species of plants and animals formallylisted as endangered or threatened,and more than 280 imperiled freshwater species.

The Appalachia forests have longbeen a major tourist destination foroutdoor recreation activities such asfishing, hunting, hiking, kayaking andbackpacking. Recreation in this areacontributes a significant number ofjobs and income to the region. Well-known recreation areas that contributea significant number of jobs andincome to the region include GreatSmokey Mountain National Park, BigSouth Fork Recreation Area, and theGeorge Washington-Jefferson andMonongahela National Forests.

ThreatsThis forest region is threatened bydestructive logging practices (espe-cially for woodchip demand), road-building and gas exploration. Air pol-

Physical DescriptionThe Blue Ridge-Appalachia KeystoneForest overlaps both the largerAppalachian mixed mesophytic forestsand the Appalachian Blue Ridge forestecoregions. They are some of the old-est and most biologically diverse tem-perate forests in the world. Due to thegeologic and climatic stability of thisregion over the past 65 million years,a great number of plant and animalspecies have evolved specifically in thisregion, creating an environment richwith endemic species. The region alsocontains some of the last holdouts of

unlogged native forest in the easternUnited States, including 130 hard-wood tree species such as oaks, redmaple, tulip poplar, chestnut and hick-ory. Also living in these forests aremore than half the flowering plantsand ferns in North America (morethan 2,000 species). Coniferous treesalso characterize this region with anoverstory dominance of red spruce orFraser fir. This region provides much-needed habitat for endangeredspecies such as black bears, baldeagles and flying squirrels. Today,these forests contain more than 50

*Available data did not necessarily distinguish wilderness from non-wilderness within national parks, so somewilderness within national parks may be included within this statistic.

Forested BLM Lands (non-wilderness)

Forested National Forest Lands (non-wilderness)

Forested National Wildlife Refuge Lands (non-wilderness)

Forested National Park Lands (non-wilderness)*

Forested Wilderness

Forested miscellaneous public and private preserves

Privately owned, unprotected forest lands

Total Forested Lands

0

3,554,663

504

634,380

343,923

559,803

10,500,639

15,593,912

George Washington-Jefferson NationalForest, Virginia.

© DAVE MUHLY

10 America ’s Keystone Forests

BLUE RIDGEBLUE RIDGEAPPALACHIAAPPALACHIA

lution, acid rain, invasive species andincreasing urban sprawl heighten theimmediate need for greater protectedareas. Although the region has expe-rienced more than a century of indus-trial logging, small remnants of nativeold-growth remain and much of theforest in the region that was clearcuta century ago are once again reach-ing maturity. Very little of this key-stone forest is under wilderness ornational park status.

Efforts to Increase Protected AreasThere is a current proposal to create anew Blackwater Canyon National Park,which includes private lands in thecanyon and key portions of the adja-cent Monongahela National Forest.

The Ridge and Valley Wilderness andNational Scenic Area Act of 2004, intro-duced by Representative Rick Boucher(D-VA) and Senator John Warner (R-VA) on April 22, 2004, would providelasting protection for some 40,000

Written by Greenpeace For more information, visit SouthernAppalachian Forest Coalitionwww.safc.org

acres by establishing four new wilder-ness areas, two new scenic areas andexpanding five existing wildernessareas in the Jefferson National Forest.

There are two other wildernessareas proposals. One proposal is theaddition of 10,900 acres to the LaurelFork Wilderness, and the second is theLittle River Wilderness Proposal whichwould designate 28,000 acres aswilderness. The proximity of the LittleRiver proposal to the Ramsey’s DraftWilderness would create a large, rela-tively continuous natural area. Acreagefrom both proposals would come par-tially from the George WashingtonNational Forest.

The West Virginia WildernessCoalition has identified areasthroughout the MonongahelaNational Forest that warrant protec-tion, including places such as SenecaCreek, Spice Run and Roaring Plains.

Moderate

Good

Best

Forested BLM and national forest lands

Forested national parks

Forested wilderness areas

Forested national wildlife refuges

Misc. forested public lands and privatepreserves

Privately owned forests

Wilderness area boundaries

National park boundaries

National wildlife refuge boundaries

Urban areas

Highways

Forest Quality Forest Ownership

11Mapping the Next 100 Years o f Forest Protect ion