Highland Outdoors | Summer 2020

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SUMMER 2020

OUTDOORS

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HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SUMMER 2020

Locally Owned and Operated

Equal Opportunity Employer

West Virginia’s Outdoor Magazine

STAFF Publisher, Editor-in-Chief Dylan Jones Associate Editor, Design Nikki Forrester Pretty Much Everything Else Dylan Jones, Nikki Forrester

CONTRIBUTORS Madison Ball, Mollee Brown, Nikki Forrester, Anne Johnson, Dylan Jones, Jacob Lieber, Johnny Lo, Kent Mason, Ryan Maurer, Owne Mullens, Randall Sanger, Evan Vulpez

Summer has finally arrived and, well, things are a bit different than they were this time last year. It’s nearly impossible to discuss life these days without mentioning the COVID-19 pandemic, so we won’t try to tiptoe around it.

Times are tough. People were laid off, events were cancelled, businesses are still struggling, and we all can’t see each other nearly as often as we’d like.

At the same time, we’re inspired by the creative ways folks have devised to support each other and get themselves through these challenging times.

We’re reassured to see people observing social distancing guidelines, wearing masks, offering supplies to those in need, and supporting local businesses however they can. We’re encouraged by how many people have responsibly ventured outdoors for solace, smiles, and a much-needed break from the news. With new information streaming in every day, we’re learning as we go and continually adapting our approach to traveling, socializing, and recreating.

We’ve also managed to find the silver linings among the overcast cover of disappointments. For every canceled event, there’s a new opportunity to enjoy some much-needed spontaneity

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in our once-busy lives. Over the past three months, we’ve visited some spots in West Virginia—Smoke Hole Canyon, Cranberry Wilderness, Upper Cheat River Water Trail, and Gaudineer Scenic Area—that have been on our bucket list for years. Each trip made our jaws drop and renewed our deep love for the Mountain State’s spectacularly diverse landscapes.

With warm summer months ahead and some free time on your hands, now’s the time to focus on all those long-term outdoor goals you never got around to because every weekend from Memorial Day to Labor Day was booked. Hike or bike a new trail, float a new river, find a new camping spot. Get into birding or botanizing, brush up on your photography skills, or finally learn how to properly utilize the guylines on your tent’s rain fly.

We’re fortunate to live in a state that offers a plethora of world-class adventures just minutes or miles from most of our doors. And we’re doubly fortunate to be able to share it with you. Here’s to the great times to be had outside this summer. Be safe, well, and responsible out there, friends. We’ll see you when the time is right. w Dylan Jones & Nikki Forrester

HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SUMMER 2020

SUBMISSIONS Please send pitches and photos to dylan@highland-outdoors.com EDITORIAL POLICY Our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers.

SUSTAINABILITY This magazine was printed on paper certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative with eco-friendly inks. Please consider passing this issue along or recycling it when you're done.

DISCLAIMER Outdoor activities are inherently risky. Highland Outdoors will not be held responsible for your decision to play outdoors.

COVER Ryan Maurer descends into a vertical pit in one of West Virginia's spectacular cave systems. Photo by Jacob Lieber.

Copyright © 2020 by Highland Outdoors. All rights reserved.

Highland Outdoors is published

by DJones Media, LLC and printed at HG Roebuck & Son in Baltimore, Maryland.

Owne Mullens

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Contents

Fisher Spring Bog in Dolly Sods, pg. 24

10

14

18

24

NETWORKING IN THE FOREST

A RIDE THROUGH MINE-TANA

WEST VIRGINIA WATERFALLS

100 YEARS OF THE MON

Getting to know our Mountain State Mushrooms

By Nikki Forrester

By Randall Sanger

By Dylan Jones

32

36

EVERY ISSUE

WV UNDERGROUND

BIRDING NEAR AND FAR

By Ryan Maurer

By Mollee Brown

Kent Mason

By Evan Vulpez

8 Briefs 38 Profile 43 Gallery

SUMMER 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

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B oxer s

FRIENDS OF THE CHEAT PLANNING ALBRIGHT DAM REMOVAL

By Madison Ball Following 25 years of successful river restoration from the impacts of acid mine drainage, Friends of the Cheat (FOC) is planning the removal of the Albright Power Dam on the Cheat River, effectively taking the next step toward full restoration. Removing the dam would reestablish nearly 75 miles of connectivity along the Cheat River mainstem for aquatic species and humans alike.

The Albright Power Dam was originally constructed to feed water to the adjacent cooling towers of the Albright Power Station, but was decommissioned in 2012 with no plans of rehabilitation. The dam currently serves as an impasse for all, blocking aquatic species from migrating upstream and boaters from floating downstream. Walleye, formerly found as far upstream as Parsons, were eradicated from the Cheat River in the 1940s. Walleye have since returned to the Cheat’s lower reaches, but the dam still obstructs their journey further upstream. By creating a hydraulic wave at its foot, the dam also obstructs paddlers and can drown strong swimmers. Current portage options are limited and dangerous.

As the climate changes, local analysts predict increasingly frequent flooding events in spring followed by

drought events in late summer and fall.

Removing the dam would reduce the risk of it being breached during a major flood event.

With funds from a DTE Energy Foundation grant, FOC plans to hire a consulting firm to conduct a reconnaissance study of the Albright Power Dam that will provide critical information needed to guide future design and removal decisions.

Due to the restoration efforts of many, the Cheat River now boasts a balanced pH and river communities and visitors are reaping the rewards. The lower reaches of the Cheat now host 38 species of fish, the Cheat Canyon has regained favor among the international

whitewater paddling community, and local anglers are reeling in river monsters like the 42-inch muskellunge caught just below the Albright Power Dam last summer. Removing the Albright Dam is the next logical and critical step in the recovery of the Cheat River.

Stay tuned to FOC for info on public events and how to work with local communities to sculpt a vision of a freeflowing Cheat River. Learn more about FOC’s efforts or become a member at www.cheat.org. w Madison Ball is restoration program manager at FOC, a hellbender enthusiast, and can be found with a snorkel and mask in many of WV’s rivers three seasons a year.

By HO Staff Trails, water, and grants—oh my! More than $27 million of funding was recently awarded by Governor Jim Justice and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to 12 projects that aim to clean up abandoned mine lands (AML) and spur economic

8

development. Over half the funds went to projects that will expand access to clean water in Raleigh, Summers, and Fayette counties. Almost $3 million went to trail development and wildlife education projects.

HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SUMMER 2020

Friends of Blackwater, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the Blackwater Canyon in Tucker County, received $818,000 to construct an eight-mile hiking and biking trail that will connect the neighboring towns of Davis and Thomas. Funding will also be

Courtesy Friends of the Cheat

OUTDOOR REC GETS A BOOST FROM AML FUNDING

B r ie fs used to build a pedestrian bridge and a water treatment system to clean up acid mine drainage on the North Fork of the Blackwater River.

Friends of the Cheat (FOC), a non-profit serving the Cheat River watershed, received $1 million to improve trail and river access at the

Preston Site, located off Route 72 between Albright and Rowlesburg.

Funding will be used to build a destination trailhead for the Cheat River Rail-Trail and for trail maintenance equipment. FOC also hopes to purchase additional property to extend the trail to Rowlesburg.

Funding was also awarded to construct the Claudia L. Workman Wildlife Education Center in the Forks of Coal State Natural Area southwest of Charleston. Almost $960,000 of funding will be used to build an education and wildlife viewing center with exhibits focused on the history of the area, wildlife, and stream restoration. w

TIMBERLINE MOUNTAIN BEGINS LIFT CONSTRUCTION

Courtesy Timberline Mountain

By HO Staff Skiers, rejoice! West Virginia may be fully ensconced in the lush, green jungle of peak summer, but snow-minded kin folk like us are already getting excited for winter. Why? Well, first of all, snow is Ullr’s amazing gift to mankind. Second, because Timberline Mountain (TM) is currently building two brand-spankingnew ski lifts in preparation for its inaugural 2020-2021 ski season.

Timberline was acquired at auction in 2019 by Perfect North Slopes and will rise like a snowy phoenix from the frozen ashes as TM this winter.

Perfect North Slopes is an independent, family-owned ski operation that runs a successful resort in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Local shredders are stoked for TM to retain the beloved family vibe that thrives throughout Canaan Valley.

