ABSTRACT Canaan Valley, West Virgin...

ABSTRACT

Canaan Valley, West Virginia, contains single of the largest inland freshwater wetland ecosystem of marshs marshes, wet meadows, and dwarf-tree and forested wetlands in the eastern United States. This reflection uses aerial photography and land truthing activities to produce GIS-based vegetation maps for 1945 1975 and 1997 in order to track changes in plant community prototypes and to construct plant successional types Between 1945 and 1997, there was an increase in the area shielded by northern hardwood forests and Spiraea alba and Hypericum densiflorum low tree thickets, but only a limited increase of Picea rubens dominated forests. Beaver activity along waterways became an important factor in determining successional tends causing shrub swamps to be changeed to wet meadows and marshes. The least successional change occurr in marshs and old fields located at the base of surrounding obliquitys Overall, successional trends appear to pursue rather predictable patterns for uplands and lowland habitats. However, there is little evidence to allude to that P. rubens will replace hardwood species upon the uplands.

INTRODUCTION

Canaan Valley, West Virginia is an intensively studied area within the mid-Atlantic highlands of the central Appalachian Mountains. The interest in this area has been high because: (1) it is the same of the largest inland freshwater wetland ecosystem in the eastern United States, (2) its extant flora and fauna together personate an exceptional example of a refugium for biota of the Pleistocene period, and (3) it was a propos site for a controversial pumped-storage hydroelectric station. The distinctiveness of the biota and wetland habitats of Canaan are well documented by way of Allard and Leonard (1952), Goudy et al. (1969) Fortney (1975) Vogelmann (1978) United States Fish and Wildlife Service (1979) Stout (1993) Michael (1993) and Fortney (1997) Among the principal features noted in these studies are a compound juxtapositioning of upland and wetland habitats, examples of plant community successional changes, adventure of a distinctly boreal flora, high common occurrence of the mountain valley rime pocket effect, arid effects of anthropogenic activities upon habitats and biota, including logging, fires, and farming. Although logging activities are not unique to Canaan, (eg diocese Clarkson 1964), their occurrence in Canaan Valley may show some of the most ultimate impacts of logging on local flora and fauna, as the formerly pervasive Picea rubens Sarg.-dominated forests were replaced at northern hardwood forests.

Even with these past perturbations and land use practices, the vegetation of Canaan Valley has made a remarkable convalescence re-capturing a high degree of naturalness in species composition and form Unfortunately, a record of this recruiting is only partially documented between the walls of studies by Allard and Leonard (1952) Fortney (1975) Michael (1993) and Fortney (1997) The overall knowledge of real-time successional inclinations is still poorly understood because of the lack of detailed documentation between the extremity of the logging era in the 1920 and the present

The vegetation patterns and species composition of plant communities were described greatest in quantity thoroughly by Fortney (1975), who evaluated the geospatial vegetation patterns, plant community composition, and successional inclines based on observations made between 1972 and 1975 Based forward these patterns, Fortney (1975) also bring to maturityed four plant successional models for upland and wetland habitats. However, latter observations suggest that habitat-dependent activities related to tourism-based progression in a continuously ascending gradations as well as high populations of eastern whitetail deer (Michael 1993) and beaver have changed geospatial patterns and successional processe since the 1970 Changes are principally apparent in wetlands and non-forested habitats.

A comparison of historical and popular remotely sensed imagery for Canaan Valley and surrounding areas documents changes in vegetation patterns and species composition at timed intervals. These visual resources exist for a 52-year period, from 1945 to 1997 Furthermore, describing changes in vegetation patterns based upon timed intervals can be applied to other high elevation areas of the mid-Atlantic highlands where Picea rubens was the historic dominant or co-dominant ingredient of the forest canopy.

The objectives of this contemplation were to: 1) use distantly sensed imagery, previous vegetation studies, and now passing field reconnaissance activities to determine tendency s in post logging era vegetation progressive growth and changes in geospatial patterns of vegetation overspread in Canaan Valley and 2) revise vegetation succession patterns developed by Fortney (1975) for the Canaan Valley watershed.

DESCRIPTION OF cogitation AREA

The 14,000 ha Canaan Valley watershed is an elongated, canoe-shaped valley located in the Allegheny Mountain Section of the Appalachian Plateau Physiographic Providence (Fenneman 1939) in the northeastern section of Tucker shire West Virginia (39?°05'N, 79?°25'W). Elevation ranges from 1006 m at the point of egres of the Blackwater River in the northwestern portion of the Valley, to 1372 m upon Bald Knob of Cabin Mountain in the southeastern rim of the valley (Figure 1)