Cranberry Glades Botanical Area - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Cranberry Glades — also known simply as The Glades — are a cluster of five small, boreal

Boreal ecosystem

The term boreal is usually applied to ecosystems localized in subarctic and subantarctic zones, although Austral is also used for the latter....

-type bog

Bog

A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens....

s in southwestern Pocahontas County

Pocahontas County, West Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 9,131 people, 835 households, and 527 families residing in the county. The population density was 10 people per square mile . There were 7,594 housing units at an average density of 8 per square mile...

, West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

, USA. This area, high in the Allegheny Mountains

Allegheny Mountains

The Allegheny Mountain Range , also spelled Alleghany, Allegany and, informally, the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States and Canada...

at about 3400 feet (1,036.3 m), is protected as the Cranberry Glades Botanical Area, part of the Monongahela National Forest

Monongahela National Forest

The Monongahela National Forest is a national forest located in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. It protects over of federally-owned land within a proclamation boundary that includes much of the Potomac Highlands Region and portions of 10 counties.The MNF includes some...

. This site is the headwaters of the Cranberry River

Cranberry River (West Virginia)

The Cranberry River is a tributary of the Gauley River located in southeastern West Virginia, USA. It is a part of the Mississippi River watershed, by way of the Gauley, Kanawha, and Ohio Rivers, draining an area of ....

, a popular trout

Trout

Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...

stream, and is adjacent to the nearly 50000 acres (202.3 km²) Cranberry Wilderness

Cranberry Wilderness

The Cranberry Wilderness is a U.S. Wilderness area in the Monongahela National Forest of southeast West Virginia, USA. Its name derives from the nearby Cranberry Glades as well as from the Cranberry River and Cranberry Mountain...

.

The Glades are a 750 acres (3 km²) grouping of peat bogs resembling some Canadian

Geography of Canada

The geography of Canada is vast and diverse. Occupying most of the northern portion of North America , Canada is the world's second largest country in total area....

bogs. The gladed land is highly acidic and supports plants commonly found at higher latitudes, including cranberries

Cranberry

Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. In some methods of classification, Oxycoccus is regarded as a genus in its own right...

, sphagnum moss, skunk cabbage

Skunk Cabbage

Skunk Cabbage may refer to:* the genus Lysichiton* Asian Skunk Cabbage, Lysichiton camtschatcense, grows in eastern Asia* Eastern Skunk Cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus, grows in eastern North America...

, and two carnivorous plant

Carnivorous plant

Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods. Carnivorous plants appear adapted to grow in places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients, especially nitrogen, such as acidic...

s (purple pitcher plant, sundew

Sundew

Drosera, commonly known as the sundews, comprise one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucilaginous glands covering their leaf surface. The insects are used to supplement...

). The Glades serve as the southernmost home of many of the plant species found there.

The Glades have been the subject of much scientific study, especially during the 1930s, '40s and '50s. Professor Maurice Brooks

Maurice Brooks

Maurice Graham Brooks was an American educator and naturalist whose name became synonymous with the natural history of Appalachia.-Biography:...

conducted studies in 1930, 1934, and 1945. The work of Strausbaugh (1934), Darlington (1943), and Core (1955) followed.

In 1974, the Cranberry Glades Botanical Area was designated a National Natural Landmark

National Natural Landmark

The National Natural Landmark program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only natural areas program of national scope that identifies and recognizes the best examples of biological and geological features in...

Geography and geology

The natural history of the Glades has been traced back at least 12,200 years. Apparently, a forest of conifer-northern hardwoods replaced tundra with the end of the last Ice Age. Over time the Glades formed into what it is today. Now, most of the bog is underlain by peat that is up to 10 feet (3 m) thick. Under the peat is a layer of algal ooze and the ooze by marl. Since a limestone source in the surrounding rocks is indicated, an ample source appears to be present in the underlying Hinton Formation, a circumstance that also has significant implications for the Glades' flora.

The area is not entirely a glade, but a bog or wetland covered with all sorts of decaying vegetation. The peat and decaying organic matter is more than ten feet thick under the dense plant cover. The ground is not as much as quicksand or swampy, but spongy. It is in a high valley, about 3,300 to 3,400 feet (1,005 to 1,036 meters) above sea level, surrounded by the Cranberry, Kennison, and Black Mountains.

Five separate glades were identified and named in 1911 — Big Glade (59 acres), Flag Glade (28 acres), Long Glade (20 acres), Round Glade (8 acres) and Little Glade (1 acre). The smallest, Little Glade, has since grown over and is no longer recognizable.