Timberline Four Seasons Resort closed during the 2018-2019 ski season.

Fortunately, those “Sell Tline” bumper stickers must have worked, because

The resurrection of Timberline is quite an undertaking, and the TM operations team has been pounding (and redoing) the pavement. Tom Price, director of

operations, is thrilled for what’s to come. “We’ve always had our eye on Timberline and know it’s a really special mountain, especially here in the MidAtlantic,” Price said.

All three of the old lifts that carried skiers slowly up Cabin Mountain for decades have been decommissioned and removed to make way for two new Dopplemayr lifts: a state-of-the-art high-speed detachable six-person lift, and a four-person fixed-grip lift. The six-person lift—West Virginia’s first and only—will sweep skiers and boarders to the top of the mountain in just five minutes. The four-person lift will carry skiers to mid-station, allowing beginners to quickly lap easier terrain. “It’s going to be a completely new Timberline experience,” Price said. “These lifts will be cushier, faster, and safer, which is our main priority.”

The lifts, each of which will provide uphill capacity of 2,400 skiers per hour, are slated to be completed in mid-fall.

While the lifts are being constructed, TM is also revamping the mountain’s snowmaking system. “To have a great ski area, you have to have two things: good snowmaking and good access to the top of the mountain,” Price said.

“We’re really excited to get everybody up to the top and show them what we can do with our snowmaking and grooming capabilities.” Follow TM’s Facebook page to scope construction and facility updates throughout summer: @TimberlineMountain. w

SUMMER 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

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Jack-o-lantern mushrooms, producers of foxfire.

NETWORKING IN THE FOREST GET TING TO KNOW OUR MOUNTAIN STATE MUSHROOMS I

n 1997, while the phenomenon we know as the internet was tentatively spreading its tendrils into American society, a young PhD student at Oregon State University named Suzanne Simard quietly published a revolutionary thesis. The study proved that trees— specifically paper birch and Douglas fir—used mycorrhizal (root fungus) networks to exchange nutrients. In subsequent decades, forest ecologists have learned a great deal more about this so-called “wood-wide web,” of which all knowledge had previously been contained within the dimly lit sphere occupied solely by festivaldwelling pseudoshamans and spiritual visionaries. For example, we now know that many species of trees tap into communal fungal networks that can signal nearby trees of an insect attack, drought, or disease; allow neighbors to get a head start on producing bittertasting leaf compounds to dissuade

parasites, and facilitate the sharing of plant sugars and nutrients from older “mother trees” to younger saplings that have fewer root connections. Trees have co-evolved with fungus and used it to strengthen their community. Here in the wet and wonderful woods of West Virginia, so too have humans.

Fast forward to July 19, 2019 in Blackwater Falls State Park in the Tucker County highlands. Dozens of smiling and wicker-basket-wielding mycological enthusiasts gather for the 15th Annual West Virginia Mushroom Club Foray. The event boasts a variety of activities ranging from mushroom identification walks and cultivation workshops to seminars on scientific research and medicinal-mushroom preparation. It’s a well-organized and colorful gathering tucked away in the cool summer mountains, and tickets sell out quickly.

Special gatherings like the Foray serve as a nexus in a different fungal

10 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SUMMER 2020

web of connectivity: the human-mycelial network. In such settings, the air becomes rich with a wizardly-wisdom of all things fungal, suggesting that if you breathed deeply enough, one might feel the magical fabric of the forest, just as Neo saw the Matrix. The reality is that the atmosphere at the Foray is in fact thick with mushroom knowledge.

From scientific names filled with Latin roots to folk-lore filled with Appalachian roots, the simple act of attending a talk will likely be potent enough to peel back the eyelids of your curiosity, or at least allow you an intoxicating peek through the lens of a Master Naturalist. It’s in this spread of species literacy that new naturalists are nurtured and old ones become mother trees. And thus, the network grows.

But beyond the gripping realization that trees are conversing through a subterranean mycelial web, and beyond the special feeling one might get when consorting with other mycologicallyinclined Sapiens, is the fact that

Dylan Jones

By Evan Vulpez

FUNGUS FACTS Genetically, we are more closely related to fungi than we are to plants. Like us, fungi inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide.

There are over 30 species of bioluminescent mushrooms (meaning they glow in the dark). These species are collectively and colloquially known in Appalachia as “foxfire.�

Fungi specialize in breaking down complex molecules into their basic molecular building blocks. Studies have shown that certain strains of oyster mushrooms can aid in the breakdown and cleanup of oil spills and plastics.

Top left: Nikki Forrester. Others: Dylan Jones

We have identified only 14,000 species of an estimated 150,000 mushroom species on Earth.

SUMMER 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

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WV contains a staggering diversity of mushrooms.

Travel restrictions and social limitations mean it’s never been a better time to practice some woodlandinspired escapism.

Conveniently, we humans have developed the capacity to thoroughly enjoy exploring

the woods for mushrooms.

It’s not surprising that, through the generations, we’ve established a dopamine-based neural reward system associated with spotting things.

Consider the thrill of finding Easter eggs, pretty rocks, Waldo, or in this case, fleshy edible growths sprouting from the decaying bodies of other earthly inhabitants— pure fun!

While the list of modern entertainment options is overwhelming, our ancestors had fewer to choose from and spent many hours, weeks, and millennia focused on the forest floor for something hidden yet prized, something that would keep starvation at bay, something that could be passed around the cave as it glowed in the firelight.

So take this moment to thank your grandmother to the 100th power; perhaps she was a short, furry grandma with hands capable

12 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SUMMER 2020

of crushing your slender computer wrists. But if she has given you nothing else, she has at least gifted you with the neurological reward structure to be able to walk in the forest and be endlessly enchanted. I find setting out on a mushroom hunt gives one an elusive feeling of purpose, mindful focus, and usually results in at least one neat sighting, even if it’s just a salamander or an oriole.

It’s downright salubrious.

Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, this year’s edition of the Foray is cancelled due to coronavirus restrictions, but fledgling mushroom lovers are encouraged to join the club for announcements and to enjoy the other fruits of membership: wvmushroomclub.net. w Evan Vulpez is a little-knownyet-hugely-curious mushroom hunter and self-taught botanist who roams the hills and hollers of West Virginia in search of natural wonders new and old.

Who needs a truffle pig when you have a morel cat?

SERIOUS SIDE NOTE A great rule is to positively identify a mushroom three times before you eat it: first in the field where it’s growing, second at home with the aid of references, a spore print, and the discerning eyes of an experienced friend, and finally just before you prepare it as food. This article is not meant to be a guide on identifying wild mushrooms or instructions on foraging. Many edible species have poisonous lookalikes. It is strongly recommended that beginners seek the aid of seasoned mushroom foragers and join their local mushroom club.

Top left: Dylan Jones. Top right: Evan Vulpez

walking in the woods and experiencing fungi is just fun. Appalachia is home to more than 2,300 species of mushrooms; scientists believe there are tens of thousands more yet to be discovered. Most of these species have fruiting bodies that are readily identified by the naked eye—well over a hundred of these are considered edible.

Most mushrooms grow in association with trees and decaying organic matter and require a wet climate. Taking the bronze medal for thirdmost forested state in the country and boasting some of the wettest weather in the east, the Mountain State is one of the premier places in the U.S. to experience the world of mushrooms.

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13

The author riding Hawks Ridge Loop Trail.

A RIDE T HROUGH MINE-TANA W

mountain biker and Associate Director of Friends of the Cheat. “Not often are you able to get 280-degree panoramic views of the Mon National Forest for considerable stretches of trail.”

uprooted trees and fallen branches. It’s not exactly beautiful, but it does have an odd charm.

The Mower Tract spans nearly 40,000 acres on Cheat Mountain, straddling Randolph and Pocahontas counties.

The tract contains one of the largest intact red spruce stands south of Maine.

Although red spruce forests once defined the West Virginia highlands, they were clear-cut in the late 1800s and early 1900s, leaving only a fraction remaining today.

