Barton’s Bench Ecological Restoration Project Update
Barton’s Bench is an old strip mine site reclaimed in the 1970s and later acquired by the Forest Service. It is up on Cheat Mountain in the Shaver’s Fork drainage. The Highlands Conservancy has been very engaged in this project from conception to implementation. This report details all the work that was completed in fiscal year 2011. In a nutshell, we planted over 20,000 seedlings, built 135 wetlands, treated 15 acres of spotted knapweed, entered into an agreement with Canaan Valley Institute to decommission approximately 8,000 feet of old roads, restore approximately 600 feet of unstable stream, and restore or create an additional 2-3 wetlands within floodplain of the stream (next summer), and we used the DEP’s funding to leverage over a $100,000 of matching contributions.