Darlington's studies showed that the Glades were formed by easily eroding rocks in the basin and more resistant rock at its lower end. This effectively prevented down-cutting and maintained a low gradient in the valley. This resulted in an elevation of 3400 ft (1,036.3 m) at the upper end and 3350 ft (1,021.1 m) at the back, eliminating the possibility of origin by water impoundment.

The water from the Glades drains to form the headwaters of the Cranberry River

Cranberry River (West Virginia)

, a popular trout stream joined by the Yew and Charles Creeks. It starts at about 4600 feet (1,402.1 m) above the sea, and then it meanders through the glades and recedes through a narrow gap between Kennison and Black Mountains. It then joins the Gauley River

Gauley River

The Gauley River is a river in West Virginia. It merges with the New River to form the Kanawha River, a tributary of the Ohio River. It is one of the most popular advanced whitewater runs in the Eastern United States and is the chief feature of the Gauley River National Recreation Area.-Headwaters...

25 miles (40.2 km) down the mountains at about 1920 feet (585.2 m) above sea level.

Flora

Many of the plants found in the Glades resemble those in the northern region of North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

. They are descendants of seeds that took root over ten thousand years ago before the last glacial retreat

Holocene glacial retreat

Holocene glacial retreat had a profound effect on landscapes in many areas that were covered by ice at the Last Glacial Maximum. The many valleys of the Cairngorms, a mountainous region in the Eastern Scottish Highlands are littered with deposits from this period.-Evidences of the retreat of the...

. Among these are two unusual species of carnivorous plant

Carnivorous plant

s that thrive in the area — the purple pitcher plant and native sundew

Sundew

. They evolved carnivorous habits because of the scarce root food in the spongy soil. Two very rare boreal plants — bog rosemary and buckbean — also live in the 59 acres (238,764.7 m²) Big Glade. Much of the area provides a home for many species of moss

Moss

Mosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1–10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations. They do not have flowers or seeds, and their simple leaves cover the thin wiry stems...

es. These include a cover of sphagnum moss, bird-wheat moss, bog moss and reindeer lichen. Hummock

Hummock

A hummock is a boss or rounded knoll of ice rising above the general level of an ice-field, making sledge travelling in the Arctic and Antarctic region extremely difficult and unpleasant....

s of these plants reach a height of 3 foot (0.9144 m). Over top of these grow prostrate cranberry vines that bloom nice pink flowers in the summer and a bunch of fruits in late September.

Trees:

The bog forest is composed mainly of red spruce

Red Spruce

Picea rubens is a species of spruce native to eastern North America, ranging from eastern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and from New England south in the Adirondack Mountains and Appalachians to western North Carolina.-Physical description:...

, eastern (or Canada) hemlock

Eastern Hemlock

Tsuga canadensis, also known as eastern or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as pruche du Canada, is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It ranges from northeastern Minnesota eastward through southern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and south in the Appalachian...

, and yellow birch

Yellow Birch

Betula alleghaniensis , is a species of birch native to eastern North America, from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, southern Quebec and Ontario, and the southeast corner of Manitoba in Canada, west to Minnesota, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia.It is a...

. Because of the cool climate of the Glades, the amount of canopy tree species is not great. Red maple

Red Maple

Acer rubrum , is one of the most common and widespread deciduous trees of eastern North America. It ranges from the Lake of the Woods on the border between Ontario and Minnesota, east to Newfoundland, south to near Miami, Florida, and southwest to east Texas...

, black ash and pitch pine

Pitch Pine

The Pitch Pine, Pinus rigida, is a small-to-medium sized pine, native to eastern North America. This species occasionally hybridizes with other pine species such as Loblolly Pine , Shortleaf Pine , and Pond Pine The Pitch Pine, Pinus rigida, is a small-to-medium sized (6-30 meters or 20-100 feet)...

are also not uncommon. The upland forests immediately surrounding the wetlands are dominated by these same species, but also include American beech

American Beech

Fagus grandifolia, also known as American Beech or North american beech, is a species of beech native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario in southeastern Canada, west to Wisconsin and south to eastern Texas and northern Florida in the United States. Trees in the...

, sugar maple

Sugar Maple

Acer saccharum is a species of maple native to the hardwood forests of northeastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario, and south to Georgia and Texas...

, black cherry

Black Cherry

Prunus serotina, commonly called black cherry, wild black cherry, rum cherry, or mountain black cherry, is a woody plant species belonging to the genus Prunus...

, American basswood, white ash

White Ash

For another species referred to as white ash, see Eucalyptus fraxinoides.Fraxinus americana is a species of Fraxinus native to eastern North America found in mesophytic hardwood forests from Nova Scotia west to Minnesota, south to northern Florida, and southwest to eastern...