“It feels like a mix of western alpine and otherworldly,” says Owen Mulkeen,

We’re riding the Hawks Ridge Loop, a purpose-built mountain bike trail that traverses a small portion of the Mower Tract in the Monongahela National Forest (MNF). The trail crosses the bench of an old stripmining site, providing sweeping views of Cheat and Shavers mountains, then dips into tight, twisting turns through unmined forestlands before opening up into grassy meadows. The trail often flows through sparse landscapes and mangled forests scattered with

e ascend a grassy hill and peddle along an exposed ridgeline overlooking the expansive Shavers Fork valley. The air is crisp, the sun is blazing, and the trail is bone-dry—a rare experience for two Davis-based mountain bikers. Distant mountains are covered in a dense mosaic of red spruce and northern hardwood trees. Right below us, the forest is stripped bare, exposing compacted, sun-crusted soil and a sparse array of seedlings. I can’t help but wonder, are we still in West Virginia?

14 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SUMMER 2020

A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST

In the 1970s and 1980s, roughly 2,500 acres of the Mower Tract were contour mined. “When the Mower Tract was

Dylan Jones

By Nikki Forrester

first mined, the reclamation process basically involved piling the soil back on top of the exposed mine land, compacting it as much as possible to keep it from eroding away, and then throwing some seeds on it with no real rhyme or reason to what those seeds were or whether they would actually grow,” says Ben Rhodes, Ecological Restoration Coordinator for The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Those seeds, which were primarily non-native grasses and conifers, could barely grow in the heavily compacted soil.

“Functionally speaking, it’s a biological wasteland,” says Rhodes.

Bigtooth aspen seedlings populate a restoration site.

Unfortunately, creating habitats where red spruce and associated hardwood species, such as bigtooth aspen and black cherry, could grow turned out to be more challenging than anticipated. In 2007, the USFS planted 10,000 trees on 75 acres of the Mower Tract, but the vast majority of them died due to soil compaction and competition with non-native grasses.

Yet on a broader scale, Cheat Mountain is one of the most biodiverse regions in North America. “It’s the heart of the high-elevation Red Spruce-Northern Hardwoods forest in West Virginia,” says Thomas Minney, State Director for TNC in West Virginia. “Many rare, threatened, and endangered species occur in that forest because it’s a crossroads of northern and southern Appalachian species.”

To protect the Mower Tract, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Trust for Public Land purchased surface rights for the property from the Mower Land and Lumber Company in 1987. At the same time, TNC in West Virginia purchased mineral rights to the coal under the Mower Tract and transferred ownership to the USFS.

Dylan Jones

UGLY RESTORATION Since acquiring the Mower Tract, the USFS has worked with numerous partners to restore red spruce forests,

clean up watersheds, and bring recreation opportunities to the area.

The restoration process is undoubtedly slow, but the hope is that 60 to 80 years from now, red spruce will once again dominate the overstory.

Western style views of the West Virginia highlands.

A few years later, they brought in a bulldozer to loosen up the soil and remove non-native species, then planted another 22,000 seedlings—most of which were red spruce.

“You’re taking a big piece of equipment out there and ripping up the ground and saying this is restoration—it’s very worrisome,” says Jack Tribble, Greenbrier District Ranger for the USFS. “But by 2011, we noticed it was really working.” Tree survival rates were much higher because the plants could root into the soil and retain water.

As soon as they saw the benefits of this seemingly destructive approach, the USFS expanded its restoration efforts. “We’re now trying to do a hundred acres a year,” says Tribble.

“It’s ugly restoration, but it’s working. We’re seeing new wildflowers grow and we have lots of early successional habitat, which is great for turkey and SUMMER 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

15

grouse.” This year alone, 92,000 trees were planted on the Mower Tract.

In addition to trees, the USFS and its partner groups are restoring watersheds and native brook trout habitat in the region. They have created more than 700 vernal pools so far, which control sediment and provide habitat for amphibians. “While everyone knew that restoration work on the Mower Tract would be very difficult and very pricey, every acre we restored there has a huge impact because it’s such a critical area,” says Rhodes.

Another key component of the restoration efforts involves creating recreation opportunities for hikers, bikers, boaters, anglers, and hunters.

“We really want a place where people can do all those things well,” says Tribble, noting that many times these groups are comprised of the same people. Currently, they are expanding the trail system, enhancing road access, and improving dispersed campsites. By

the end of this summer, there will be four loops at the Mower Track, totaling about eight miles. “We need to get people out and connect them to the mountains,” says Tribble. “When times get tough, people can come to the forest.”

FORESTS OF THE PAST AND FUTURE The Mower Tract provides an opportunity for visitors to watch mine restoration in action and monitor change over time. “You really get a sense of the scale, just out there on the site, looking at these huge restoration areas. You can also see the progress year to year because they move through discrete sections,” says Rhodes.

Pausing for a moment on Hawks Ridge Loop, we saw unrestored acres of mined land, newly restored sites covered in bulldozed red pine and recently planted bigtooth aspen, and dense pockets of

red spruce and hardwoods towering in the distance.

While the project is a prime example of red spruce restoration, it only reflects a fraction of the ongoing efforts throughout West Virginia and Central Appalachia. “We had to move from just buying or protecting a piece of land to thinking about how to keep the whole red spruce forest a functioning ecosystem,” says Minney.

The drive to restore red spruce is both a reflection of the past and a plan for the future. High-elevation red spruce forests are home to 145 rare plant species and 137 wildlife species of concern, including the WV Northern flying squirrel, Cheat Mountain salamander, and the sawwhet owl, according to the USFS. Along with providing habitat for these species, red spruce cool the air and water, absorb carbon, and prevent sediment runoff. “As the climate changes, nature is going to depend on the Appalachians because everything to the east of

Dylan Jones

A bulldozed restoration site in the foreground contrasts the pristine forests of the Shavers Fork valley.

16 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SUMMER 2020

these mountains is big cities, which severely fragment the landscape and don’t provide a lot of habitat, whereas the west is primarily agriculture and industry,” says Cam Moore, Central Appalachians Director for TNC. “You have this green superhighway of the Appalachians that runs through the middle connecting everything.”

Restoring old mines with red spruce forests can also boost outdoor recreation opportunities. “Recreation and restoration aren’t mutually exclusive,” says Mulkeen. Although the Mower Tract may look a little rough right now, the destruction will soon be overgrown with flowers, shrubs, and tree seedlings. It provides a glimpse of what’s possible on other surface mine sites in West Virginia as well.

“Strip mines are a totally underutilized asset. There’s huge potential to use those landscapes for restoration and recreation,” Moore says.

A visit to the Mower Tract transported us from the lush forests of West Virginia to the alpine environments of the west.

It’s a living laboratory that offered us a first-hand look into a recovering yet resilient landscape. After spending a few days biking and car camping at the Mower Tract, we packed up our gear and headed home, stopping at Gaudineer Scenic Area for a quick hike.

Just fifteen minutes north of the Mower Tract, Gaudineer is home to one of the few remaining old-growth red spruce forests in the state, made possible by a surveying error in the early 1900s. Every step along our hike highlighted majestic spruce, maple, cherry, and birch trees that stretched far above the canopy.

Several fallen spruce trunks exposed a network of roots, completely devoid of soil, yet still grasping large rocks after a century of decay. The magnitude of the forest was humbling: a window into what Appalachia looked like before it was clear cut, a window into what the Mower Tract could look like in several hundred years. w Nikki Forrester is associate editor of Highland Outdoors and had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t out west.

SUMMER 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

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Sandstone Falls on the New River

WEST VIRGINA WATERFALLS

K

nown by many as the Birthplace of Rivers, West Virginia is a waterfall-rich state.

Thousands of miles of streams and rivers feature countless waterfalls and cascades of various sizes.

Many of our beautiful streams are rather dry and unappealing in the summer, meaning those gushing spring waterfalls are often reduced to mere trickles by August. However, there are still plenty of waterfalls that shine during those rain-free months. Here is a top-ten list of my favorite summer waterfalls. The list begins with waterfalls that are guaranteed to have good summer flows and ends with a few that are typically good but could use a little bit of rain to kick them up a notch.

Located on the New River near Hinton, Sandstone Falls is always a sure bet for waterfall photography, in part because extra water is added by the confluences of the Bluestone and Greenbrier rivers several miles upstream. These consistent flows crash over a series of river-wide ledges ranging from 15 to 25 feet in height on this 1500-foot-wide section of the New. Sandstone Falls is easily accessible thanks to an elaborate quartermile boardwalk and bridge system. Just a few feet from where the boardwalk ends are a network of user-created trails giving you access to even further exploration and intimate views of the unique spouts and pour-overs.

