The Appalachian Voice
Fishers: With Help From Man, These Predators Repatriate Tennessee
images/voice_uploads/fisherface.gif Fisher: Size 30×12 in., tail 12-18 in. long, the largest of the martens; has a dark shaded deep underwool with fine, glossy, dark and strong top hair 2 in. or more long. . . . The tails are almost black and make up most handsomely into trimmings, muffs, etc. Tails worked separately in these…
Read MoreUncrowded Fishing Fit for a Duke
Any trout fisherman who’s spent time on the water in the Southern Appalachians knows that our sport is skyrocketing in popularity. Ironically, the very qualities that draw anglers to mountain streams in record numbers — natural beauty, healthy fish populations, and the opportunity for solitude — are becoming harder to come by with every new…
Read MoreWVa. National Wildlife Refuge Losing Its Core Habitat
There just aren’t as many islands on the Ohio River as there used to be, U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials say. That’s one of the reasons the USFWS founded the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge in 1990, to preserve floodplain habitat for many species of animals and plants, several species of which are endangered…
Read MoreUplift, Erosion, Uplift, Erosion: A Compressed History Of Appalachia
images/voice_uploads/smallshendoah.gif Most Appalachian residents will tell you their mountains are unique, but most probably don’t understand just how special they really are. It isn’t the highest mountain range in the world, by any means, but it once was. What is most remarkable about the chain is its incredible age, about 300 million years. It’s possibly…
Read MoreClimate Change Will Put Heat On Mountain Habitats
Two new scientific reports on global climate change paint a disturbing picture of the future for aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in the Southern Appalachians. The reports — “Aquatic Ecosystems and Global Climate Change” from the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, and “Habitats At Risk: Global Warming and Species Loss in Terrestrial Ecosystems” from the…
Read MoreMaple Sugar Production Here Rivaled New England’s
Sugar Mountain. Sugar Grove. Sugar Hollow. Sugar Knob. The word “sugar” appears on maps of almost every region within the southern mountains. A bit of our pioneer past is evoked every time these place-names are spoken, and the names themselves reveal the natural history of those particular locations. “Sugar” refers to the sweetener made from…
Read MoreBig Timber Influenced USDA Southern Forest Study
As the official public comment period closed last week for the Southern Forest Resource Assessment, new information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act documents that timber industry representatives had inside influence as official peer reviewers of the study prior to its public release. Several of these timber giants harvest trees in Virginia, including Westvaco,…
Read MoreAcid Rain, Other Stressors, Wreaking Havoc In Mtns
Travel to the upper elevations of the Appalachian Mountains, and you’ll find forests that have suffered serious damage. Fraser firs and spruce stand like skeletons against the skyline. Northern hardwoods — beech, maple, birch — look as if winter has descended, even in the spring. What has caused this widespread devastation? Some blame insects like…
Read MoreCelt Explorers in West Virginia’s Coalfields?
Just south of Oceana, in Wyoming County, West Virginia, there is a little white historical marker that makes a bold claim: Celtic explorers had journeyed west from Ireland and were here, nearly a thousand years before Columbus, Cabot and DeSoto. You expect these little signs to have some cute anecdote about the first settler in…
Read MoreMagnolias and Firs: The John Fraser Connection
Range maps of firs and magnolias generally show the trees to be located hundreds of miles apart. The flowering magnolia is popularly associated with the balmy South; the fir- a conifer- with the frigid North. Yet, as is true of so many other plants, the unique geography of the Southern Appalachians has brought two species…
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