Pocahontas County, West Virginia

Cranberry Glades is a 600-acre "Botanical Area" on the Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia. The area is managed by the USDA Forest Service, which regulates human activities in order to preserve its unique botanical characteristics. Public access is provided by a parking area and boardwalk. However, most of the Botanical Area is closed to the public except for legitimate scientific and educational purposes.

Although the term "glade" often refers simply to an opening in a forest, "the Glades" are actually a complex of ponded, herbaceous, shrubby, and forested wetlands. These wetlands are unusual in that they are home to plants and animals typically found much further north. The characteristics of the Glades have been determined largely by the local topography and recent climatic changes.

Topography and Geology
The Glades occupy a nearly level valley bottom at an elevation of approximately 3200 feet at a latitude of 38 deg 12 min North. The surrounding mountains rise to about 4500 feet and almost completely enclose the valley. The Glades receive water from several first-order streams and innumerable springs and seeps. Water leaves the valley through a single outlet (the South Fork of the Cranberry River).

Most of the mountains in West Virginia are composed of ocean sediments deposited primarily during the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian Periods, roughly 200-300 million years ago. Relatively little tilting or buckling of the rock strata has occurred, and the hilly-to-mountainous topography has formed mainly from stream erosion into level-bedded sandstones, siltstones, and shales. In many places, streams have cut down through the rocks into more resistant layers, causing the streams to meander and produce broad floodplains. This is essentially how the Glades valley formed.

Climate and Weather
No evidence of glacial action has been found in West Virginia; the southernmost extent of the ice during the last ice age is just north of the state. Up until about 15,000 years ago, though, temperatures at high elevations in West Virginia were quite low. Between 15,000 and 10,000 years ago, the climate warmed considerably. Today, the climate in the mountains is cool mainly because of the elevation. Geographic and weather data from Snowshoe Ski Resort (20 miles northeast of Cranberry at an elevation of 4848 feet) provide some idea of the climate typical of the West Virginia mountains; see the table below. Similar data from Charleston, South Carolina are provided for comparison. Note that the elevation difference between the two sites produces a remarkably different climate, despite the relatively small latitudinal difference. Summers are much cooler at Snowshoe, and winters are typically below freezing. Precipitation is 32% higher at Snowshoe, and of course much of this is in the form of snow during the winter. However, precipitation at Snowshoe varies less from month to month than in Charleston; there is little distinction between a dry and wet season.

High temperatures seldom reach more than 86 degrees F at Snowshoe. However, winter temperatures of -36 degrees F have been recorded. (Yee-haw!) The frost-free period at Snowshoe averages only 131 days, which translates into a growing season of only about 4 months (typically May through August). Temperatures at Snowshoe average about 44 degrees F in October.

If Snowshoe seems cold, the climate in the Glades valley is actually somewhat cooler by 5-10 deg F because it receives cold air drainage from the surrounding slopes. Accumulation of cool air is often evident by low fog or mist in the morning. This "ponding" of cold air has provided a temperature refuge of sorts for species that otherwise would not have persisted in the region.

Vegetation
The mountains of West Virginia probably supported alpine tundra vegetation during the last ice age. Post-glacial climatic warming caused plant and animal species to migrate northward and/or upward in elevation. Elevations were not high enough to allow all cold-climate species to persist in the region, and they were largely replaced by species adapted to warmer temperatures. In the bowl-shaped valley of Cranberry Glades, however, many such species survived because of the cooler temperatures there.

Almost all of the forest in and around Cranberry Glades was logged between 1900 and 1930. Post-logging fires were not a major issue, with one glaring exception on the top of nearby Black Mountain. (In 1936, a severe fire burned about 1200 acres of cut-over spruce forest; some areas in this burn are still nearly devoid of vegetation.) In the 1960s, the Forest Service allowed several tracts on nearby Kennison Mountain to be cut. Because these cuts were within the watershed of Cranberry Glades, a great deal of criticism ensued. No further logging of significance has occurred within the watershed.

Thus, the forest vegetation is primarily mature second-growth hardwood forest about 70-80 years old. Some remote sites, particularly in the more inaccessible areas of the Glades, support old-growth forest, although these tracts are not large.

Spring is one of the most delightful times of the year, as dozens of species of ephemeral herbs flower during the period from early May through June. Fall is truly spectacular. Although weather conditions make the timing and intensity variable, peak fall coloration generally occurs during a short 2-3 week period in early to mid-October.

Poisonous or irritating plants are few. Poison ivy (Rhus radicans) is apparently absent. Horsenettle (Laportea canadensis), which has stinging hairs, is common in moist forests but is easily recognized and avoided.

More info: http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/mnf/sp/dolly_sods_wilderness.htm