Wildlife Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

As Beavers Return To W.Va. Wetlands, Conservationists Promote Coexistence

Local conservationists are building fences around trees in wetlands across West Virginia and beyond to protect them from beavers and promote coexistence between species.

Donning rain boots and gloves, volunteers trudged across a Charles Town wetland Tuesday to prepare the habitat for a pair of unexpected residents.

Jefferson County’s Cool Spring Preserve is currently home to at least two beavers, possibly mates, according to local conservationists. If trail camera photos did not offer proof enough, their presence is made clear through bite marks on trees and a growing number of dams in Bullskin Run, the local stream.

Beavers are native to wetlands across North America, including those in West Virginia. But they were hunted to near-extinction during the 18th century fur trade. With fewer people hunting them for their pelts, beavers are growing in population across the continent. According to many conservationists, that’s a good thing.

Alison Zak serves as founder and executive director of the Human-Beaver Coexistence Fund. The group develops nonlethal strategies to manage beaver populations across the mid-Atlantic.

Zak said that beavers play a key role in bolstering biodiversity, storing groundwater and filtering pollutants in wetland ecosystems. But they also bring what she describes as “beaver problems,” which fall into two main categories: flooding and tree damage.

When beavers build dams, they can redirect the flow of water and prompt flooding. This can disturb roadways and personal property, so conservationists often fence off culverts so beavers cannot disrupt the flow of water with their dams.

Dams have appeared along Bullskin Run, a stream that cuts through Cool Spring Preserve in Charles Town. Local conservationists say it is the work of a pair of beavers.
*Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Beavers can also chew trees that protect rivers from erosion, as well as saplings planted as part of reforestation efforts. In response, conservationists build wire fences around the bases of trees that need to be protected from local beavers.

That is what brought a team of volunteers onto the preserve Tuesday: to help build fences that ensure trees and beavers can coexist in West Virginia and to strengthen wetland ecosystems.

“A lot of people aren’t aware beavers are around unless, all of a sudden, they come across very obvious signs of beavers, maybe even causing problems on their property,” Zak said. “But also, we’re seeing an increase in tolerance toward beavers, and people wanting to use nonlethal management and wanting to coexist.”

Tuesday’s volunteers placed new wire frames around the bases of trees with overly tight fences or no fences at all. They took particular care to cover saplings, and to give trees enough space to grow freely.

KC Walters, associate director of conservation at Potomac Valley Audubon Society, organized Tuesday’s event. She said that coexistence strategies like these help people come together to solve environmental problems.

“It’s not just conservation, and not just about the relationship with wildlife,” she said. “It’s also about the relationships of the human organizations that exist in keeping us all working together for a common goal.”

Zak said she hopes volunteers left Tuesday’s event with a better understanding of how conservation works.

“I hope they got a little taste of how complex it can be, but how also doable it is,” she said.

Lily Davis unlinks segments of an old wire fence around the base of a tree at Cool Spring Preserve in Charles Town.
*Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

New Elk Viewing Platform, Visitor Center Slated For Logan County

A new elk viewing platform and visitor center will be constructed in Logan County beginning this year. The project is expected for completion in 2025.

The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources has awarded the Morgantown-based March-Westin Company a $6.7 million contract to construct a visitor center and elk viewing platform in Logan County.

The project follows the introduction of 150 elk to West Virginia, where they were once native.

The facility’s construction is slated for a 2025 opening, with construction beginning this spring.

It will feature an elevated platform on an elk viewing tower that is accessible to individuals with mobility issues, as well as an exhibition on the elk reintroduction program, displays and conference centers.

The project was funded in part through $2.5 million in federal Abandoned Mine Land grants, $2.1 million from the West Virginia Department of Economic Development and $2.1 million from hunting and fishing license funds.

During a press briefing Friday, Gov. Jim Justice said he was excited for the project, and the ability for residents to witness the elk reintroduction program firsthand.

“These magnificent animals, we reintroduced them back into West Virginia,” he said. “Good gracious, it’s majestic beyond belief.”

Interview With The Ichthyologist

They say there’s a lot of fish in the sea, but there’s also an awful lot of fish in the streams and rivers of Appalachia. A new book by fisheries research scientist, and WVU professor, Stuart Welsh showcases some of the lesser-known fish in the region. Bill Lynch spoke with Welsh about his book Hornyheads, Madtoms and Darters.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Lynch: Let’s talk about Hornyheads, Madtoms and Darters. Describe what a hornyhead or a madtom or a darter is.

Welsh: Yeah, so hornyhead is a name for a group of minnows. And these are minnows that the males develop these little pointed horns on their head during the spawning season.

They develop these horns, grow these horns, and they use them to spar. They compete for females during the spawning season. In some ways, it’s similar to a white-tailed deer with antlers, in that, a deer grows its antlers and then loses the antlers after their breeding season.

