The Appalachian Voice
New Survey: Northern Hardwoods Dying in WV, PA
images/voice_uploads/nitroplant.gif The northern hardwood forests of the Allegheny and Monongahela National Forests and surrounding private lands are dying in record numbers, according to a recent air survey of the region. The survey, conducted by two environmental groups, show that tens of thousands of acres of sugar maples, yellow birch, beech, black cherry, red oaks and…
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…
Read MoreVA’s Old Growth Falls Under Forest Service Axe
While many National Forests in the Southeast are enjoying some reprieve from logging after successful forest-protection lawsuits, Virginia’s George Washington and Jefferson continue to be pummeled with increasing numbers of timber sale proposals. Old Dominion conservationists are particularly concerned at a growing trend among Forest Service timber sales targeting older-aged trees. They say many of…
Read MoreBark Camp Timber Sale Put On Hold
After four years of struggle, the Clinch Coalition has won a major victory by forcing the U.S. Forest Service to put a hold on a large timber sale in southwest Virginia. With intervention from Congressman Rick Boucher, the Bark Camp Timber Sale will not go forward until a study of the effects of additional logging…
Read MoreHomeschooling: An Outdoor Learning Experience For Families
What does it mean for a young person to study “science”? It can involve textbooks, tests and exams, a microscope here and there, and more textbooks. The typical public education of biology, ecology, botany, silviculture and chemistry — if public education includes these subjects at all — often lacks the hands-on integrative teaching methods on…
Read MoreFestival Celebrates Bounty Of Appalachian Forests
Just as families are an integral part of our society, so are forests an especially important and central part of our environment. How fitting, then, to combine the two in a festive outdoor event celebrating the interaction of people and nature? Appalachian Voices did just that, teaming up with other non-profit and local governmental agencies,…
Read MoreDebunking The Myths Surrounding U.S. Wilderness
images/voice_uploads/ashbypam.gif Ever since the Wilderness Act was signed into law in 1964, it has been subject to misconceptions and innuendo heaped upon it by those who disagree with its purpose of permanently protecting areas of public land in a wild, untrammeled state. Many of these “wilderness myths” persist today, and not surprisingly, those perpetuating these…
Read MoreVirginia Group Tries To Keep Wood, Jobs At Home
A major asset of southwest Virginia and northeast Tennessee is the region’s forest land. Most of the timber harvested in these forests, however, is shipped out of Appalachia as unprocessed logs, taking potential jobs with them. The folks at Appalachian Sustainable Development (ASD) know that, rather than cutting local timber and sending the logs elsewhere…
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