![8577260771_11c82625fb_o.jpg 8577260771_11c82625fb_o.jpg](https://blueridgecountry.com/downloads/6977/download/8577260771_11c82625fb_o.jpg?cb=475258ce725c77d6b3822c2f3281768e&w={width}&h={height})
Gerri Wilson/USFWS Volunteer
The Canaan Valley of West Virginia is home to some 580 plant species.
Forests in the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge targeted for large-scale logging will be spared after conservation groups and citizens vigorously opposed plans to fell trees across one-fifth of the 16,653-acre refuge to increase habitat for certain wildlife species. The logging would have occurred every 40 years. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the land, will instead cut a limited number of trees to establish experimental habitat plots of young forests for species such as American woodcock. Conservationists were concerned the logging would harm a variety of other species who prefer intact forest ecosystems. The refuge’s forests, wetlands and high-elevation grasslands harbor some 580 plant species and 288 animal species.
More info: friendsofblackwater.org
Want More?
The article above appears in our May/June 2019 issue. For more like it, subscribe today or log in to the digital edition with your active digital subscription. Thank you!