It’s same situation with these hornyhead minnows. They grow these bumps on their head. They use them during the breeding season, and then they’re lost afterwards. Then, they they regrow them the following year.

Lynch: Madtoms: what are they like?

Welsh: Madtoms is a name for a group of catfish.

Most people, when you hear the word catfish, you think of big fish like channel catfish, blue catfish, flathead catfish, but madtoms are a group of catfishes. They do not get very large.

Their maximum size, depending on the species, may range from three to six inches in length.

Most people don’t see them because it’s not a fish that you would often catch on a hook and line. But we have quite a few different species of madtoms in the Appalachians.

They’re very interesting little fish and certainly worth telling a story about.

One thing I wanted to do with the book was to tell stories about these small fish. So, people can maybe understand them and get to know them a little bit better.

Lynch: You’re an ichthyologist? Is that correct?

Welsh: That’s correct.

Lynch: When, where, how did you first start taking an interest in fish?

Welsh: I think it was when I was a young kid, you know?

I really enjoyed fishing. And so, I spent a lot of time in creeks and, not necessarily fishing all the time, but flipping rocks and looking for crayfish, aquatic salamanders, and various critters.

I think that focus at an early age kind of sparked my interest. And I was able to keep it going into a career

Lynch: Kicking over rocks and fishing is one thing but academic study is something else. What kind of path is that?

Welsh: Well, it’s a long tedious path, I guess you would say. It requires a lot of graduate work. I got a B.S, degree at West Virginia University and then I went on to get a master’s degree at Frostburg State in fisheries management. And then I came back to West Virginia University for my Ph.D. where I was focused on fisheries work.

Lynch: How diverse is the fish population in central Appalachia?

Welsh: We have a lot of different kinds of fish.

For example, in West Virginia alone, which is certainly the heart of central Appalachia, we have a lot of species – 195.

So, there’s a lot of different kinds of fishes we have. And most people are familiar with the common ones, especially ones that you catch on rod and reel, but the smaller ones, a lot of people don’t know about them very much.

So, I think that’s one of the opportunities for a book like this is to provide information about this fish: to let people learn a little bit more about them.

Lynch: Talk about the book and putting it together.

Welsh: It’s a collection of stories on central Appalachian fishes.

There are stories on some familiar fish – like the native brook trout, the smallmouth bass, the bluegill sunfish. But then there’s also several stories on fishes that people know less about, such as in the title – hornyheads, madtoms and darters.

Also, there’s some fishes that are unusual that are discussed, like, for example, the lampreys, which are a group of fishes that are pretty small, but they have kind of an eel like body. Then you’ve got a fish called the trout perch that I talked about, which is really fascinating little fish of central Appalachia.

Lynch: How did you narrow down which fish you wanted to deal with?

Welsh: Yeah, that was a challenge because I find all the fishes that we have to be fascinating and interesting and worthy of a story.

But I tried to just focus on some of the fishes that I thought would make the most interesting stories, because what I wanted to do was to write stories that would be both educational but also interesting for a wide audience.

And so, I tried to select fishes that had an interesting story to be told often that was related to a certain type of behavior or maye a certain type of feeding strategy, a certain type of spawning strategy.

It was typically some aspect of that fish that I thought was interesting that I emphasized in the story.

Lynch: What do you hope an average reader takes away from your book?

Welsh: What I would hope is that people would realize central Appalachia has a diversity of fishes. That there’s a lot to be learned. You know, often when you know more about something, you care about it. My hope, in the end, is that this book will increase the conservation of fishes in the central Appalachians by making people more aware of the diversity that we have.

Lynch: The book is called Hornyheads, Madtoms and Darters. Stuart Welsh, thank you very much.

Welsh: Thank you. I appreciate it.

A male candy darter. One of the fish featured in the book “Hornyheads, Madtoms, and Darters”

“Hornyheads, Madtoms and Darters,” from Ohio University Press is available in bookstores.

The Buzz About Bees And No Hate In My Hollar, Inside Appalachia

This week, we head to the meadows and woods of West Virginia to catch the buzz on beekeeping. And, it’s been over six years since Kentucky artist Lacy Hale designed her iconic “No Hate in My Holler” screen print. Appalachians are still telling her how much they identify with its message. We also take a ride on the Cass Scenic Railroad and explore some one-of-a-kind getaways in West Virginia.

This week, we head to the meadows and woods of West Virginia to catch the buzz on beekeeping.

And, it’s been over six years since Kentucky artist Lacy Hale designed her iconic “No Hate in My Holler” screen print. Appalachians are still telling her how much they identify with its message.

We also take a ride on the Cass Scenic Railroad and explore some one-of-a-kind getaways in West Virginia.

You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.

In This Episode:

The Buzz About Bees In West Virginia
Lacy Hale’s “No Hate In My Hollar”
Glamping It Up With Cass Railroad
Armadillo On My Mind

The Buzz About Bees In West Virginia

Folkways Reporter Margaret McLeod Leef learns about beekeeping in Summers County, West Virginia at the Appalachian Beekeeping Collective.

