Southeastern Naturalist G. Constantz and R. Preston 2015 Vol. 14, Special Issue 7 1 Canaan Valley & Environs 2015 Southeastern Naturalist 14(Special Issue 7):1–6 Introduction George Constantz1,2,* and Ron Preston3,4 Abstract - This Special Issue of the Southeastern Naturalist is devoted to an unusual place. Like other places on Earth, the form of Canaan Valley (herein called “the Valley”), located in Tucker County in northeastern WV, reflects past interactions among its rocks, topography, climate, and water. In the Valley’s case, these elements have shaped the development of an unusual complex of terrestrial and aquatic habitats, many of which support rare species of plants and animals. The rich natural resources have also attracted people to the Valley, so there is an extensive history of resource use and abuse, protection and restoration, and scientific research. Over the last several decades, research projects to catalog and study many aspects of the abiotic environment and living residents have been carried out here. In this Introduction, we sketch how this book came to be and hint at how its papers provide a comprehensive, detailed description of this special place. Genesis of this Special Issue Since the mid-1800s explorers, sportspeople, government fish and game managers, and research scientists have written about Canaan Valley’s natural history, but the data were scattered through personal diaries, unpublished internal reports, and academic research journals. We and several other Canaan Valley (hereafter, the Valley) enthusiasts felt that gathering much of the information in a single source would be useful to diverse interests, including residents and land managers. Such a compilation could also provide a foundation for the next generation of researchers. In 1999, we started planning a conference that would bring together people who had produced the Valley’s scientific, social, economic, and recreational data. A conference steering committee included representatives of academia, federal and state agencies, non-government organizations, and the Valley’s residents and business people. The resulting conference, Canaan Valley and Its Environs: A Heritage Landscape Celebration, was sponsored by the Canaan Valley Institute (CVI) and held at the Canaan Valley Resort and Conference Center during 16–19 October 2002. A basic purpose of the conference was to share the accumulated knowledge about the Valley and its surrounding area in a way that local landowners and land-use decision-makers would find useful. From the start, our ultimate intent has been to sustain this natural landscape that is attracting growing uses. 1Research and Development Team, Canaan Valley Institute, PO Box 673, Davis, WV 26260. 2Current address - 351 North Back Creek Road, High View, WV 26808. 3Stream Restoration Team, Canaan Valley Institute, PO Box 673, Davis, WV 26260. 4Current address - 112 Cole Street, Barnesville, OH 43713. *Corresponding author - constantz@ frontiernet.net. Southeastern Naturalist G. Constantz and R. Preston 2015 Vol. 14, Special Issue 7 2 During the conference, invited and volunteered papers were presented orally and via posters to a wide variety of attendees. Topics included geologic origins, soils, and climate; the Valley’s streams, wetlands, groundwater, hydrology, and water quality; rare species of plants and animals; wetland, forest, and old-field plant communities; and several kinds of animals—mussels, fishes, amphibians, birds, and game mammals. There were also presentations on human presence in the Valley, including pre-Columbian Native Americans, early white explorers, the Valley’s industrial and recreational development, and the management of its public lands. Contemporary environmental topics included wastewater management, acid mine drainage and mine-land soils, invasive plants and animals, and overbrowsing by Odocoileus virginianus Zimmermann (White-tailed Deer). Many papers include specific recommendations for working towards the Valley’s sustainability. At the request of the steering committee, Ronald Fortney agreed to serve as the proceedings’ senior editor. Ron formulated the guidelines for authors, associate editors, and reviewers. Each submitted paper was assigned for peer review to 1 of 10 associate editors or to the senior editor. Most associate editors processed 2 or more papers. The 11 editors followed the practices of established peerreviewed journals, including maintaining the confidentiality of the manuscripts’ contents, safeguarding the anonymity of reviewers, encouraging the reviewers’ objectivity, and identifying conflicts of interest. The editors also urged the reviewers to evaluate a series of criteria, such as originality, comprehensiveness of the literature review, defensibility of methods, scientific soundness, understandability of the data presentation, and the rigor of conclusions. Not all submitted manuscripts were accepted. CVI had originally planned to publish a limited number of the conference’s proceedings, but funding was unexpectedly exhausted. In 2009, in lieu of a hardcopy publication, CVI placed the 38 accepted papers on its website. As the two original planners of the conference, however, we felt a need for a printed document that could be used by diverse people, including conference sponsors and participants, landowners and recreationists, and local landuse decision-makers. With CVI’s approval and at our own expense—we had both retired from CVI by then—we printed and bound copies of the proceedings directly from the website. A copy of the resultant 2-volume book was donated to each of the following West Virginia libraries: CVI in Davis, Division of Forestry at West Virginia