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S P RIN G / SU M M ER 2 012 NE W S L ETTER
Where There’s Smoke, There’s…Conservation
Recent Smoke Hole Canyon protection work is latest chapter in ongoing effort
By R a ndy Edwa r ds
A
t the Big Bend Campground in the Monongahela National Forest, sunburned anglers and
car-camping families rest in the relative coolness of Smoke Hole Canyon and enjoy the
spectacular scenery surrounding them along the South Branch of the Potomac River.
Few of the campers probably realize that the vertical cliffs of the canyon rim supply more than just
beautiful scenery. They also support some of the rarest plant communities in West Virginia, such as
limestone glades and dry limestone white cedar woodlands found only in the Central Appalachian
Mountains.
Ashton Berdine, The Nature Conservancy’s private lands manager, says that one such cliff near the
summit of High Knob harbors at least seven rare plant species and affords one of the best views he’s
seen of Smoke Hole Canyon. That could mean only one thing: “Sooner or later, someone would have
See where there’s smoke, Page 3
IN THIS ISSUE
2 Director’s Message
4 Beyond Borders
5 Book Review
6 Conservation
Snapshots
Di r ector’s M essag e
Partners in Protection
O
Above: West Virginia State Director Rodney
Bartgis © Kent Mason
West Virginia
Board of Trustees
Robert M. Steptoe Jr., Chair, Clarksburg
Pamela Byrne, Vice Chair, Elkins
n the following pages of this
newsletter, you’ll learn about our
role in protecting more than 200 acres
of rich, rugged landscape on Cave
Mountain, overlooking Smoke Hole
Canyon. As part of the conservation
agreement, the State of West Virginia’s
Outdoor Heritage Conservation Fund
will manage the property’s conservation
easement—a voluntary agreement that
allows the landowners to permanently
limit the type and amount of development on their property while retaining
private ownership.
Flip through this issue to learn more
about how an author is helping to bring
attention to the importance of the
Central Appalachians (Page 5); how a
donor turned her love of the Bahamas
into a $500,000 gift for conservation
in the Caribbean (Page 4); how
Conservancy scientists are working
across country borders for a common
cause (Page 4); and how one company
is helping us look at ways to potentially
reduce habitat impacts of natural gas
development (Page 6).
The type of dynamic partnership at work
in this conservation success story isn’t
unique. In fact, each story you’ll read in
this newsletter is the result of collaboration. The Nature Conservancy is known
for its nonconfrontational, pragmatic
approach to conservation, which includes
partnering with communities, government agencies, businesses, nonprofits
and individuals—like you.
Finally, thanks to you—another partner
in conservation—for making these
stories of conservation success possible.
Rodney Bartgis
State Director
The Nature Conservancy in West Virginia
Rob Lannan, Vice Chair, Charleston
Robert M. Nutting, Vice Chair, Wheeling
Edward C. Armbrecht Jr., Charleston
Natur al History
Jennifer Belcher, Charleston
Trees like this eastern red cedar
tell tales that began long before
Europeans landed in the Americas.
West Virginia University Professor
Amy Hessl and her students have
found trees more than 800 years old
on lands in and around Smoke Hole
Canyon. Amy is among scientists
studying the history of climate, rainfall
and forest fire by coring trees both
living and dead. The lessons learned
from these trees help scientists
understand patterns from the past,
which in turn help us know what to
expect in the future.
David W. Gerhardt, North Charleston, SC
Eddy Grey, Charleston
Dan O’Hanlon, Huntington
Benjamin A. Hardesty, Immediate Past
Chair, Clarksburg
Brooks McCabe, Charleston
Joyce McConnell, Morgantown
Robert O. Orders, Jr., Charleston
Ron Potesta, Charleston
Cathy Abbott, Emerita, McLean, VA
Judy Dumke, Emerita, Chesapeake, OH
Charles Jones, Emeritus, Charleston
The Nature Conservancy is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) international membership
organization. Its mission is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends.
