Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 1, 1993 TAG: 9307300418
SECTION: DISCOVER PAGE: D-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MELANIE S. HATTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Although most of the land is privately owned, the state's Havens Wildlife Management Area, which covers 7,158 acres, is open to hunters and anyone interested in watching nature.
However, access is limited and a hike to the top probably should be undertaken only by enthusiasts because the terrain is rugged.
"It's worth the walk," says Laura Long, area manager for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. "It's real pretty and undisturbed, which is getting real hard to find these days."
There is no parking on the Havens and gates are closed until hunting season, but people can get to a small parking area from a gravel road next to 2193 Wildwood Road (Virginia 619).
The number of the house is clearly marked and there's a wildlife department sign next to the entrance gate, which is always open. Farther up the road (which has private land on both sides) is a second locked gate, but hikers can walk around it into the Havens, Long says.
On this side, power lines may spoil the view of the rolling valleys but the hum doesn't disturb the wildlife as much as some may believe. Animals get used to it, Long says. And the land that's cleared to make way for the lines makes a "wonderful hunting habitat for hawks" because they can see their prey, she says.
On the other side of the mountain, along Virginia 622, there's a horse and man trail, built in the 1930s, that goes halfway up the mountain. It was used as passageway for men and pack animals to fight fires.
"People can park and hike in. But it's rough," Long says. There's a small parking area at the roadside marked with rocks. The opening of the trail is on the other side of Mason Creek.
Long says she wants to refurbish the trail so people can drive to the top to "recreate, hunt and watch wildlife." But the project would cost $70,000.
She recently received a grant from the Wild Turkey Federation to create a habitat to encourage growth of the turkey population on the mountain.
Long also has taken part in a study of neotropical migrant birds, such as warblers and hummingbirds, that winter in South America and come to the Roanoke Valley mountains in the summer. In the last 10 years, their numbers have declined and studies are under way to find out why, she says.
Author Deedie Kagey in her book "A History of Roanoke County" says: "Fort Lewis Mountain was once known as Butler's Mountain on the west near the village of Lafayette and Deyerle's Mountain on the east."
"Fort Lewis" came from Gen. Andrew Lewis, who fought American Indians in the late 1700s, and the fort of that name west of Salem. The mountain extends from Roanoke County into Montgomery County and is perhaps well known for its fires.
The largest fire in about 25 years was in 1985. Three hundred acres burned, recalled Lt. Bill Meador of the Fort Lewis Fire Department. Thirty fire departments were called to fight the blaze, which took about 30 hours to control, he said.
Fighting forest fires is more of a challenge when people build their homes to blend in with the natural surroundings, Meador said.
"They blend in so well a forest fire doesn't know the difference," says Robert Trickel of the Virginia Department of Forestry. However, for the wildlife, "fire is part of the forest ecosystem," Long says. The underbrush grows back "thicker and nastier" and blackberry and blueberry patches thrive, making it ideal for grouse and bear.
There are maybe a dozen black bears on both Fort Lewis and Catawba mountains, Long says.
She's seen a few in the three years she's worked with the department. "Usually I see a butt going over the edge of the ridge."
Long has heard people say there's a black panther on the mountain. Others say there's a cougar, but she's doubtful. The last cougar report was in 1978.
"There could be something that's escaped but I doubt it," she says. "It's pretty wild and woolly so there's no telling what's up there."
Memo: ***CORRECTION***