WO R DS A N D PH OTOS BY R A N DA LL S A N G ER

Even in the driest months of summer, Dunloup Creek Falls is another sure bet.

This waterfall is one of

Brush Creek Falls

my favorite West Virginia waterfalls and photographs better with lower flows.

Views from the roadside are available, but for streamlevel views, a short-but-steep scramble down the bank is required. Dunloup Creek empties into the New River a few miles downstream of the falls near the historic railroad town of Thurmond, which is worth a visit on its own.

The iconic and majestic Blackwater Falls is the

crown jewel of Tucker County and one of West Virginia’s most-visited waterfalls. Although flow is heavily reduced during the summer months, you’ll almost always find enough water falling over the 57-foot sandstone ledge to make your journey worthwhile. There are two popular viewing options: the ADA-accessible Gentle Trail overlook or the Lower Viewing Platform.

20 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SUMMER 2020

Additionally, a more adventurous trek down the steep, forested canyon follows an unofficial path created by kayakers, leading to magnificent river-level views. You’ll find this path at the aforementioned Gentle Trail parking area—the welltrodden trail lies just past a sign warning of the dangers of entering the canyon.

Situated on the North Fork of the Blackwater River, Douglas Falls is fed by

several tributaries upstream, so summertime flows are relatively consistent. Douglas Falls is accessed from the Blackwater Canyon Trail via Rail Falls Road near the town of Thomas and the setting is amazing. Boulders are stained orange from acid mine drainage that has heavily impacted the river but clean-up measures are in place and aquatic life is beginning to make a comeback.

Elakala Falls #2

The High Falls of the Cheat is a gorgeous waterfall in a true backcountry setting. Even in drought conditions, Shavers Fork of the Cheat River typically has just enough water flowing to make the roughly 8.4-mile roundtrip hike worth your while.

The trailhead is located on Beulah Road near Glady. If the long hike does not sound appealing, you can catch a ride on the Tygart Flyer from

Elkins, travel along the old logging rail line, and stop at the falls for half an hour of viewing time.

It seems there’s a Mill Creek in just about every watershed, but Mill Creek Falls near Ansted is a cut above the rest. Access these picturesque falls via the Ansted Rail Trail or by following Hawks Nest Road and parking just upstream from the falls. Although Mill Creek Falls is the highlight

of this rugged stream, take some time to explore the plethora of cascades both upstream and downstream from the main falls. A short and rugged scramble down to the falls will give you the best photo opportunities, but roadside or trailside views are also available.

Offering an idyllic veiled set of falls, Brush Creek Falls on its namesake creek is a tributary to the scenic Bluestone River. You’ll find

these falls in Mercer County near Princeton, where an easy-but-rocky quartermile hike from the parking area will lead you to this beautiful waterfall. Brush Creek is a hefty stream and summertime flows are typically healthy enough to deserve a spot on your itinerary.

Blackwater Falls State Park is also home to Shay’s Run, which offers two of my favorite West Virginia

SUMMER 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

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waterfalls: Elakala Falls #1 and #2. These successive falls are located just a short walk from the Blackwater Falls State Park Lodge, and while drought conditions sometimes reduce the flow to a trickle here, a little bit of rain will quickly get them back to a worthwhile condition.

From the lodge parking lot, follow the official Elakala Trail for 0.2 miles over the bridge, and then look for a well-worn unofficial path down to the stream.

Although technically a roadside waterfall, many folks driving on Fayette Station Road miss out on Wolf Creek Falls.

Because it’s hidden deep in the canyon adjacent to the New River Gorge and especially due to the fully leafed trees surrounding the stream, this big waterfall can be especially difficult to spot from the road. Summertime flows are typically strong enough to make this waterfall a worthwhile stop, but the steep scramble down to the falls may be a hinderance to some. You can access Wolf Creek from the Kaymoor trailhead from Fayette Station Road in Fayetteville. w Randall Sanger is a photographer and author who resides in Williamson with his wife Melissa, their daughter Hannah, and his trusty hiking pup Rocky. His latest book, Waterfalls of Virginia and West Virginia, was published in June of 2018.

Douglas Falls

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COOL RIDGE, WV

3rd Annual Greenbrier River Trail Marathon Inagural Half Marathon

Pocahontas County, WV; Flat, fast, scenic, USATF-certified course; October 4, 2020!

Go to https://aptiming.com/race/970 to register!

Cathedral Falls near Gauley Bridge

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The River Knobs and Allegheny Front as seen from North Fork Mountain in the Monongahela National Forest. Photo by Kent Mason, a prolific nature photographer who has donated countless hours and photographs to environmental organizations in the name of promoting conservation.

100 YEARS OF THE MON

BY DYLAN JONES

D

eep in the heart of the Allegheny Mountains, a collage of wild landscapes exist that embody the rugged individualism and rich heritage of Appalachian culture. This patchwork of ridges, valleys, cliffs, and rivers, collectively owned by all Americans, is known as the Monongahela National Forest.

Endearingly referred to as “the Mon” by career forestry officials and outdoor recreationists alike, the spectacular landscapes contained in this sprawling stretch of Appalachia are as diverse as those who walk among their trees.

From West Virginia’s low river canyons to its highest and driest peaks, from regenerating landscapes to old-growth forests, the Mon is the central gemstone in the Mountain State’s crown of prized jewels.

Encompassing 921,000 acres of West Virginia’s highlands, the Mon is home to hundreds of unique species and has played host to countless memories.

The forest turns 100 this year and folks throughout the region are celebrating its spectacular landscapes while paying homage to its tumultuous history.

The Flood Gates Open

Top: The “gateway to the Mon.” Center: CCC boys planting trees on Middle Mountain. Bottom: USFS planting crew on Canaan Mountain plantation area. Photos courtesy National Archives/USFS.

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In March of 1907, thrashing brown flood waters carrying car-sized blocks of ice inundated Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, killing 12 people and effectively grinding the gears of the Steel City’s relentless industrial machine to a halt.

The city had flooded before, but this time felt different. Officials scrambled to investigate the flood, sniffing out the source south of the Mason-Dixon Line: the Monongahela River and its mountainous tributaries, including the mighty Cheat River. The clear-cutting spree of the late 1800s had completely denuded West Virginia’s countless slopes.

By 1910, only 1.5 million acres of the of the state’s nearly 16 million acres of virgin spruce and hardwood forests remained.

Much to the surprise of American industrialists, mature forests are requisite for flood control. Without trees and their complex web of roots to hold the mountains in place, flash flood waters drain freely, washing away tons of soil and debris in a moment’s notice.

Four years later, Congress passed the Weeks Act, authorizing governmental purchase of land for watershed protection and natural resource management. In 1915, 7,200 acres just outside of Parsons, West Virginia were purchased from TJ Arnold.

This property, originally called the Monongahela Purchase, became known as the Arnold Tract. On April 28, 1920, President Woodrow Wilson signed the proclamation designating the Arnold Tract and an additional 47,000 acres as the Monongahela National Forest. “I’ve always referred to the Arnold Tract as the heart of the Mon,” says historian Robert Whetsell.

“It still remains an incredibly important piece of land today.”

According to Whetsell, an archaeologist for the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the Mon in those early years was a barren wasteland of no value to anyone but the USFS. “After the trees were cut and the logs were removed, the slash was left,” Whetsell says. “Erosion and fires ruined the land, washed it out and burned it down to the bedrock.”

with the CCC boys, using stones sourced from across the Mon to construct the famous gateway on Old Route 33 near Elkins. “The CCC coming in was the best thing that happened to the national forests,” Whetsell says. “The government funding or ability to create that recreation infrastructure simply didn’t exist before the Depression.”

To prevent another devastating flood, reforestation had to be swift. A nursery in Parsons produced over 22 million tree seedlings between 1929 and 1951 that made their way into soils across the Central Appalachian region.

The first major plantation project on the Mon started in 1925 on Canaan Mountain, just outside the timber town of Davis. By 1933, crews had planted over 1.5 million Norway spruce seedlings across 2,400 acres. The Plantation Trail honors that legacy, cutting across the mountainside through an enchanting forest of towering Norway spruce and successional hardwoods.

