Naturally Kentucky
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Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission NATURALLY KENTUCKY Number 28. October, November, December 1998 Special Cumberland Mountains Issue Kentucky’s Highlands – this region include Black, The Cumberland Moun- Little Black and Log tains mountains. These moun- tains attain elevations of By Marc Evans 3000 to over 4000 feet with the highest point in Kentucky is truly a beautiful state Kentucky being approxi- with many scenic landscapes and mately 4,139 feet at the unique ecological and biological top of Black Mountain. wonders. I’m often asked what In 1992 I started is my favorite part of the state a Natural Areas Inventory and I am hard pressed to select (NAI) of Bell, Harlan and a specific area. However, if I had Letcher counties. NAI is to choose just one part of the the process by which we Photo by Marc Evans state, I guess I’d have to pick the examine a specific area (in this Other important areas Cumberland Mountains. The rug- case counties) for remaining protected on Pine Mountain in- ged beauty of the landscape, natural areas. Although many clude Bad Branch State Nature large areas of forest, incredible interesting places were already Preserve, Kingdom Come State diversity, wonderful people, and known in the mountains, much Park Nature Preserve, the new great foggy mornings all add up inventory remained to be done. Boone Wildlife and Recreation to one very unique place in the Because of the ruggedness and Area, Kentucky Ridge State world. extensive forest cover of the Forest, Kentenia State Forest, The Cumberland Moun- area, this NAI has been more Pine Mountain Wildlife Manage- tains, which occur in the extreme difficult and time consuming ment Area (WMA), Breaks In- southeastern part of the state, than most county inventories terstate Park and Pine Moun- fall mainly within Bell, Harlan and and some sites still need to be tain State Park Nature Preserve. Letcher counties with small ar- visited or revisited. However, On Cumberland/Stone Mountain eas also within Pike and Whitley many previously unknown natu- protected areas include counties. These mountains are ral areas and rare species oc- Cumberland Gap National His- the only “true” mountains in Ken- currences have been discov- torical Park, Shillalah Creek tucky, having been upthrust as ered as a result of this inven- WMA, Cranks Creek WMA, part of a huge fault block with tory. Probably the most signifi- Stone Mountain Recreation more or less upturned edges. cant of these finds are Blanton Area, and Martin’s Fork Wild These upturned edges form the Forest and Hi Lewis Pine Bar- River. monoclinal border mountains; rens, both on Pine Mountain. Unfortunately, there are no Pine Mountain which forms the These two important areas have protected lands on the Black and northwest border and been at least partially protected Little Black Mountain ranges. Cumberland/Stone Mountain and will, hopefully, be fully pro- Much of these mountains have forming the southeast border. tected in the not too distant fu- been disturbed from surface The main interior mountains of ture. mining operations and almost all Continued on page 2 have been heavily logged in the beautiful and unique part of Ken- past. However there is still ex- KSNPC-listed species known tucky. tensive forest cover on parts of only in Kentucky from Black Mountain these mountains and many rare Angelica triquinata species occur, especially on Filmy angelica Mining on Black Mountain Black Mountain. Botrychium oneidense Blunt-lobed grape-fern The Cumberland Moun- By Brainard Palmer-Ball Eupatorium maculatum tains contain some of the most Spotted joe-pye weed biologically and ecologically di- Heracleum maximum Over the past several verse, landscapes in Kentucky. Cow-parsnip months you may have heard Platanthera psycodes These mountains are home to Small purple-fringed orchid something about mining on Black the mixed mesophytic forest, Streptopus roseus var. perspectus Mountain, Kentucky’s highest one of the most diverse temper- Rosy twisted-stalk peak, in Harlan County. The is- Pilsbryna sp. ate forest types in the world, and a snail sue is a complex one, involving the only place in Kentucky where Triodopsis dentifera several different points of conten- northern hardwoods type forest Big-tooth whitelip tion. The permit application that Vertigo bollesiana occurs. Many rare and unusual Delicate vertigo has come to the forefront is actu- plants and animals live in the Pyrgus wyandot ally only a part of a substantial Cumberlands. At least 128 spe- Appalachian grizzled skipper mining project that is already un- Dendroica fusca cies of plants and animals con- Blackburnian warbler derway, having been approved in sidered endangered, threat- Junco hyemalis June 1992. An amendment to ened or of special concern by Dark-eyed junco this permit was approved in May KSNPC-listed species with the Commission occur in the 1997, expanding its size to about highest quality Kentucky 350 total acres. Mining began in mountains. This includes 76 populations known from August 1996 and as of July 1998, plants, 23 invertebrates, 12 Black Mountain birds, 9 mammals, 4 reptiles and Agrimonia gryposepala 70 acres have been disturbed. 