patch seemed to be pure Spiranthes cernua, the next was pure Spiranthes ochroleuca., and the third was a mixture of hybrids of the two species.
Try this one: www.natureserve.org
Several of our members were involved with inventory and fence building to try to restore Blister Swamp to its former unique natural qualities. John Dalen, owner of Blister Swamp, had the vision in the late 1990s of “sitting on the front porch in the morning and see the sun rising through the balsam fir”. He contacted The Mountain Institute and The Nature Conservancy for advice and technical help to realize his dream.
The swamp had been radically changed by logging, farming/grazing, the introduced balsam woolly adelgid, and invasive exotic plants. An inventory located 16 rare plants (two are globally rare) including the balsam fir that was almost eradicated by deer, cattle and heavy growth of grass and weeds.
After a thorough inventory, a decision was made to build a fence to keep cattle out and decrease the number of deer. Funding came from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, labor and machinery from the US Fish & Wildlife Service and many volunteers. Others involved were EPA, Highlands Conservancy, WV-DNR, Itasca Corp., US-NRCS and US Forest Service.
Over 7000 feet of fencing was installed around 40 acres. Twenty acres were fenced to 8-feet height and electrified to keep deer out. Thousand of balsam fir seedlings were planted from seed collected previously at Blister Swamp.
Blister Swamp now had a 25 % increase in rare plants after the first year of protection. All individuals and groups should congratulate themselves and also dream of the sun rising through the balsam firs in Blister Swamp once more.
Note: This article is a summary of a case study by Alton Byers of The Mountain Institute.
By: Bill Grafton
The forests of the mid-Atlantic region of the Appalachian Mountains have always been is some state of successional change. Over the millions of geological years, there is evidence that some plants disappeared and others were introduced into the region by wind, water, birds, and animals. Native American Indians also changed the forest through the use of fire to clear the underbrush for hunting and safety in traveling. They also burned to clear areas for villages and fields to grow crops.
Colonial Europeans changed the landscape on a much larger scale. They first cleared valleys and ridgetops where soils were highly productive. The eastern side of the Appalachians saw these changes from the late 1700s through the mid-1800s. West of the Appalachians, settlements and land clearing roughly corresponds to the 1850-1900 period. This change in the forests was greatly accelerated by the completion of the railroads into the Ohio River Valley. Forests were cut on any land that would grow crops of wheat, oats, corn or hay for a few years. As more people moved west, the farms slowly moved up the slopes where erosion became a major problem. Many farms were little more than slash-and-burn operations that permitted crops or grazing for a few years until the soil eroded away or became too poor to grow a crop. Most of these so called “new ground” farms were soon overtaken by pioneer species, such as, Virginia pine, white pine, yellow-poplar, red maple, aspens, black locust, elms, and “red brush” (sumacs, dogwood, and sourwood) once they were abandoned.
Timbering soon cleared any remaining trees that could be sawed into lumber east and west of the higher mountains. Timbering on a national scale had first begun along the New England coastal areas, then moved inland and into Pennsylvania and New York, until most of these areas were cleared by the 1850s. Timbering then began to concentrate on the Lake States until this large area was mostly cutover by the late 1800s. The tree of choice during this 100-year period was white pine.
Timber barons now turned their attention to the Southern forests and the Appalachians. The invention of the Shay engine made it possible for small steam locomotives to travel up steep valleys and haul logs to sawmills located in the valleys. By the 1920s, almost all virgin timber in the mid-Atlantic had been cut and sawed into lumber.
In the late 1800s, Americans began major foreign trade with other countries. The Roaring 90s brought many foreign goods to our shores. Horticulture and floriculture brought numerous landscape ornamental grasses, flowers, shrubs and trees. These were added to the plants that immigrants had brought with them for food, medicine and “reminders of home”. Rhamnus cathartica was brought in as a medicinal. Paulownia (princess tree) and tree-of-heaven seeds came as packing to keep valuable goods from cracking. Perhaps the most devastating introduction was the chestnut blight fungus that came in on the Chinese chestnut, but completely killed the native American chestnut, as a tree. Other goods were shipped in wooden crates, often with bark on the boards that contained boring beetles, worms, and eggs. World trade was the rage then, and once again is in high gear in this present day and age. There will be more on this later.
