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Red spruce trees once grew abundantly across the Appalachian Mountains. The native species can grow 75 feet tall and live for more than 350 years.
But red spruce in Appalachia experienced a sharp population decline in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In West Virginia, logging, forest fires and acid rain sliced the population to just 10 percent of its peak coverage.
Last month, the United States Forest Service (USFS) proposed a new red spruce restoration plan for the central Appalachian region. The plan includes planting new red spruce in open fields, old mine lands and hardwood forests across North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
If undertaken, the project would bring new red spruce to West Virginia woodlands, including Washington National Forest, Jefferson National Forest and Monongahela National Forest.
The USFS is accepting public feedback on the proposed plan until Sept. 5. To provide a comment on the project, visit the agency’s website.