An annual membership fee of $25 includes membership to the West Virginia Chapter
and the worldwide organization.
2 Spring/summer 2012
Left: Old red cedar © Kent Mason
The Nature Conservancy meets all of the Standards for Charity Accountability
established by the BBB Wise Giving Alliance. The BBB Wise Giving Alliance is
a national charity watchdog affiliated with the Better Business Bureau.
Cover: Smoke Hole Canyon © Kent Mason
Smoke Hole Canyon
Above: William Puffenberger © Kent Mason
Right: Smoke Hole Canyon © Kent Mason
where there’s
smoke continued from cover
wanted to put a cabin here, with the
deck built right out to the edge of the
cliff,” Berdine says.
will remain in family ownership but with
development restrictions now permanently protecting the conservation
values of the property.
But now, thanks to the landowners’
great love for the property and desire to
forever protect the view, no building
will ever destroy the rare plants on the
cliff or interrupt the natural scenic view
from the Big Bend campground.
“It’s a perfect example of the recreational
value of West Virginia’s forests,” Berdine
says. “The family loves to hunt. While
they could have made more money in the
near term selling the land for development, they were very serious about
making sure they were leaving something for future generations to enjoy.”
Working with the Conservancy and the
West Virginia Outdoor Heritage
Conservation Fund, landowner William
Puffenberger and his sons, Erik and Mark,
donated a conservation easement that
will forever protect 200 acres along the
canyon rim—land that adjoins the
Monongahela National Forest’s Spruce
Knob-Seneca Rocks Recreation Area.
The property, a hunting retreat that has
been in the family for three generations,
The easement will be held and enforced
by the Outdoor Heritage Conservation
Fund, the organization established in
2009 to protect the Mountain State’s
important natural areas. The easement
is the Fund’s second land protection
project and demonstrates its growing
maturity as a land conservation organization, Berdine says. The Conservancy
assisted in negotiating the Puffenberger
easement and has been helping to build
the Fund’s capacity, working side by
side with it to inform the Fund’s first
few agreements.
The Puffenberger easement is the latest
chapter in the Conservancy’s efforts to
protect the unique habitats of Smoke
Hole Canyon, an effort that began with
the 1,600 acres of land the Conservancy
protected under an easement there in
2004. But conservation work doesn’t
end with protecting the land. The
Conservancy has worked with the
Potomac Highlands Cooperative Weed &
Pest Management Area to fight spotted
knapweed, viper’s bugloss and other
non-native invasive plants that threaten
the rare limestone communities in the
canyon. The Conservancy has also
worked to restore red cedar woodlands
and their prairie-like understories,
creating a demonstration area to inform
other canyon land managers of useful
management techniques for the rare
plant communities.
Smok e Hole Timeline
2004 > 1,124 acres protected
through an easement with Smoke Hole
Lodge owner Ed Stifel.
2007 > 315 acres protected
through an easement with Charles
and Elizabeth Agle.
2009 > The Nature Conservancy 2011 > Work begins to eradicate
works to restore rare dry limestone
prairie communities in the canyon. High
school students employed through the
Conservancy’s Leaders in Environmental
Action for the Future program have
helped for the past three years.
spotted knapweed, and other invasive
species from Smoke Hole Canyon
through the work of the Potomac
Highlands Cooperative Weed & Pest
Management Agreement.
2009 > Work to eradicate
invasive plant species in the canyon
begins.
2012 > 209 acres protected
through an easement with William
Puffenberger and his sons, Erik
and Mark.
The Nature Conservancy in West Virginia | nature.org/explorewv 3
B eyond Bor de rs
Foreign Correspondence
The Connection between China and the
Central Appalachians
Caribbean Challenge
By Je s sica K ei t h
T
he forests of eastern West Virginia
burst with life this time of year. Trees
like maple and oak blossom. Shrubs such
as rhododendron show off pink and
white blooms. Fishers, deer and squirrels
scamper about while black bears awaken
from deep slumber. Migratory birds chirp,
heralding their homecoming. It’s spring
in the Central Appalachians—the heart
of the Appalachian Mountain range.