*Credit: Margaret McLeod Leef/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

We visited among stands of black locust and tulip poplar trees for a report from Folkways Reporter Margaret Leef. She checks in with a community of West Virginia beekeepers.

Lacy Hale’s “No Hate in My Hollar”

In Pound, Virginia, near the Kentucky border, there’s a mural depicting an old woman smoking a pipe and holding a baby wrapped in a big bright quilt. The mural honors Nancy Mullins Shores, a beloved local midwife. It’s part of a growing body of work by artist Lacy Hale, who has been painting murals and turning out viral images from eastern Kentucky for years.

Host Mason Adams visited Hale and talked with her about the mural and “No Hate in My Holler,” a screen print she designed in 2017, in response to a Nazi rally.

Glamping It Up With Cass Railroad

Vickie Yohe, sitting by the fire outside a glamping dome near Alderson, West Virginia.

*Credit: Randy Yohe/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Appalachia is full of odd, off-beat and cool places to rest for the night. West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Randy Yohe and his wife, Vickie, like to get out, travel and explore unusual places to stay.

Randy brought back a story from one of their trips to the Cass Railroad in West Virginia.

Armadillo On My Mind

A lot of times we hear about animals becoming endangered or disappearing, but there are species that are emerging or moving into Appalachia, like the armadillo, which is usually found in the southwest.

In the last few years, armadillos have been spotted in the mountains of western Virginia.

Mason Adams spoke with Seth Thompson, a biologist with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, who took the first reports of armadillos in the state.

——

Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Tim Bing, Tyler Childers, Paul Loomis, and Chris Stapleton.

Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens.

You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.

You can find us on Instagram and Twitter @InAppalachia. Or here on Facebook.

Sign-up for the Inside Appalachia Newsletter!

Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

WVU Researcher Examines Declining Wild Turkey Populations

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, a West Virginia University researcher is looking into the apparent decline of wild turkeys in several states.

Unlike the farm-raised fowl that grace holiday tables across America, wildlife conservationists say wild turkey populations are declining.

With funding from hunting advocacy organization National Wild Turkey Federation, West Virginia University Associate Professor of Wildlife Ecology Chris Rota will study wild turkey populations in South Dakota. He will use radio transmitters placed on turkeys to better understand their movements and nesting locations.

“Turkey populations are strongly driven primarily by hen survival, and secondarily by reproduction,” he said. “Some of the big factors that might be limiting the population could be predation of adult females. It could be hunter harvest of adult females, and that’s something that we can change via management. But reproduction can also be a part of this as well making sure that there’s appropriate nesting habitat to produce young.”

Rota points out that protecting potential turkey habitats will have a broader reaching impact beyond helping hunters.

“We are protecting that habitat for a whole suite of other critters that are going to use that habitat as well,” he said. “When people enjoy going to wildlife management areas, maybe to hike or to view wildlife, they’re looking at a whole suite of species, even if that habitat was set aside for hunters.”

Rota said hunters drive conservation efforts because the fees they pay, from excise taxes on firearms to hunting licenses, fund wildlife conservation efforts.

“Hunters for a century or more have been really integral in the conservation, not just of our iconic big game species, like turkey or white tailed deer, but also in conservation of myriad species,” he said.

Reversing downward trends is important because turkeys play an important ecological role as prey, but also a societal role as part of many Native American food and cultural systems.

Quail Stocking Program Set To Release 20,000 Wild Birds In W.Va.

A total of 20,000 quail are set to be stocked in seven locations around the state through October with 12,000 already having been released since August.

The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources is beginning a program to restock quail in the state’s wild areas.

Stocking is the process of raising birds up to a certain age before releasing them into a designated habitat. A total of 20,000 quail are set to be stocked in seven locations around the state through October with 12,000 already having been released since August.

Those locations include:

Cross Creek Wildlife Management Area
Pleasant Creek Wildlife Management Area
Huttonsville State Farm Wildlife Management Area
Burnsville Lake Wildlife Management Area
Frozen Camp Wildlife Management Area
Laurel Lake Wildlife Management Area
Greenbrier State Forest

The program, called the “Governor’s Quail Stocking Initiative,” is of personal interest to Gov. Jim Justice, who is an avid fowl hunter. He said he hopes to see a regeneration of 10 to 30 percent in the state’s population.
“It’s a cheap way of introducing quail back into West Virginia, and a very hopeful way of getting significant regeneration,” Justice said. “And then off we go.”

Quail used to be a common sight in West Virginia, but habitat loss starting 50 years ago saw a massive decrease in their numbers. A previous attempt was made to reintroduce quail to West Virginia in 2020, releasing wild birds from Texas at the Tomblin Wildlife Management Area in Logan County.