Spruce plantings and invasive species removal help revitalize iconic landscapes in West Virginia.
“If you drink water from the Potomac, or visit Dolly Sods to go hikng, then West Virginia is your backyard.” – Thomas Minney, executive director, The nature Conservancy in West Virginia
Home to 240 rare plant and animal species, red spruce forests once covered the rocky peks of West Virginia’s high country but were decimated by logging in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
“Today, only about 55,000 of the original 1.3 million acres of spruce remain, ” says Mike Powell, land conservation practitioner for the Conservacy in West Virginia.
Returning this forest type to its rightful place in the landscape is just one way the Conservancy is working to restore vitality to lands and waters in West Virginia and beyond.