, yellow buckeye

Yellow Buckeye

Yellow Buckeye is a species of buckeye native to the Ohio Valley and Appalachian Mountains of the Eastern United States. It is a medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 20–47 m tall...

, black birch

Black Birch

Black Birch may refer to:* Betula lenta* Betula nigra* Black Birch Ridge outside of Blenheim on the South Island of New Zealand* the Black Birch Astrometric Observatory at Black Birch Ridge...

, cucumber tree

Cucumber tree

Magnolia acuminata, commonly called the cucumber tree , cucumber magnolia or blue magnolia, is one of the largest magnolias, and one of the cold-hardiest. It is a large forest tree of the Eastern United States and Southern Ontario Canada...

, Fraser magnolia

Fraser magnolia

Magnolia fraseri , is a species of Magnolia native to the southeastern United States in the southern Appalachian Mountains and adjacent Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain from West Virginia south to northern Florida and west to eastern Texas...

, and white oak

White oak

Quercus alba, the white oak, is one of the pre-eminent hardwoods of eastern North America. It is a long-lived oak of the Fagaceae family, native to eastern North America and found from southern Quebec west to eastern Minnesota and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas. Specimens have been...

. In addition, there are also many more understory trees and shrubs.

Shrubs:

The Glades' shrubs, unlike their tree population, are very diverse. This is in part a consequence of the presence of shrub swamp

Shrub swamp

Shrub swamps, also called scrub swamps or buttonbush swamps, are a type of freshwater wetland ecosystem occurring in areas too wet to become hardwood swamps , but too dry or too shallow to become marshes...

s, forest habitats

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

, and glades

Glade (geography)

A glade or clearing is an open area within a woodland. Glades are often grassy meadows under the canopy of deciduous trees such as red alder or quaking aspen in western North America. They also represent openings in forests where local conditions such as avalanches, poor soils, or fire damage have...

. The dominant species is the speckled alder. Also common are pipestem, glade St. Johns-wort

Hypericum

Hypericum is a genus of about 400 species of flowering plants in the family Hypericaceae ....

, great rhododendron, hobblebush, smooth arrowwood, roughish arrowwood

Viburnum dentatum

Viburnum dentatum — southern arrowwood or arrowwood viburnum or roughish arrowwood — is a small shrub, native to the Eastern United States and Canada from Maine south to Northern Florida and Eastern Texas....

, wild raisin

Viburnum

Viburnum is a genus of about 150–175 species of shrubs or small trees in the moschatel family, Adoxaceae. Its current classification is based on molecular phylogeny...

, ninebark, alternate-leaved dogwood, bunchberry

Bunchberry

Bunchberry is a common name for two species of dwarf dogwoods:*Cornus canadensis - Canadian or Eastern Bunchberry*Cornus suecica - Eurasian or Northern Bunchberry...

, winterberry holly, mountain holly

Mountain Holly

Ilex mucronata is a species of holly native to eastern North America, from Newfoundland west to Minnesota, and south to Maryland and West Virginia.-Taxonomy:...

, and the Appalachian endemic longstalked holly, swamp rose and many more. Bog rosemary is at its southernmost limit of distribution. The oblongfruited serviceberry

Amelanchier bartramiana

Amelanchier bartramiana is a species of serviceberry. Common names include mountain serviceberry, Bartram's serviceberry, mountain juneberry, Bartram juneberry, and the oblongfruit serviceberry....

is a rare northern shrub, isolated from the rest of its species here. More than ten of these shrubs have markedly northern distributions and at least three are at their farthest southern limits. The Canada yew is a special evergreen shrub that was once so common in the area, that nearby Yew Creek and Yew Mountains are named after it. Browsing deer have reduced its numbers to such an extent that it is found only in scattered locations throughout its Central Appalachian range, including here.

Herbs:

Rare northern herbs also populate the area: oak fern

Oak Fern

Gymnocarpium dryopteris is a fern of the family Polypodiaceae.-Description:...

, pod grass, Canada mayflower, mountain bindweed

Polygonum

Polygonum is a genus in the Polygonaceae family. Common names include knotweed, knotgrass, bistort, tear-thumb, mile-a-minute, and several others. In the Middle English glossary of herbs "Alphita" , it was known as ars-smerte. There have been various opinions about how broadly the genus should be...

, marsh marigold, goldthread, swamp saxifrage, white wood sorrel

Oxalis

Oxalis is by far the largest genus in the wood-sorrel family Oxalidaceae: of the approximately 900 known species in the Oxalidaceae, 800 belong here...