4 fish. Many of these occur no- Tall hairy groovebur A second permit was sub- Carex leptonervia mitted in 1995 and approved in where else in the state. Finely-nerved sedge Although occupying only Hydrophyllum virginianum January 1996. This permit in- a small area of Kentucky (ap- Eastern waterleaf volves an area to the east of the Lilium superbum other mine but still at about the proximately 15 miles wide by 80 Turk’s cap lily miles long) the ancient Sambucus racemosa ssp. pubens same elevation. The current pub- Cumberland Mountains of Ken- Red elderberry licity has arisen from the submis- Solidago caesia var. curtisii sion of a second amendment to tucky have long held an attrac- Curtis’ goldenrod tion to biologists and others in- Solidago roanensis the orginal permit that in effect terested in nature and the out- Roan mountain goldenrod supercedes the second permit to Mesomphix rugeli include an additional 450 acres doors in general. The Commis- Wrinkled button sion has had a long standing in- Vitrinizonites latissimus on the mountain east of the cur- terest in protecting important ar- Glassy grapeskin rent operation. Empidonax minimus Mountaintop removal has eas there and has slowly but Least flycatcher surely added to the protected Pheucticus ludovicianus been mentioned in the media, but acres. However, many more ar- Rose-breasted grosbeak most of the permitted activities Vermivora chrysoptera involve a strip of disturbance at eas in the mountains deserve Golden-winged warbler protection. It is the hope of the Wilsonia canadensis elevations between 3,400 and Commission that as more Canada warbler 3,800 feet along the southern Clethrionomys gapperi maurus slopes of the mountain. Black people and organizations rec- Kentucky red-backed vole ognize the importance and in- Sorex cinereus Mountain actually reaches an al- trinsic values of this area that Masked shrew titude of 4,139 feet, and the core more effort and money will be area of greatest biological sig- made available to protect this nificance is often considered to 2 - NATURALLY KENTUCKY include the 1,300 acres that lie Black Mountain is a unique bio- focused on the upper elevations. above 3,800 feet, so the most logical resource. Because of its However, while we know quite a important areas are not actually high elevation, the mountain sup- bit about Black Mountain, we do included in what is already being ports an important natural sys- not know nearly enough. For ex- mined or proposed for mining. tem of plants and animals unique ample, just this summer a biolo- However, two side ridges that lie in Kentucky. A Northern Hard- gist working on Black Mountain off the main crest and attain an woods forest type that supports discovered two plants new to the altitude of about 3,800 feet have numerous rare species occurs at state, Hobblebush Viburnum been proposed for coal extrac- higher elevations and is known in alnifolium and Roan sedge tion methods that would include Kentucky only in a few small Carex roanesis , (both are high removal of all material above the patches elsewhere in the elevation Appalachian species). coal seams being mined. These Cumberland Mountains. How- This highlights the need for addi- two ridges, which consist of ever, these patches do not har- tional inventory work there. In fact, about 22 and 44 acres, would be bor the full diversity of species the most critical step towards pro- restored to approximate natural present on Black Mountain. tecting the mountain’s contour, not left flat as in typical Nearly 40 KSNPC-listed biodiversity is to complete a bio- mountaintop removal work. species have been documented logical inventory. The goal of such All of that having been on the upper portions of the an effort would be to specifically said, however, the mining already mountain. One of these, the In- define the most critical portions underway and as proposed to diana bat Myotis sodalis, is listed so that they could be targeted for continue clearly threaten the in- as Federally Endangered. At further protection efforts. tegrity of Black Mountain’s bio- least 12 KSNPC-listed species The Commission will be logical diversity. In addition, no found on upper parts of the moun- closely monitoring developments one seems to know for sure how tain are known nowhere else in on Black Mountain. Our data ser- much more mining could be the Commonwealth, and the vices staff have handled a num- planned in the future on the north- populations of another 15 ber of requests for information ern side of the mountain. KSNPC-listed species are the on the biological significance of For this reason, some lo- highest quality known in the state the mountain, and we will con- cal groups are considering filing (see center column, page 2).