Friday, February 8, 2013

Praising the Comeback Red Spruce & Flying Squirrel!

Praising the Comeback Red Spruce & Flying Squirrel! ... and those who made it possible


A stand of red spruce (<em>Pinus rugosa</em>) at the Gaudineer Knob scenic area in the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia.  Photo Credit: Kristopher Hennig, AmeriCorps with the USFS

Initiative Heals Rare Forest and Recovers Squirrel

In a 1925 article in the Scientific Monthly titled “The Vanishing Spruce,” referred to the high elevation red spruce (Picea rubens) as a “lost tribe.” The lost tribe of red spruce the authors were referring to found refuge in the high elevations in the central Appalachian region during a warming period that took place after the Wisconsin glaciation—part of the last Ice Age, which ended approximately 10,000 years ago. Historically, red spruce was common in both the peaks and valleys of the Appalachians, but as temperatures climbed, the species was forced to retreat north towards New England and southeastern Canada, and to islands of suitable habitat in the high elevation areas of the central Appalachians. ...

A female West Virginia northern flying squirrel (<em>Glaucomys sabrinus fuscu</em>) that was found by U.S. forest service biologists during annual monitoring of nest boxes in November 2012. Photo Credit: Kristopher Hennig, AmeriCorps with the USFS
And haven't we all had days like this.