, northern white violet, Jacob's ladder

Polemonium

Polemonium, commonly called Jacob's ladder, is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants in the family Polemoniaceae, native to cool temperate to arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and also in the southern Andes in South America...

and buckbean. Grass

Grass

Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...

es and sedge

Sedge

- Plants :* Acorus calamus, sweet flag, a plant in the Acoraceae family* Any of the plants in the family Cyperaceae- Animals :* A collective noun for several species of birds, including bitterns, cranes and herons* Sedge-fly, caddisfly- Other uses :...

s found here include blue joint, drooping wood reed grass, millet grass, rattlesnake mannagrass

Glyceria

Glyceria is a genus of grasses known commonly as mannagrass or, as referred to in the UK, sweet-grass. These are perennial rhizomatous grasses found in wet areas in temperate regions worldwide. The base of the grass grows along the ground and may root at several places. Then it grows erect and...

, interior sedge

Carex interior

Carex interior is a species of sedge known by the common name inland sedge. It is native to much of North America from Alaska to northern Mexico to the mid-Atlantic United States. It grows in wet habitat, most often in calcareous soils. This sedge produces clumps of stems approaching a meter in...

, and Fraser's sedge. Wild lilies in the Glades include yellow clintonia and white hellebore

White Hellebore

White Hellebore may refer to:* Veratrum album* Veratrum viride...

. Several species of orchids also grow here, such as the rose pogonia, lesser rattlesnake plantain, northern coralroot, and grass-pink orchid that are in full bloom in July.

Fauna

Many animals that live in the Glades are at their southernmost breeding grounds, including birds such as the Swainson’s and hermit thrush

Hermit Thrush

The Hermit Thrush is a medium-sized North American thrush. It is not very closely related to the other North American migrant species of Catharus, but rather to the Mexican Russet Nightingale-thrush.-Description:...

es, Nashville

Nashville Warbler

The Nashville Warbler, Vermivora ruficapilla, is a small songbird in the New World warbler family.They have olive-brown upperparts, a white belly and a yellow throat and breast; they have a white eye ring, no wing bars and a thin pointed bill. Adult males have a grey head with a rusty crown patch ;...

and mourning warbler

Mourning Warbler

The Mourning Warbler, Oporornis philadelphia, is a small songbird of the New World warbler family.These 13 cm long birds have yellow underparts, olive-green upperparts and pink legs. Adult males have a grey hood and a black patch on the throat and breast...

s, and purple finch

Purple Finch

The Purple Finch, Carpodacus purpureus, is a bird in the finch family Fringillidae.-Taxonomy:The Purple Finch is one of 24 birds in the genus Carpodacus and is included in the finch...

es. Other, less exotic, birds like raven

Raven

Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...

s and hawk

Hawk

The term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,...

s are common. Other familiar animals including whitetail deer inhabit the Glades. Black bear

American black bear

The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...

s have been seen in the skunk cabbage growing along the boardwalk. In the evening, you have a good chance of hearing beaver

Beaver

The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...

s working; they are mostly inactive during the day. It is hard to see the beavers because of little light, and they are dark colored. They also reside submerged or are building their homes.

Weather

Like many of the adjoining areas high in the Alleghenies

Allegheny Mountains

The Allegheny Mountain Range , also spelled Alleghany, Allegany and, informally, the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States and Canada...

, Cranberry Glades is known for frequent weather changes. Generally speaking, the area is cool and wet, comparable to the climates of New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. The higher mountains surrounding the Glades form a bowl, draining their cool air downhill to the Glades.

Due to the high elevation, the potential for frost exists year-round at Cranberry Glades. In some years, the frost-free period has been as short as 81 days. Still, the average summer high is in roughly 74 °F-82 °F (23 °C-28 °C). Mid-winter temperatures record as low as -26 F, and the area often sees heavy snow.

Recreation

Today, Cranberry Glades serves as a major tourism stop along the Highland Scenic Highway corridor. Adjacent to the Glades is the Cranberry Mountain Nature Center providing interpretive services. Within the Glades area itself, Monongahela National Forest

Monongahela National Forest

has constructed a 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) boardwalk that traverses the edge of some bogs and a small wooded section. The entire Glades area itself is traversed by Cowpasture Trail, a 6 miles (9.7 km) improved hiking

Hiking

Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

path that serves as the border between the Cranberry Glades Botanical Area and the much larger Cranberry Wilderness

Cranberry Wilderness

. Due to the ecologically-sensitive nature of the area, visitors are not permitted to leave these developed paths within the Glades.

External links