Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 23, 1994 TAG: 9403230035
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The lone clump amid a sea of weeds is one of the last of its species and is doing poorly, says Belden, a field botanist with the state division of natural heritage.
"The problem with rare plants is there is not a lot we know about them," he said.
Belden is conducting a two-year survey to identify rare or endangered plants and animals along the 543 miles of the Appalachian Trail in Virginia. The survey is sponsored by the Appalachian Trail Conference, which has completed surveys in Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and North Carolina.
"The Appalachian Trail is a reservoir of natural diversity," said Don Owen, the conference's resource management coordinator in Harper's Ferry, W.Va.
"We have identified 1,100 rare species in 300 sites along the trail. Seventy-six of the species are globally rare; more than two dozen are federally listed as endangered," he said.
"Each of the sites is confidential. We don't want their exact locations to get out. One of the threats rare species face is from collectors," he said.
Owen said the conference works with state natural heritage agencies to fund the survey, then follows up with seminars for volunteers from local Appalachian Trail clubs. The volunteers monitor the sites to protect, enhance, or prevent the decline of sensitive species, Owen said.
The program started in Pennsylvania and is working its way along the 2,150 miles of trail from Maine to Georgia.
Tom Smith, director of the division of natural heritage in Virginia, was part of the original Pennsylvania survey before coming to Virginia in 1990.
He said the funds for the $60,000 Virginia project came from the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service and private foundations.
"We knew we were going to find some good things, some exciting things here in Virginia," Smith said.
Belden said the globe-mallow in the Glasgow area is perhaps the rarest find in Virginia. "There are probably between five and eight populations of the plant throughout the world. They are found in what is called the scour zone of a river: that area of the river bed that is underwater during high water periods but exposed the remainder of the time," he said.
To germinate, the plant's seeds must be softened by the river's action. Belden theorizes that a drop in the flow caused by upstream dams may have affected the globe-mallow's ability to reproduce.
"Another problem is the competition from non-native weeds. We have to find out if herbicides will help or what else we can do," Belden said.
Last year, the team hit the mother lode in the Whitetop Mountain and Mount Rogers areas of Southwest Virginia, identifying 24 rare plants, 11 rare animals and six rare communities of plants and animals.
"One of those communities, the grassy bald community, is globally rare," though there is some debate whether high Appalachian clearings are natural or manmade, Belden said.
Once the survey is complete, Belden will submit recommendations to the Forest Service, Park Service, and the Appalachian Trail Conference on how best to protect the plants and animals identified.
In cases where trail use is harming the rare species, Belden said he will recommend the trail be rerouted.
by CNB