Timbering in the late 1800s and early 1900s, so completely devastated the landscape that
many areas were labeled the “land that nobody wanted”. These “moonscapes of burned stumps and logs were deemed to have no value and many landowners refused to pay taxes so the governments took them over or paid very low prices to buy the land and attempt restoration that would reduce flooding in big cities downstream on the Potomac, Allegheny, Monongahela, Ohio, Susquehanna, and Kanawha Rivers. Restoration that involved planting trees often involved exotic and non-native trees such as Norway spruce, European and Japanese larches, and Scotch pine. All of these species have naturalized from seeds and have changed the dynamics of our Appalachian forests.
Another big change in the Appalachian forests was caused by free-ranging cattle, horses, sheep and hogs from pioneer days until the automobile became common. Domesticated stock was “fenced out” of gardens and cultivated crops during the 1800s. They freely ranged through nearby forests grazing, browsing, and eating fruits and seeds (especially acorns). This philosophy changed as conflicts with automobiles increased in the 1930s and 1940s. Domesticated livestock now had to be “fenced in” to keep them from being hit by the increasing vehicles that were traveling at faster speeds. Domesticated stock had major impacts on the forests. They over-ate preferred foods and under-ate foods (plants and seeds) that they did not like. This benign action slowly changed the composition of the forests. White-tailed deer that are over-abundant in most of the mid-Atlantic forests today are also slowly changing the forest composition. This change includes all plants and animals.
As previously mentioned, world trade is once again rampant in the United States. We can literally buy the best of any goods that are produced anywhere in the world. Despite the early warnings in the late 1800s when world trade brought us chestnut blight, Dutch elm disease, gypsy moth, and invasive exotics such as Paulownia, tree-of-heaven, and kudzu, we have not instigated proper and strict measures to protect biological integrity and diversity of the Appalachian forests, waters, and human developed areas.
Our landscape and ecosystem is being overrun by invasives (native and nonnative) that cause our control and eradication efforts to be woefully feeble. The forests are infected with balsam woolly adelgid, hemlock woolly adelgid, beech bark disease, tree-of-heaven, multiflora rose, shrubby honeysuckles, mile-a-minute, and Japanese stilt grass to name a few of the worst invaders. We do not have answers on a landscape scale. We even struggle to manage forests that have the highest productivity rates for timber. We hope we can preserve our endangered species of forest plants and our rarest habitats.
On the horizon, and already on the North American continent, are the threats of Asian longhorn beetle, emerald ash borer, sudden-oak-death disease, and chronic wasting disease. These agents could kill plant and animal species just as surely as did the chestnut blight.
Free trade could bankrupt the biological world.
A forest is composed of the trees that dominate but also includes all living plants and animals. Tree-of-heaven threatens to out compete all native trees. Shrubs such as, honeysuckles (Morrow’s, Tartarian, Amur, and their hybrids), autumn olive, multiflora rose, Japanese barberry, as well as, vines of Japanese honeysuckle, oriental bittersweet, and mile-a-minute threaten animal life, tree regeneration, and all herbaceous plants.
Garlic mustard, Japanese stilt grass, Japanese knotweed, sachaline, and numerous other invasive exotics threaten endangered species, wildflowers, forbs, ferns and birds, mammals and other animals.
Even the plants that are traditionally used for reclamation of timber roads and clearings are a threat. Invasive plants such as Kentucky 31 fescue (tall fescue), sericea lespedeza, and crown vetch are known problems but continue to be used because they are cheap and very efficient at controlling erosion.
Within a forest, but very much a definite component of the forest, are many niches and habitats. Wetlands can be bogs, swamps, seeps, ponds, lakes, oxbows, and beaver dams. These special habitats are under threat from invasives such as, purple loosestrife, glossy buckthorn, reed Canary grass, phragmites (common reed) and other plants. Dry openings and open-forested habitats can include shale barrens, limestone barrens, and rock outcrops that are threatened by spotted knapweed, birdsfoot trefoil, crown vetch, tall yellow and white clovers, and teasels. Other niches and unique natural habitats in a forest includes riverbanks, waterfalls, cliffs, water gaps, mountaintops, prairies, semi-prairies to name a few. These niches and special habitats are very vulnerable to invasive plants. The plants that grow on such sites have adapted to the extreme and sometimes harsh conditions where competition is frequently light.
I have seen shale barrens that are completely overrun with Japanese honeysuckle, common ragweed, and great mullein. I recall several springs and seeps that are covered up with multiflora rose. Spotted knapweed follows limestone based walking trails through normally acidic sandstone mountaintops plant communities. Musk thistle and orange hawkweed are spreading throughout our grass balds. Many of our unique riverbank habitats are completely dominated by “nonnative weed” communities.