By 1942, when the U.S. Army was using the cliffs and high plains of the Mon as training grounds during World War II, the national forest had grown to over 800,000 acres. Relics like pitons in Seneca’s rock faces and unexploded mortar shells in Dolly Sods can still be found today.

As the forest grew in biomass and acreage, America’s economy shrank.

The height of the Great Depression served as a backdrop for the height of infrastructure growth throughout the Mon. The New Deal saw a frenzy of activity from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) resulting in a slew of roads, bridges, fire towers, campgrounds, and trails.

The CCC camps were also instrumental in the massive reforestation efforts that took place across the Mon. Local master stonemason Patrick Burke worked

The disappearance of the logging industry and rewilding of old sites continue to fascinate Whetsell. While many trails follow old railroad grades and keen-eyed hikers can still find the occasional rusted railroad relic, the thriving boom towns that choked the rugged hollows with soot and smoke have been all but erased from the landscape. Names on forest maps like Devil’s Gulch and Hell For Certain lead interested hikers to almost-heavenly places, making one wonder what human elements of the past lent themselves to those harrowing names. “It’s hard to imagine today, but tens of thousands of people lived in these valleys, and there’s nothing there today” Whetsell says.

Most of the original Arnold Tract is now contained within the Fernow Experimental Forest. The 5,000-acre

Smoke Hole Canyon. Photos by Kent Mason.

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plot, named for prominent forester Bernard Fernow, was established in 1934 and has hosted studies on timber harvesting and restoration, endangered species management, acid rain impacts, watershed management, carbon sequestration, and air quality monitoring.

According to Melissa Thomas-Van Gundy, a research forester for the USFS Northern Research Station, the original intent of the Fernow was to study reforestation efforts to prevent future landscape destruction. “After the clear cutting at the turn of the century, we wanted to prevent that from ever happening again,” she says.

Land of Many Uses In 1960, Congress passed the Multiple Use – Sustained Yield Act (MUSYA), which mandates that national forests must be equally managed for the renewable resources of timber, rangeland, water, wildlife, and recreation. While advocates for individual uses, like logging or recreation, have argued against the requirements act for decades, it has somewhat successfully prevented individual forests from being decimated by logging or dam-building projects.

Given the diversity of landscapes and interest groups throughout the Mon, implementing a forest plan within the bounds of MUSYA is a balancing act to say the least. The Mon still hosts active timber and mining projects, allows grazing in selective areas, is the source of many rivers that provide drinking water for over 200 communities, provides habitat for threatened and endangered species, and is a recreation hub for Central Appalachia.

Looking south along Dolly Sods from the backbone of the Allegheny Front.

According to Cochran, the ecological diversity throughout the Mon adds to the complexity of managing the forest.

“That’s the crux of it, not every place is

Kent Mason

Forest supervisor Shawn Cochran, who took over the Mon’s reins in February of 2018, is tasked with keeping that balance. “The culture of the Monongahela is unique for Appalachia,” he says. “It’s an exciting place to be with tremendous potential.”

Otter Creek Wilderness

suitable for restoration and not every place is suitable for timber production.”

World-Class Recreation

Kent Mason

Although the MUSYA requires national forests to be equally managed for multiple resources, most folks who don’t have a forestry degree associate these invaluable public lands with outdoor recreation. When it comes to playtime, the Mon delivers in spades.

From the soaring cliffs of Seneca Rocks and pristine streams of the Cranberry Wilderness to the gnarly trails of Canaan Mountain and epic cave systems in Pendleton County, the Mon features some of the best rock climbing, paddling, fishing, mountain biking, hiking, birding, and caving east of the Mississippi.

Alex Schlueter is the USFS North Zone recreation officer and works to ensure and improve access to recreation opportunities in the two districts in the northern half of the forest. Schlueter, who hails from Minneapolis, has worked on the Mon for just under three years.

An avid hiker and angler, Schlueter

has to remain cognizant of national recreation trends—like the explosion of rock climbing and the push to create new mountain bike trails—and see how they might apply to the Mon. “The fun part is thinking about the future and planning new projects, and thinking about how to get the materials, staff, and partners in place to get these projects implemented,” he says.

While nearly all the lands contained within the Mon’s boundaries are open to the public for recreation, the 100,000acre Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area (SKNRA) is the undisputed epicenter. The SKNRA was designated by Congress in 1965 as the first NRA within a national forest.

NRAs are unique in that recreation is the primary guiding management principle.

The SKNRA is chock-full of additional superlatives: Spruce Knob is the state’s highest point; Seneca Rocks is the highest true summit in the east attainable only by technical rock climbing; and North Fork Mountain

is the driest individual mountain in the Appalachian chain. World-class adventures within the SKNRA include rock climbing at Seneca and Nelson Rocks, mountain biking the epic 24-mile North Fork Mountain Trail, paddling the Smoke Hole Canyon, and trout fishing along the North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac.

Schlueter’s favorite spot in the Mon is the North Fork Mountain Trail. “The views are amazing. You can sit in the pine trees and it’s very dry; it really reminds me of a southwestern Colorado ponderosa pine forest,” he says. “But at the same time, it could be storming in Otter Creek an hour away. On any given day, depending on what kind of experience you want, you can be in a different ecosystem.”

The Mon also boasts the Canaan Mountain and Seneca Creek backcountry areas, featuring superb trails through large roadless areas and primitive camping opportunities. Other special places include the Highland Scenic Highway, the Gaudineer Scenic

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“The Monongahela is the culture and embodiment of the state motto of Wild and Wonderful,” Schlueter says. “The mountain culture speaks to how West Virginians and those around the Mon value their natural resources.”

Wilderness and Wonderful Environmental agitator and late author Edward Abbey once proselytized that “Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.” Although humans have made their impact in nearly every nook and cranny of the globe, federal wilderness areas— referred to as capital “W” wilderness— exist within the national forest system and are essentially large tracts of wild land at the mercy of Mother Nature’s sweeping hand.

Fortunately for solitude seekers, the Mon currently features seven wilderness areas encompassing 115,000 acres. The Dolly Sods and Otter Creek wilderness areas were established in 1975 under the Eastern Wilderness Act, followed

by the Cranberry and Laurel Fork North and South wildernesses in 1983. These beloved tracts are raw and unrelenting, offering true nature immersion for selfsufficient adventures.

Beth Wheatley, director of external affairs and strategic initiatives at The Nature Conservancy (TNC), leads public policy work at the state and federal level. Wheatley’s intro to the Mon came via a backpacking trip to Dolly Sods during her teenage years. “When I arrived on top of the Sods, it felt to me as if I was in Canada,” Wheatley says.

“I had never experienced that type of landscape in West Virginia before. It’s just breathtaking.”

But as their popularity grew, advocates realized these clumps of wildlands were not enough. In 2000, conservationist Dave Saville rounded up fellow advocates to form the West Virginia Wilderness Coalition (WWWC) with the goal of creating additional wilderness areas in the Mon. The group spent two years taking inventory of potential sites throughout the forest and started a congressional campaign.

“We made a huge evaluation matrix

and looked at every metric imaginable,” Saville says. “We boiled the whole thing down, promoting the idea of wilderness the whole time by meeting with our congressional representatives and building support through various coalitions.”

The result was the Vision for a Wild Mon campaign, which proposed 15 tracts of land as potential wilderness candidates. The Wild Mon campaign timed up perfectly with the 2006 revision of the USFS management plan for the Mon—something that only happens every 15 years. “That’s really the best opportunity to change how things happen on the ground,” Saville says. “Once they have a plan, they just go about implementing it.”

Clyde Thompson, former forest supervisor of the Mon, remains proud of that 2006 forest plan. Thompson, who served the USFS for 40 years and guided the Mon’s management for 18 years, recalls the broad support for the plan. “We dealt with extreme viewpoints on several sides, but we were able to work through that as rational moderates,” Thompson says.

Sunrise on Canaan Mountain.

Kent Mason

Area, and the Cranberry Glades Botanical Area.

“When you’re talking about something as emotion-laden as how we manage our public lands, you need to build a pragmatic approach.”

According to Thompson, around 15,000 public comments were issued—with many in support of adding more wilderness—during the management plan revision process. Saville says the support was due in part to the successful messaging and fundraising of the Wild Mon campaign. “We had decades of political activism within the national forest,” Saville says. “We knew the landscape really well and it was a very strategic campaign.”

