| West
Virginia Sites |
Fores-@aol.com |
| Nov
07, 2003 05:17 PST |
Bob:
All of Virginia is east of the Eastern Continental Divide and
most of western
Virginia is in the rain shadow of the Appalachian Mountains.
Because water
availability and precipitation is a major factor in tree growth,
you can see
trees get perceptively shorter and smaller as you head east over
the mountains
towards Virginia. Thr driest part of WV is the counties just
south of
Cumberland, MD with some areas of Hardy County, WV having shale
barrens sporting
prickly pear cactus and less than 30" of precip/year.
The wettest WV counties...Nicholas, Webster, Randolph, Tucker
and a couple of
others have areas where over 70" annual precipitation is
possible. Calhoun
County, where Crummies Creek is typically has around 50-55"
per year.
Even though I know that we have some very good timber growing
sites in
central WV, I have an infrequent but regular opportunity to
visit woodland with
fertility rates that makes Crummies Creek pale with comparison.
If I can recall from past facts I have been storing in my head,
Turners
Falls, MA has around 30" per year while Heath, MA averages
over 40". The two
places are only about 30 miles apart, the 1100-1500 foot
difference in
elevation....as you head west from TF causes annual precip rates
rise about 3" per 10
miles or 10" between the two places..........I cannot
recall the numbers of winter
days in the past where I was in the hills of Western Franklin
County, MA or
Windham County, VT when it was lightly snowing all day long only
to head to
Northampton later in the day to find that it had been sunny and
clear all
day........compare typical snow depths on Mount Tom to Todd
Mountian for a quick
illustration.
Finally, my best guess in terms of residual "old
growth" areas of WV, I think
that a majority of them, especially the ones that are best
documented are in
areas of moderate fertility. I do not think there are many areas
of
exceptional
WV old growth timber on exceptional growing sites........the
timber was too
valuable and they have been cut......probably three to five
times!
Russ
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