University (WVU), Wildlife Resources Section of the WVDNR in Elkins, Monongahela National Forest in Elkins, and US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in Elkins. An enthusiastic response to the printed proceedings reinforced our belief in the value of the material, so we contacted the Eagle Hill Institute to explore whether the conference’s papers could comprise a Special Issue of the Southeastern Naturalist. Based on our formal proposal—including a description of the conference, an outline of the peer review process, a list of editors and referees, and titles and brief descriptions of the papers—the Institute approved the project. We then went about reenergizing authors and raising publication funds. Southeastern Naturalist G. Constantz and R. Preston 2015 Vol. 14, Special Issue 7 3 An Extraordinary Place Natural setting Located in the Central Appalachian Mountains (Tucker County, northeastern West Virginia), the floor of the Valley is 3200 ft (960 m) above sea level. The Valley is nestled within an oval ring of ridges that reach upwards to 4450 ft (1356 m). This prominent topographic margin encloses an elongated, bowl-shaped basin— an intact watershed, a discrete integrated ecosystem. The first part of this Special Issue includes papers that describe the abiotic characteristics of the Valley. In discussing the geology of the area, Matchen explains how erodible limestone wore away to create the Valley, while more resistant sandstones were left to support the outer ridges. He also treats the region’s coal and natural gas deposits, thereby providing background for several papers that follow. Climate, critical in forming the Valley’s ecosystems, remains important in their maintenance. Vogel and Leffler describe long-term trends for rain and snow amounts, number of frost-free days, and maximum and minimum temperatures. Sencindiver et al. stress the interactions of geology, topography, climate, and organisms in the formation of soils. They also review which soil types are present and their distribution within the region. For over 10,000 years, since the retreat of the last continental glacier, several factors have shaped the Valley’s landscape and large complex of wetlands. Stephens et al. look at the soils of the Valley’s wetlands, including how coal and gas extraction affect them. Lanham et al.’s work on soil development within coal beds is also tied to these issues. In their discussion of headwater streams, Wallace and Eggert explain how the connection between a place’s underlying geology, surficial topography, and soils shape its drainage patterns and nutrient cycling, and in turn how these factors interact to create habitats that support living things. Chambers et al.’s paper summarizes 5 decades of research on geology, surfaceand ground-water hydrology, and the influence of vegetation, humans, and other animals on the Valley’s water quality. Finally, the contributions by Smith et al. and by Viadero and Fortney, respectively, present information on the Valley’s water quality and how best to measure it. Plants The Valley’s surrounding slopes support remnants of boreal forest, extensive hard- and soft-wood forests, and broad grasslands, all of which are drained by steep streams. The gently undulating valley floor offers even greater structural complexity—a mosaic of aquatic habitats including bogs, marshes, beaverdammed ponds, and streams interspersed with terrestrial patches of herbaceous plants, woody shrubs, and short trees. In part because of the place’s habitat diversity and elevation, Fortney et al. propose that some of the Valley’s plant communities are unusual. In addition, they catalog rare species within the plant communities and then compare their findings to similar, high-elevation systems within the Allegheny Mountain section of the Appalachians. Rentch et al. focused their research on the plants of a particular wetland complex, Abe’s Southeastern Naturalist G. Constantz and R. Preston 2015 Vol. 14, Special Issue 7 4 Run, which flows within the Valley, and interpret the relationships among its hydrology, soils, and vegetation. They also tried to identify trends in postlogging vegetation by comparing their data from the late 1990s with historic information from 1945. Bartgis et al. assembled an inventory of rare plant species living throughout the Valley and the nearby Dolly Sods plateau. They collated all data regarding rare plants from surveys conducted through 2014, in the hopes that providing the information in a single paper would aid land managers and conservation professionals in maximizing protection for these rare species. In contrast to rarities in natural areas, Chadbourne and Anderson looked at the Valley’s managed grasslands. White settlers cleared these lands for agriculture, and then many fields were abandoned and started undergoing succession, an historical sequence that has created the Valley’s current grasslands. Some of the research on the Valley’s plants has been more specialized. For example, Faust and Peterson studied colonies of Osmunda claytoniana L. (Interrupted Fern) with the aim of developing a method to estimate their ages. Grafton and Fortney catalogued non-native invasive plants. They used the results of old and current studies to develop a ranked list of invasive plants which they hope would help land managers set conservation priorities. In their paper on the effects of White-tailed Deer and Adelges piceae (Ratzeburg) (Balsam Woolly Adelgid) on Abies balsamea (L.) Mill. (Balsam Fir), Cherefko et al. explore the interactions of animal populations and forest condition. Animals In addition to its interesting flora, the Valley’s unique habitats also support a notable