It almost seems hopeless, but farmers, foresters, wildlife biologists, and outdoor recreation managers are realizing the economic costs of doing nothing. They have much more political clout than native plant societies. We have lots of information, so I suggest we start working jointly on control and eradication projects.
Invasive plants and white-tailed deer are probably having the biggest impacts on the Appalachian forests. Timbering is also having major impacts. Many forests are managed to purposely change the composition of the trees. Historically, virgin forests were first managed to selectively remove the more valuable trees. In some parts of the mid-Atlantic where logs were transported by floating, black walnut was left behind because it was too heavy to float. As markets became available for pulpwood to make paper, forests were clearcut. Most of the second-growth forests have been managed under a diameter limit where larger diameters of the more valuable trees were removed to be sawed into lumber. Red oak, white oak, sugar maple, yellow-poplar, and black cherry were cut while hickories, beech, black gum and red maple was frequently left in the forest. The forests were changed immediately by the harvesting and long-term by the seeds of trees left behind.
In colonial times the American chestnut was estimated to comprise 20-25 percent of the trees. Oaks replaced the chestnut that was killed by the chestnut blight. In 2000, red maple and yellow-poplar are the most dominant trees in the Appalachian forest. Red maple dominates because fires are no longer shaping the forest composition. Yellow-poplar is so common because it out competes other trees when old field are abandoned or in clearcut areas of moist forests. As we move into third-growth forests the trend is back to clearcutting. It is now profitable to saw boards with defects such as bark, knots and rotten spots. These defects are then sawed out and the solid pieces are glued back together into a board with no defects. Trees with numerous defects and with crooked or hollow stems are simply chipped and the chips are glued into 4 X 8-feet sheets of chipboard or oriented strand board. Clearcutting in hardwoods usually results in tree composition that is very similar to the forest that was just cut, because stump sprouts will dominate the reproduction. Some seeds will also land in suitable spots to successfully grow into a tree. Herbs, shrubs, salamanders, and other organisms that have adapted to shade habitats will usually loose out and drop in populations. They often return to their former population levels if other factors stay the same and the shade returns. Selection harvesting will result in trees, shrubs and herbs that have adapted to tolerate shade.
The Appalachian forests were and are shaped be the methods used to remove trees and logs. Many of the original logs were removed by horses and oxen. Bulldozers were common in cutting the second-growth forests. Now loggers use large rubber-tired skidders and other equipment that can disturb up to 20 percent of the land surface.
This creates ideal conditions for invasive native and nonnative plants to become established but also drives the use of invasives to reclaim disturbed areas before erosion fills streams with sediment.
However, each time humans enter the forest for timbering, mineral extraction, hunting, herb gathering, or home building, the forest is less pure and stable than before.
Thus, we add fragmentation, wildfires, air pollution, quarries, roads and trails as factors that further bankrupt biological diversity.
Natural disturbances have always been and continue to cause dynamic changes in the Appalachian forests. Fires set by native American Indians to clear areas, remove underbrush, and create circular fires to concentrate animals during hunts, changed the dynamics prior to the 1700s. Blowdowns from windstorms were and still are common. Ice and snow damage continues to create forest openings and increase light reaching the forest floor. Native insects of pine bark beetles and loopers still cause massive defoliations. Diseases such as stem cankers, anthracnose, wilts, etc. usually attack a single species or genus and change the forest composition dramatically.
In summary, it is probably true that the Appalachian forests are more diverse than ever because of the introduction of exotics and the migrating characteristics of our native plants. This increased diversity is a situation we will almost certainly regret. Exotic plants already make up 1/4 to 1/3 of our total flora. I will argue that our forest are less stable and less valuable commercially because managers do not manage holistically.
The Kanawha Valley NPS Chapter voted to donate $100 to the WVU Herbarium, $100 to the Marshall University Herbarium, and $100 to the Kanawha State Forest Foundation.
Officers elected for 2004 are:
Steve Mace – President Lois Kuhl – Secretary Carolyn Welcker – Treasurer
Did you know: Canada goldenrod is considered to be the worst invasive exotic plant in China.
That: Grecian foxglove (Digitalis lanata) is known to be escaping on road banks in White Sulphur Springs, WV and is also a major invasive of prairies in Kansas.
Send these for the next Native Notes newsletter:
Bill Grafton: Native Notes Editor
West Virginia University
PO Box 6125
Morgantown, WV 26506-6125
Email : wgrafton@wvu.edu
Emily Grafton : Associate Editor
Daniel Grafton : Associate Editor/Computer Consultant
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