Acid Rain       Tree mortality rates on the west-facing slopes of the Appalachian Mountains are a noticeable problem. A 1998 study by the Lucy Braun Association for the Mixed Mesophytic Forest revealed that trees from Alabama to Pennsylvania have mortality rates two to four times more than expected.

     Historically tree mortality rates average one-half percent per year or five percent a decade. Forests studied in the report average two percent annual mortality, varying from state to state and area to area. In higher elevations in West Virginia the annual mortality rate is an alarming two and one-half percent.

     The culprit spreading tree death over this multi-state area is thought to be acid rain and ozone resulting from emissions produced by coal-fired power plants, industries, and motor vehicles. This subject is complex and is discussed in thoughtful fashion in Charles E. Little's 1995 book The Dying of the Trees: the Pandemic in America's Forests (Viking).

     You can access the EPA's main acid rain site at http://www.epa.gov/... Additional web sites are: http://www.wildlife.org/... and http://www.igc.org/... 

      Fernow. Studying the effects of human endeavors upon forest health is done in West Virginia by government agencies and university professors.  In 1934 the U.S. Forest Service established Fernow Experimental Forest near Parsons for that purpose. Today its size is about 4,700 acres.  The breadth of subjects studied, concerning timber, watersheds, flora, and fauna is notable.
Last updated on Monday, July 24, 2000