fauna. In a paper that bridges the transition from plants to animals, McDonald lists 72 rare plant and animal species by habitat, discussing several in detail. Based on his findings, he also outlines management suggestions and research needs. Although McDonald did not include invertebrates in his list of rarities, others have studied this group within the Valley. Chadbourne and Anderson looked at invertebrate biomass in mowed and unmowed fields because of its importance as food for grassland birds. Using an in situ bioassay, Clayton et al. tested the response of freshwater mussels to acid mine drainage. Compared to the limited effort expended on invertebrates, extensive research has focused on the Valley’s vertebrate animals. Zurbuch describes the historic fishery of the Blackwater River, the main river that flows through the Valley and eventually drains into the Monongahela River. He lists the species, numbers, and sizes of fishes historically caught in the river, and describes early explorations by anglers as well as the modern sport fishery. Cincotta et al. assembled an inventory of the modern fishes in the Blackwater River, and discuss the drainage history, historic fish collections, and origins of the basin’s ichthyofauna. They also assess the effects of acid mine drainage on the area’s freshwater fishes. Pauley summarizes almost 30 years of inventorying the Valley’s amphibians. He discusses terrestrial and aquatic amphibians that live in the Valley, and then Southeastern Naturalist G. Constantz and R. Preston 2015 Vol. 14, Special Issue 7 5 conjectures that several species that have not been documented in the area could actually occur there. Finally, Pauley makes suggestions for management actions aimed at conserving the region’s amphibians. Birds are one of the most popular components of the Valley’s fauna. Northeimer presents a general overview of the region’s birds. Steketee et al. report on the population status and habitat needs of the Valley’s iconic bird, Scolopax minor Gmelin (American Woodcock). Chadbourne and Anderson considered the temporal variation in the abundance of grassland birds. Reversing their order on the byline, Anderson and Chadbourne also report results from their study of nesting birds in the human-created habitat of hawthorn savannah. In addition, they suggest management actions to benefit the Valley’s nesting birds. Michael and Brown conducted monthly waterfowl and wetland-bird surveys during April–November annually from 1980 through 1993. They report which species nested in the area and which used the Valley’s waterbodies as migratory stop-overs. Many of these waterfowl species serve as important game species. Lesser and Cromer review the history of wildlife management in the Valley, including the abundance of specific species and the habitat-management activities aimed at increasing animal populations. In this section’s final paper, Michael at al. summarize historic game harvests in the Valley. The authors amassed an extensive collection of game-harvest records that span almost 80 y, from which they inferred the harvest trends. They discuss the challenge of basing population estimates on the numbers of animals harvested and make suggestions about how game managers could improve their demographic formulas. Michael et al. also offer explanations for why some animal populations have fluctuated . Humans Although most of this book’s papers on animals focus on non-humans, several authors consider our own role in the history and future of the Valley. Issue co-editor Constantz presents a plausible scene about early human habitation in the Valley. Providing the archaeological data on which his prehistoric account is based, he traces human history in the region from ~12,000 YBP to 350 YBP. Carvell picks up the story by presenting the environmental history of the Valley: the arrival of Europeans, the Valley’s industrial development, and the acquisition of much of the Valley’s land for a national forest, a wildlife refuge, and two state parks. Carvell frames most of his discussion around the effects of human activities on the Valley’s natural systems during the various time periods. Forest products were among the first resources to be commercially extracted from the Valley. Forests remain vital to the region for their value as habitat, in protecting water quality, and as a draw for tourists. Adams and Kochenderfer describe how the Fernow Experimental Forest, a nearby unit of the US Forest Service with a resume of significant silvicultural findings, has contributed to our understanding of the Valley’s forests. In addition to Carvell’s story of the effects of humans on the Valley’s natural resources, several authors focus on purely historical accounts. Sypolt describes Southeastern Naturalist G. Constantz and R. Preston 2015 Vol. 14, Special Issue 7 6 the activities of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the Valley. Although the CCC’s work was resource-based, such as planting trees and developing state parks and a national forest, Sypolt focuses on human aspects, such as logistics, organization, and the benefits to participants and the public. Lutz presents a history of skiing in the Valley, from the early skiers who found patches of snow, through the first rudimentary public facilities, to today’s 4-season resorts. Selin and Zepeda close this final section with a paper on outdoor recreation and naturebased tourism. They examine trends in tourism and their positive and negative effects on the local economy. We end this Special Issue by reflecting on the total body of information that has been generated about the Valley and suggest how it may be used for sustaining this special place.