The result was the creation of three new wilderness areas in 2009—Big Draft, Roaring Plains West, and Spice Run—and expansions of the Cranberry, Dolly Sods, and Otter Creek wilderness areas, adding nearly 40,000 acres to the Mon’s portfolio of untrammeled wildlands.

“It’s just spectacular country,” Thompson says.

“You’ve got the variance in topography from under 1,000 feet to above 4,000 feet, the variance of rainfall from 16 inches to 60 inches, the biodiversity, and the geomorphology. There’s not a single person that thinks this is an ugly place.”

“The moss-covered rocks and spruce forests are just magical,” Saville says of the scenery in many of these wilderness areas, noting that it’s up to us to protect these places. “Most people don’t know they can make a difference, but the public can have a say and be involved in decision making.”

Restoring Land and Hope Beyond the successful wilderness campaign, Saville is also an expert in red spruce restoration. Through the Central Appalachian Spruce Restoration Initiative (CASRI), Saville and other partners, including TNC, the USFS, and the WV Highlands Conservancy, have planted over 1 million red spruce seedlings across the Mon and throughout the region over the last 20 years.

Saville views the comeback of red spruce forests as the showpiece of restoration work on the Mon. Cochran agrees. “The Monongahela has evolved over its first 100 years from a land that nobody wanted to a land that everybody loves,” he says. “There’s a forest here now, and that shows how quality restoration work can bring a place back.”

For Thompson, the future lies not only in forest management practices but also with the communities that reside in and around the Mon. “Out west, the forests are outside the communities.

Here, the communities are in the forest,” Thompson says. “What you’re doing on the forest has a direct tie to water supplies and recreational access. We need more people using these outdoor spaces, forming memories, and having a passion for future generations to have that same enjoyment.” w Dylan Jones is publisher of Highland Outdoors and has been finding solace, inspiration, and adventure in the Mon for two decades. He’s honored to share in telling its story.

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WV UNDERGROUND Words and photos by Ryan Maurer

A

shrill beeping pierced the complete silence. I rolled over in my sleeping bag and felt around for my phone; instinctively I hit the snooze button and rolled back over. Eight minutes later, it went off and I heard shuffling around me. I turned the alarm off and sat up. Inky blackness stretched in all directions, a void that stretched to infinity. Opening and closing my eyes made no difference. I could feel my body but could not see it. I was simply and purely existing.

With a soft click, Nathan Roser turned his light on at his sleeping area about 50 feet away and suddenly the world came back into existence. I was at base camp in a cave, deep within the 45-mile-long Hellhole System in Pendleton County, and it was time for breakfast. A stove popped on, and soon the still and cool air was filled with aromas of coffee and oatmeal.

The previous day, we spent roughly 15 hours transiting from the entrance, dropping over 450 feet using more than two dozen ropes and hauling packs weighing over 40 pounds each nearly two miles into Hellhole. We walked through massive amphitheaters and squeezed through tight crawls where either your helmet or your head will fit, but not both.

The goal was to photo-document the wonders of this hidden subterranean world. After dropping gear off at base camp, we ventured another half-mile into the cave to explore places with exotic names that underscored their

mind-bending beauty: the Rainforest, Ecstasy Avenue, Joy Canyon, and the Philosopher’s Dome. In the Rainforest, we stepped delicately around slender formations barely thicker than a soda straw but over four feet long, dozens of them colored in white, red, purple, and yellow hues. In Philosopher’s Dome, we stared upwards into a shaft nearly 400 feet tall from which a waterfall dances downward on its own wind currents, twisting and spiraling in a motion known only to the underground explorer.

CAVING THE WAY We did not discover these places; we merely followed in the footsteps of those who did. The cavers who dedicated their lives to the exploration, documentation, and protection of these caves did so voluntarily, risking injury, their day jobs, and, in some cases, family life in the pursuit. Over the last two decades, the members of the Germany Valley Karst Survey worked tirelessly to discover and preserve this underground labyrinth.

In doing so, they extended the known limits of the cave from just a few miles to nearly fifty.

They discovered the second-tallest shaft in the continental United States, Perseverance Dome at 535 feet. A cave just south of Hellhole began as a tight crevice in a hillside and was dug open and cleared of sediment to become a 26-mile-long cave that almost certainly connects with Hellhole. To the north, another cave is still being pushed beyond its known limits. All told, there are over 70 miles of cave passages below Germany Valley, which are most likely one massive system.

32 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SUMMER 2020

A GEOLOGIST’S PLAYGROUND Since cavers began exploring West Virginia in the 1960s, the Mountain State has proven to be a hot spot for large cave systems. Of the fifty-longest caves in the United States, West Virginia has nine of them; Kentucky trails behind at six. In the southern part of the state alone there are four caves over 30 miles long: Scott Hollow Cave, Organ Cave, The Great Savannah System, and the 46.5-mile Friars Hole System, which is currently the longest system in the state. And those are just the large caves.

Several thousand caves that range from a few yards to a couple-dozen miles long are scattered throughout the state in a zone running north-south along the state’s eastern border where the uplift of the Appalachian Mountains has exposed the great limestone beds of the Mississippian Era. These beds, some thousands of feet thick, are the result of calcium deposition from an ancient inland sea that once covered what is now the eastern U.S. This limestone, which is predominantly made of calcium carbonate, reacts with groundwater and dissolves away much like a slower version of Alka-Seltzer in water. The water flows through the thousands of cracks and fissures within the rock bed, only being slowed by impurities in the limestone. The result is miles of underground tunnels that weave and thread their way through the limestone, affected by every small fracture and lump of impure limestone along the way.

For geologists, it’s a playground, one

Hope Brooks gazes up in Philosopher’s Dome in the Hellhole System.

which allows a unique view that only the caver-geologist gets to see: entire rock structures in situ.

Ben Schafler in a tight squeeze under Greenbrier County.

LIFE UNDERGROUND Much like other natural features on Earth, caves follow life cycles. Passages open as water dissolves the rock away, and then become refilled by mud, rocks that fall from the ceiling, or the redeposition of limestone in the form of stalactites and stalagmites. Most large West Virginia caves are like a tree with a central trunk conduit that branches out into a matrix of successively smaller branches.

As one moves away from the trunk, the branches are often in different stages of decay, filling up with sediments and formations. The result is that some caves, which were once one large system, are now separated into smaller caves.

Sometimes, cavers reconnect the caves by removing the sediment.

The historic Hellhole Entrance.

Once the work of water has progressed, the caves fill with life. Bats, salamanders, crayfish, and fish all inhabit caves. Some caves in West Virginia are closed by governing bodies such as the Monongahela National Forest, the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy, the West Virginia Cave Conservancy, and even private landowners to protect the fragile ecosystems that thrive in these unique environments.

Access to these caves is restricted. Hellhole is restricted primarily to protect bats from white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that has ravaged Appalachia’s bat populations.

In the northern section of the cave, conditions allow one of the largest colonies of the endangered Virginia big-eared bat to thrive. Access to northern Hellhole is strictly limited to trips

34 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SUMMER 2020

A self portrait by the author.

that monitor, research, and protect the bat populations.

Southern Hellhole is difficult, and the technical knowledge needed to safely traverse its pits limits access on its own accord.

Wayne Perkins in Remembering Well.

The air in Hellhole regularly circulates, controlled by the exterior temperature and barometric pressure above ground. Yesterday, Hellhole was still. As we leave today, it is sucking air to the north, likely up and out its northern entrance. This entrance frequently expels cold air in the summer and inhales it in the winter. This cold air trap creates a prime environment for endangered bats. When heavy fronts pass over and the barometric pressure changes, the cave must equalize, causing currents of air to rush in and out of entrances to equalize. Today, it’s simply the temperature. Hot air is cooling and sinking down through the cave and blowing out the northern entrance.

As we near the exit, the temperature in the cave steadily climbs to well over 70 degrees.

Our cave suits, designed for temperatures in the 40s, now become sweat suits. As we ascend, each rope begins to blur into the next one until we exit a crawl way and look up 20 feet to blue skies and sunshine.

One by one, we squirm out of the cave into the oppressive humidity of Germany Valley in June. w Ryan Maurer is an engineer and lives in southwest Pennsylvania.