Meanwhile, 8,000 miles away the
scene feels much the same in China’s
Yunnan Province.
Well, mostly the same, explains Thomas
Minney, The Nature Conservancy’s
Central Appalachian program manager.
“You see so many of the same plants we
have, but then you spot a monkey in the
rhododendron!”
Nestled in the heart of the Appalachian
Mountain range, the Central Appalachians boast one of the most biologically
rich, temperate broadleaf deciduous
forests in the world. In fact, Minney
says, it’s second only to that of China’s.
International
Giving
It’s this connection that’s driving Minney
and teams of scientists in both the
United States and China to exchange
knowledge about their approach to
conservation—especially in the face of
shared threats.
“We’re both interested in how climate
change is going to alter the landscape,”
says Minney. “So my counterparts in
China applied the same analysis we
used here to help identify the areas that
will be most resilient to climate change.
The results will help them prioritize
conservation efforts.”
Scientists from the Conservancy’s
U.S. program are also able to share
information about forest health with
scientists in China, where thousands of
years of civilization have made forest
degradation a serious issue.
Minney says that he intends to continue
to foster a relationship with his colleagues
overseas. “When they think about how
best to protect and restore broadleaf
deciduous forests, they’ll be able to look
overseas to the Central Appalachians
as a benchmark.”
West Virginian Nina Peyton loves
visiting the Bahamas. So when The
Nature Conservancy asked if she
would help support conservation
in the Bahamas and surrounding
Caribbean islands, it didn’t take much
to convince her—especially since
she knew how far her money would
go. Just how far? The Conservancy
found a way for Nina to turn her
$25,000 gift into $500,000, thanks
to identifying a series of challenge
grants, including the Caribbean
Challenge. Initiated by several
Caribbean countries in 2008, the
Caribbean Challenge is a campaign
to protect nearly 20 percent of the
region’s habitat by 2020. To support
the Challenge, the Conservancy has
pledged $20 million.
For information about this and
other matching gift opportunities,
including the West Virginia International Matching Fund, please contact
Jonathan Harvey at [email protected]
or (304) 345-4350.
Left: Yunnan golden monkey in rhododendron © Long Yongcheng;
Above: Conservancy U.S. and China staff © TNC
4 Spring/summer 2012
book r eview
80:
percent fewer cerulean warblers
today than 40 years ago.
Left: The cerulean warbler needs large, unbroken forests with mature trees and natural
canopy breaks. © Kent Mason; Center: Book cover; Right: cerulean warbler.
© Marja Bakermans
Cerulean Blues
A Personal Search for a Vanishing Species
By Rodne y Ba r tgis
A
mong the natural treasures of
West Virginia are wood warblers.
Variously adorned in yellows, oranges,
blues, blacks, whites, greens, browns,
and reds, these small insect-eating birds
fill the trees each spring and summer with
bustling and singing. In her new book,
Cerulean Blues, Nature Conservancy
member and Morgantown writer Katie
Fallon explores the plight of a songbird
closely aligned with the Central
Appalachians—the cerulean warbler.
Katie’s travels take her across the hills,
hollows and forests of the Central
Appalachians—the last stronghold of
this vanishing species—to learn about
the bird’s behavior, habitat and status.
Many of the places to which she ventures
are familiar to us: Coopers Rock and
Kanawha State Forests and Lewis
Wetzel Wildlife Management Area.
And many of the people she encounters—
like wildlife biologist Petra Wood—are
West Virginians. Along her journey,
Katie reveals why the bird’s numbers
have declined by nearly 80 percent over
the last 40 years.
