Sprucing up Spruce Mountain.AMERICAN FORESTS American Forests is a nonprofit conservation organization that promotes healthy forests and urban tree planting. The organization was established in 1875 as the American Forestry Association, by physician/horticulturist John Aston Warder and a group of like-minded citizens joined with long-time partner The Nature Conservancy Nature Conservancy, nonprofit organization established in 1951 to preserve or aid in the preservation of natural environments. It protects wilderness areas in the United States and Canada and is affiliated with similar groups in Latin America and the Caribbean. this fall to spruce up spruce up Verb [sprucing, spruced] to make neat and smart Verb 1. spruce up - make neat, smart, or trim; "Spruce up your house for Spring"; "titivate the child" Spruce Mountain, the highest point in West Virginia and site of a Global ReLeaf Forest. The 3,000 red spruce planted there are part of an effort to bring back a native species that once covered all the highest elevation mountains in West Virginia. The mountain's population of the namesake conifer conifer (kŏn`ĭfûr) [Lat.,=cone-bearing], tree or shrub of the order Coniferales, e.g., the pine, monkey-puzzle tree, cypress, and sequoia. Most conifers bear cones and most are evergreens, though a few, such as the larch, are deciduous. has suffered due to various uses of the land. This in turn decreased the habitat available for the endangered flying squirrel and the threatened Wehrle's salamander. The nearby Mountain Institute opened its grounds for camping the night before the planting. Undaunted by a rainy morning, volunteers turned out in full force, hiking more than a mile to the project site on the side of Spruce Knob next to Monongahela National Forest The Monogahela National Forest (MNF) was established by the U.S. Congress in 1915 as the 7,200-acre Monogahela Purchase. It became a U.S. National Forest on April 28, 1920 and now encompasses 910,155 acres (3,683 km²). . Twenty volunteers helped plant spruce seedlings across a 17-acre section of farm fields and hardwood forest. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The seeds for the planting were harvested from nearby Canaan Valley and grown at a nursery until large enough for planting. Project coordinator Amy Cimarolli, of The Nature Conservancy West Virginia, was pleased with the day's efforts. "This planting helped bring the spruce forest that is the mountain's namesake and the whole ecosystem that it supports back from limited numbers," Cimarolli said, "reestablishing important habitat for the West Virginia flying squirrel." |
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