He’s been on over 500 cave trips into 240 caves in 20 U.S. states and two countries.

Aragonite in Forested Meadow Cave.

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Birding Near and Far

By Mollee Brown

jungles and ancient ruins in Guatemala to the vast salt pans and sand spits of coastal Thailand.

I

’m driving Route 2 along the Ohio River, checking the ponds and flooded fields along the road. I’m searching for a small, waterloving bird called a Rednecked Phalarope. A friend saw it a few hours ago, but by the time I get to the pond where he spotted it, the bird is gone. I’m hoping it stays close by instead of continuing its epic migration from South America to the Arctic. The Red-necked Phalarope is my favorite bird species and, because it’s usually found near the ocean, I’ve never seen one in West Virginia.

Birding is increasing in popularity all over the world—even more so due to being an accessible activity during the pandemic. When I meet birders from other places, there’s an instant kinship born from the shared love of exploring and conserving nature.

I was recently talking to a friend from the United Kingdom who was describing an experience he had with a Red-eyed Vireo near his home. His excitement over the rarity in his country made me laugh; at the same moment, I was listening to the same species singing right outside my window. Sometimes called the “preacher bird” for its near-constant vocalizations, Red-eyed Vireos are quite common in the eastern U.S. in the summer months. In Europe, the Red-eyed Vireo is even more rare than the Red-necked Phalarope is in West Virginia. Sometimes, you don’t have to venture far from home to find unusual birds.

My most exciting memories of Red-necked Phalaropes are from a birding trip I took to Iceland last June during their breeding season. Armed with an Icelandic bird guide, I spent two weeks driving around the boreal birch forests and alpine tundra. My main objective was looking for a variety of bird species— Atlantic Puffins, Gyrfalcons, and Arctic Terns—and in doing so, I got to explore far beyond the typical tourist stops.

I love connecting with nature and local communities wherever I wander, and I’ve found birding to be a wonderful way to immerse myself in every place I visit. Searching for birds and wildlife has taken me from the

Clockwise from top left: Red-necked Phalarope, a rare sighting in West Virginia. Indigo Bunting, commonly found in brushy habitats during the summer. Pileated Woodpecker, a year-round resident of WV. The author taking a video of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Tufted Titmouse, these birds are often noisy and sociable, making them a joy to observe. Bird photos by Mollee Brown. Bottom photo by Johnny Lo.

36 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SUMMER 2020

I’m sitting on my back porch as I write this, watching one familiar Tufted Titmouse that I’ve learned to recognize. Although members of the species are virtually identical, this particular bird has a roughed-up patch of feathers on one wing that sticks

out. I’m not sure if it’s a permanent anomaly or if it will only last until the bird’s next molt but, for now, I can tell exactly how often that individual visits my feeders, where it forages in trees, and how many other titmice are in its little flock. Observing the behaviors of individual birds is one of the many joys of birding from home.

summer, but I rarely get to enjoy one right outside my window.

I do a little birding in my backyard or along the roads near my house almost every day—sometimes intentionally, other times while running, biking, or doing yard work. Once you get hooked on birding, it’s hard to turn it off. Getting to know the species of my local patch of habitat makes me feel intimately connected to the natural world around me.

And when I bird the same area often, it increases the excitement upon spotting an unusual visitor, even if it’s a bird that’s common a mile or two away. For instance, there was an Indigo Bunting that spent a few hours in my backyard a few weeks ago. Indigo Buntings can be found in just about any shrubby area or weedy field in West Virginia in the

Wherever you are, I encourage you to keep an eye and ear out for birds.

Even if you don’t plan a destination trip focused on birding, you can still seek out birds and wildlife on your travels that lead you off the beaten path and into a world of natural discoveries.

If you go on a birding trip, you’ll likely connect not only with nature, but also with other people who are equally drawn to our feathered friends. From your backyard to the wonders of West Virginia and beyond, the birds are calling for you. w

Traveling to exotic places and seeing unique bird species will probably never get old for me, but birding around West Virginia is just as fulfilling. It makes me aware that I’m just a tiny piece in this complex web of life on Earth.

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Mollee Brown is an avid birder and explorer. She owns and operates Nighthawk Advertising Solutions from her home in Fairmont.

It is, by common consent, a good thing for people to get back to nature.

-Aldo Leopold OUTDOOR EDUCATION

Davis, West Virginia

appalachianexpeds.org SUMMER 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

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P ro file

What’s your coming to West Virginia story?

People often ask me why I came to West Virginia. I came here because it’s beautiful and peaceful. This natural beauty calms me and informs my thinking. I can’t think in crowded urban spaces where there’s no green.

I’m a native Washingtonian. My son and I often came to the Eastern Panhandle on weekends because he was a little boy who loved anything natural. He loved finding animals and I taught him to fish in Canaan Valley.

I always wanted to live here, but I didn’t know how I could do that. An opportunity came up in 2006 and I jumped on it. I was able to relocate my business and begin serving West Virginia organizations with advocacy.

What outdoor advocacy work have you done in WV?

By Dylan Jones Meet Sheila Coleman-Castells: mother, activist, advocate, environmentalist, teacher, academic, lobbyist, and African American. Her race is mentioned here—last but certainly not least— because while she’s all of these things and so much more, her skin color has undoubtedly played a central and powerful role in her momentous and influential life.

I’ve wanted to profile Sheila for some time but given the heightened state of race relations across the United States, she and I decided the time was right for her deserved appearance in our pages. I met Sheila in 2018 when I joined her in Charleston to lobby against Senate Bill 270 that would have allowed commercial logging in West Virginia state parks. She immediately struck me as a graceful and powerful

presence, eloquent yet fiery and ready to take on whatever injustices met her gaze. Through grass-roots activism and coalition building, led in part by Sheila, the bill was pulled and our parks remain chainsaw-free.

Sheila has more degrees than most: a bachelor’s degree in French with a minor in Spanish, master’s degrees in French literature and education, and a PhD in education research.

She’s currently pursuing a master’s in theology.

Sheila resides with her son JohnPaul in Eglon, a small farming hamlet in Preston County. We met at Cathedral State Park—her favorite hiking spot—to talk about her advocacy and lobbying work, her life as a Black woman in West Virginia, and the potential path forward to a racially just and equal country.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

38 HIGHLAND OUTDOORS SUMMER 2020

I worked with the Boy Scouts for years; my son is an Eagle Scout. I’ve encouraged young people to work in conservation. I especially wanted them to consider the National Park Service.

If there aren’t people that look like you in our nation’s finest spaces that are interpreting the natural world in ways you can relate to, you’ll feel like it’s not for you.

The state park logging bill we lobbied against was some of the most important work I did, and it was unpaid. I started to come to West Virginia because of the state parks. It seemed criminal to log our old-growth forests, the very resource people come here to see. I was able to organically get the community together, get a petition signed, and speak to legislators on why this was a bad idea.

I’m currently helping to build an all-access, all-abilities playground in

Dylan Jones

Sheila Coleman-Castells

I started life as a teacher, went on to become a professor, and consider myself a researcher in education and labor studies. I use that experience to do advocacy for marginalized people in West Virginia and other states, including women and under-resourced individuals.

If there aren’t people that look like you in our nation’s finest spaces that are interpreting the natural world in ways you can relate to, you’ll feel like it’s not for you.

Preston County. Specifically, we want to build an allnatural playground using the contours of land to build spaces that are inviting, interesting, and fit the community. Accessibility is a big problem in our state for the disabled. It’s important to remove racist and cultural barriers to natural spaces, but this isn’t being addressed by anyone.

Dylan Jones

It’s past due for a collective conversation about race and outdoor recreation.

What are your thoughts on the Black experience in outdoor spaces?

Generally speaking, we tend to feel like we are not welcome. When we’re not welcome, not only do we keep our children and families out of these spaces, we lose our opportunity to think of these spaces as part of our lives. Think of how many young people have gotten into land and natural resource conservation through camping, fishing, or rock climbing. If these things aren’t available to us because of negative experiences, they don’t factor into our decision

making. It’s important to get the full benefit of American life, not just a sliver. Often times in urban spaces, where and how we can dream is limited. If we can bust down the barriers and expose young people to worlds they’ve never seen, then they start to think like I did at that age. To me, opening these experiences to everyone means that we prosper personally and economically.