Ceruleans need unbroken stretches of
forestland with large trees and occasional canopy breaks—such as when
“In my opinion, there’s not a more beautiful bird than the
cerulean warbler anywhere in the world—and no other
habitat as diverse and spectacular (and underappreciated)
as an Appalachian hardwood forest.”
—K atie Fallon, author of Cerulean Blues
an old tree dies. Today, fragmentation
from development and mountaintop
removal is common across much of
the bird’s historic range inside of the
Appalachians, and existing forests are
too uniform for the bird’s needs. Similar
problems exist for ceruleans where they
spend their winters in the forested
mountain areas of South America.
Here, coffee is king, and in places like
Colombia less than 40 percent of the
warblers’ natural habitat remains.
In telling the story of the cerulean, Katie
is able to shine a spotlight on our own
fate, which is also inextricably tied to
the health of the forest. But in uplifting
moments she shares with readers stories
of hope, such as an Andean town’s
migratory bird festival, complete with
parading children dressed up as
cerulean warblers.
The Nature Conservancy, too, brings
hope to this story; its forest conservation
efforts from the Central Appalachians
along the bird’s migratory route and
down into South America are helping
to protect the cerulean from vanishing
for good.
Visit the following Nature Conser-
vancy preserves and project areas
this spring or summer for a chance
to see a cerulean warbler: Hungry
Beech Preserve, Murphy Preserve,
Brush Creek, New River Gorge.
Support cerulean warbler
conservation efforts at nature.org/
explorewv.
The Nature Conservancy in West Virginia | nature.org/explorewv 5
Conse rvation Snapshots
Below: Wind turbine © Kent Mason; Right: Red spruce © Kent Mason
Nature Conservancy
‘Struck’ by Mount Porte
Crayon Property
Study Looks at Energy
Development Impacts
By R a ndy Edwa r ds
In the Central Appalachians, the mountaintops are where strong
winds and public forests are most likely to converge.
The overlap of high wind energy resources and public lands is
one of the first realities to become clear to a team of researchers
led by The Nature Conservancy that is studying the impact of energy development in the Central Appalachians. National forests
and other public lands often occupy the highest ground in places
like West Virginia, providing habitat for a wide range of species
as well as important recreation areas for millions of Americans.
The high ridges are also where wind is at its strongest and most
sustained. So it’s likely that in the future, pressure to develop
wind farms, like the one that stretches for 12 miles along Laurel
Mountain just west of Elkins, might become stronger, even in
national forests.
In addition to wind, the team is studying the effects of shale gas
development and coal on important natural resources throughout
an eight-state region from New York to Tennessee. The work is
an extension of the Conservancy’s Pennsylvania Energy Impacts
Assessment, which has already led to interest from several
energy development companies that want to learn more about
avoiding negative effects on natural resources.
6 Spring/summer 2012
By R a ndy Edwa r ds
The property that came to be known as “Thunderstruck” first
caught the attention of Conservancy staff a dozen years ago
during biological surveys conducted for its former owner, MeadWestvaco.
It was love at first sight, a rugged landscape of red spruce and
northern hardwoods blanketing the western slope of Mount
Porte Crayon, sheltering the waters of Spruce Run and a
labyrinth of subterranean sinkholes. Rare animals like Virginia
big-eared bats and Cheat Mountain salamanders live here on
mountainsides adjacent to the Monongahela National Forest’s
Roaring Plains Wilderness Area and the Conservancy’s Bear
Rocks Preserve.
Soon, the Conservancy set a goal of protecting a total of 2,000
acres of this remarkable landscape. In March that goal was
achieved with the purchase of the final 590 acres most recently
owned by Thunderstruck Conservation LLC. The Conservancy
hopes to transfer most, or all, of the land to the Forest Service for
addition to the national forest, with federal Land and Water Conservation Fund money and other funds supporting the transfer.
“From an ecological perspective, this is a very valuable piece of
land,” says Kent Karriker, a forest ecologist for the Monongahela National Forest. “We’re glad to have it under conservation
management.”