People begin to see they can do so much with their lives in the natural world.

Tell me about your experiences in outdoor spaces.

I learned to appreciate the natural world very early because it was all around me. My father’s family owned land in southern Virginia that we were given during Emancipation in the 1860s.

When you’re a kid and safe on your family’s land, you can roam without fear. I was also fortunate to have a family with a home on a segregated beach outside of Annapolis, Maryland. I didn’t have fear of the water; I learned to swim. Because my family had their own spaces, I

didn’t develop a fear of being outside, but this was highly uncommon then and still is these days. I was spared that generational trauma.

I remember being a teenager in Washington D.C. and going to a park with a swimming pool with a couple of friends. We rode on the bus for an hour and a half, and once we got there, even though we paid, it was very clear that we were not welcome at this pool. Keep in mind this was in the late 70s.

Still to this day, when I tell people I’m going to walk in Cathedral State Park, there

are people I know outside of West Virginia who fear for me because they think something might happen to me in the woods. I don’t fear Cathedral—especially with two pit bulls. Between being a woman and being African American, being in secluded places is fearful for many because of how women and African Americans have been preyed upon in the past.

What are some barriers to outdoor recreation?

From the time I was a public school teacher in Washington D.C., I’ve always

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been interested in getting kids outdoors because urban and suburban kids often don’t have safe places to play and don’t have an understanding of the natural world. The natural world is characterized as unsafe, and to a great extent, that’s true. There’s a legacy of African American kids where these natural spaces have not been available. Legally, they weren’t available until about 50 years ago. When they were available, they weren’t welcome. That leaves an impression not only on an individual, but on generations of individuals.

If they don’t feel welcome because of the way they are treated, they won’t ever want to go. When you come in contact with the natural world, is it a welcoming and inviting place? That has to start in childhood.

For example, many African Americans don’t ever learn to swim, and they have fear

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and contempt for the water.

When they can’t swim, they won’t be canoeing, they won’t be rafting, they won’t be visiting rivers because those places are dangerous and they don’t feel welcome.

There’s a cultural aspect of what actually constitutes recreation. If you can even afford a vacation, often you go to see family.

You’re not spending time in hotels or outdoor spaces, whether that’s the shore or state parks. Many African American kids have never seen the water in West Virginia; they’ve never seen the ocean. They’re lucky if they can get to a lake that anyone would even want to swim in to begin with.

The other issue is that it’s not accessible. You need a car, money, and leisure time to venture outside an urban environment. People with lower incomes don’t have the money or leisure time due to the stressors of daily life. And

then what do you do when you get there? You don’t have the skills to be able to appreciate the natural world because these things were never taught to you. Things like skiing or whitewater paddling, these aren’t things you’re able to do alone, you have to be taught how to do them.

Many folks have seen the viral video of a white woman calling the police on a Black man birding in Central Park. What does this video say about race relations in the U.S.?

There are a lot of different feelings. The first and most upsetting to me is that I have a Black son, and the fact that there are white women who would deliberately weaponize the systemic fear of Black men who are simply trying to enjoy a natural space angers and disgusts me. People like that need to be prosecuted

Dylan Jones

It’s important to get the full benefit of American life, not just a sliver.

Often times in urban spaces, where and how we can dream is limited.

If we can bust down the barriers and expose young people to worlds they’ve never seen, people begin to see they can do so much with their lives in the natural world.

Dylan Jones

for their deceit and what they attempt to do, which is calling the police on a man who simply is asking you to put your dog on a leash in a leashed area. I’m at a loss for words to describe how craven that is. I’m glad that video showed there are people who are willing and able to weaponize race in our culture because when we as African Americans say that’s true, no one believes us that it’s happening. They say that we’re playing the race card. Well, who played the race card in that ordeal?

It certainly wasn’t the calm Black man.

The second thing is that birding is one of those things that is usually a privilege of the elite. It’s only in the past 30 to 40 years that you’ve even seen Black birders. That, again, speaks to access and exposure to the natural world. I know that most African Americans don’t consider something like birding to be something they would do. And most of it, again, is lack of exposure to that particular hobby and how it is done. Whether we are people of color or we are white, we should be able to do this. But the reality is that people of color don’t have the full realization of American life; that’s the crux of it. Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that we were to have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That pursuit of happiness could be birding.

Yet when we try to do that and try to do it safely, we are subject to the weaponization of race. Seeing these videos where we are oppressed in our own country, to the point of being killed under someone’s knee, shows us

that Jeffersonian vision isn’t realized. It won’t be realized until white people realize that their opinions and the society they create makes it hard for us to live and prosper.

What’s a potential path forward?

It’s two-fold. For white people in America, it is to check your privilege. Why is it that some white people have unreasonable fears and attitudes about their fellow Americans? What experiences in their lives have led them to believe we are not supposed to be in these spaces? Even the mild reaction of surprise when some white people see us in these spaces, that comes from what they think is normal, reasonable, and customary. If I’m gawked at for being Black in Cathedral State Park by white people, that’s not my problem; it’s theirs. The need for white Americans to change their minds and behavior in this is critical.

For people of color, we need to expand our horizons and understand there are different ways of being. Limiting ourselves because of our past limits our future. I’m very clear about what happened to my parents and grandparents during segregation, but I’m determined not to live as a segregated human being, and I’m determined that my son will not live that way. I’m not going to truncate our lived experiences by virtue of what happened to my ancestors. I have a birthright to enjoy the natural bounty of our earth, and I won’t be stopped in any way from enjoying nature. w SUMMER 2020 HIGHLAND-OUTDOORS.COM

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A SPECIAL NOTE TO OUR READERS This page is typically reserved for our events calendar, but given the unfortunate fact that nearly everything is canceled for the summer months ahead, we’ve decided to write you a letter instead.

Howdy, folks, As you’ve probably figured out by now, Highland Outdoors is a print and online magazine that we proudly distribute for free to readers all over the state and beyond. This is only possible because of our advertisers—the restaurants, breweries, gear shops, county CVBs, resorts, campgrounds, organizations, and other invaluable small businesses—who place their collective trust in us as an outlet to spread the word about their products and services.

We do our best to work with standout businesses and organizations that are filled with amazing people and committed to making West Virginia a better and more inclusive place for outdoor recreation. We truly value the financial and moral support they’ve provided over the past two years as well as the invaluable economic, environmental, and cultural contributions they make to our great state, which is why we wanted to take a moment to give them a well-deserved nod. While we’d love to say that we choose our advertisers, the reality is that they choose us. As such, we sincerely encourage you to choose them in return.

A lot of our advertisers have, at least temporarily, closed their doors because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some have had to make the incredibly tough choice to lay off employees; all are trying to adapt and figure out how to keep going in an uncertain environment and strained economy. Many of these same folks chose to continue advertising with us in this issue not only because they see the inherent value of advertising, but also because they see value in the magazine and our mission. If you’ve enjoyed this and previous issues of Highland Outdoors, take a look back through our pages and make note of who’s supported independent outdoor adventure journalism over these past two years. If you jive with any of those businesses or organizations, now’s the time to support them. Let’s be honest—everyone needs everyone’s support right now. If you’re able, please consider buying local, ordering take-out, buying a gift card, booking a trip, or donating to an organization.

Last but not least, we’d like to note that this issue was also made possible in part by a grant from the Natural Capital Investment Fund (NCIF) and Truist Bank. We’re immensely grateful to the NCIF and Truist for being selected as one of many great West Virginia businesses that received funds from the COVID-19 Emergency Grant program.

The NCIF is a fantastic organization that supplies loans and entrepreneurial support to small businesses in Appalachia and the Southeast. w Sincerely, Dylan Jones & Nikki Forrester

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G aller y

I’ve had a love for storms since I was a child. They never frightened me. My dad taught me to appreciate the unique beauty of lightning, but also to respect it. When a distant storm approached, Dad put me on his shoulders and we watched from the yard. “Each strike is different, like a fingerprint or snowflake,” he told me. I became fascinated by lightning, always waiting for those ominous streaks across the sky. I usually take lightning photos during the day to feature the landscape in my images.

A desirable location is one of the most important factors when I’m photographing lightning. Just like a painter who seeks the perfect composition, I look for attractive features, such as barns or fields, which provide an alluring canvas on which to place my lightning strikes. Photo and caption by Anne Johnson.

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