The Conservancy added 1,100 acres of the Thunderstruck tract to
the national forest in 2011, and protected an additional 275 acres
through a conservation easement in 2008.
Conse rvation Snapshots
New Trustees Welcomed
Robert Reusche, 1927-2011
Daniel Patrick O’Hanlon and Robert
Orders Jr. have joined the volunteer
board of trustees for The Nature
Conservancy’s West Virginia program.
Both are long-term members of the
Conservancy.
Robert F. Reusche passed away on
November 15, 2011. A retired vice chairman of the Northern Trust Company, Bob
expressed an extraordinary commitment
to community and conservation—including serving as a trustee for The Nature
Conservancy in West Virginia. In the
mid-1990s, Bob became aware of development plans on Pike Knob, at the peak
of North Fork Mountain near Franklin.
Bob stepped in with a leadership gift
for its protection, and the site was saved.
Until his death, Bob remained an
active contributor and adviser.
Judge O’Hanlon, of Huntington, is
currently working as Vice Chancellor
with the West Virginia Higher Education
Policy Commission. He has been appointed
four times as an Acting Justice on the
West Virginia Supreme Court and has
served four times as Chief Judge of the
Sixth Judicial Circuit.
Orders, of Charleston, is president of
Orders Construction Co., Inc., a highway,
utility and industrial construction company.
Orders is a registered professional
engineer and serves on a number of
industry and community boards. He has
served previously on the Conservancy’s
West Virginia board.
Ohio River to See Increased
Conservation Efforts
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and
The Nature Conservancy recently
committed to work together to manage
the Ohio River. The Conservancy will
contribute scientific and conservation
planning material to the Corps, which
will use the information to improve the
ecological health of the river as human
needs are met throughout the basin.
Native fish passage, floodplains, and fish
and mussel reproduction will be of
special consideration.
West Virginia Land Trust
Honors The Nature Conservancy’s
Beth Wheatley
260:
age (in years)
of world’s oldest
known Table Mountain pine,
recently found by researchers
at the Conservancy’s Pike
Knob Preserve.
The West Virginia Land Trust recently
honored Beth Wheatley, director of
government relations for The Nature
Conservancy, by naming her the
“Special Places Guardian of the Year.”
The group called out several highlights
of Wheatley’s career, including her
leadership in developing the Coalition of
West Virginia Land Trusts, working with
diverse interests to support conservation
policy, and developing the Outdoor
Heritage Conservation Fund—the state’s
first dedicated fund for land conservation.
Cranesville Swamp Preserve
Audio Tour
Planning a visit to Cranesville Swamp
Preserve? Before your trip, download our
self-guided audio tour to your handheld
device. It’s like having a naturalist there
with you in person! Download at
nature.org/cranesvilleswamp.
Above Left: Table Mountain pine © Tom Saladyga; Above Center: Beth Wheatley © West Virginia Land Trust; Above Right: Hannibal lock and dam on Ohio
River © Mark Godfrey/ TNC; Cranesville Swamp © Kent Mason; Smartphone © liewcf / Flickr Creative Commons
The Nature Conservancy in West Virginia | nature.org/explorewv 7
The Nature Conservancy
P.O. Box 250
Elkins, WV 26241
nature.org/westvirginia
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West Virginia
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in this issue »
More than 200 acres in scenic
Smoke Hole Canyon have been
protected for future generations.
Discover more about the protection effort and the
landowners who made it possible.
Donating appreciated stock or mutual funds is
quick and simple. These gifts can provide you
with significant tax benefits—and can also have
an immediate impact on Earth’s lands and waters.
Contact our Stock Gifts team today.
Jonathan Harvey
(304) 345-4350
EMAIL: [email protected]
WEB: nature.org/stockgift
CONTACT:
PHONE:
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Left: Smoke Hole Canyon © Kent Mason
Above: © Bridget Besaw
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