The magic of the Appalachians

The Appalachian Mountains are a majestic mountain range named after a Native American village by Spanish explorers. Most people think of beautiful mountain scenery when they think of Appalachia; a peaceful wonderland, vibrant forests, ancient mountain music and a simpler way of life. The Appalachian Mountains, the largest mountain range in North America, stretch north to south for about 1,600 kilometers from Quebec to Georgia.

Today, the most popular attraction for Wywoz gruzu katowice hiking and nature lovers is the Appalachian Trail, a hiking trail that winds through forested peaks from Springer Mountain in northern Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. This trek crosses fourteen states and could take an adventurer five to six months to traverse, from start to finish.

The Appalachians are rich in coal; Other resources include iron, oil and natural gas. But that’s not all; The ancient Appalachian mountain range shaped the natural history and biodiversity of this continent. Its forests and treetops, humidity and latitudinal gradients have helped protect its species in times of climate change. The diversity of elevations helps expand the distribution of specific species throughout the region. Species that thrive in the colder northern climates often inhabit the higher elevations of the south as well. The Appalachian Mountains are among the richest temperate regions and contain about 255 birds, 78 mammals, 58 reptiles and 76 amphibians.

Because of the density and richness within the Appalachian Mountains, it is difficult to pinpoint the different (and accurate) plant species. However, the number is high. Kartesz and Meacham (1999) list 6,374 plant species in 10 focus states within the mapped area (AL, GA, TN, KY, WV, PA, NY, VT, NH, ME); 1,722 of these are exotic and 76 are native endemics, including 6 listed as extinct.

The southern Appalachians are also a known hotspot for a number of aquatic species, in part because the mountain range drains south and species can escape extinction due to their freezing cold origins. The fish, clam and crayfish abundance in the Appalachian Mountains is exceptional. There are over 290 species of fish in Tennessee alone.

According to the Nature Conservancy, the mountain region, which includes Southwest Virginia, Southwest Virginia, East Kentucky, and Northeast Tennessee, has some of the highest levels of biodiversity in the country.

The people of Appalachia helped create their geotourism map by nominating the adventure locations and experiences that they feel best represent the beauty and diversity of their homelands.

The Devastation of Mountain Top Removal

It’s hard to believe that one of this continent’s finest and mightiest national treasures is in danger of being honored absolutely. When we think of deforestation, the rainforests of Costa Rica, Belize and Brazil are the first that come to mind and we tend to forget our own homeland. Figures from the Inter-Agency Environmental Impact Statement completed in 2003 estimate that more than 700,000 acres in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee have been destroyed pending recovery.

The destruction doesn’t stop at the mountaintop; The waste, also called overburden or overburden, is pushed into the valleys below. As a result, between 1985 and 2001, 6,700 “valley fills” were approved in central Appalachia. The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that over 700 miles of healthy streams have been completely buried and thousands more damaged by the removal of mountain peaks. Where once flowed a uniquely integrated system of headwaters, now a vast network of haul roads weaves through the rubble. From the air, the devastation looks like someone tried to plan a highway system on the moon.

Mountaintop removal mining is a form of open pit mining in which coal companies use explosives to blast up to 800 to 1000 feet from the tops of mountains to reach the highly profitable coal seams below. The millions of tons of overburden, waste rock, soil and vegetation are then dumped into the valleys below, burying hundreds of kilometers of streams along with their aquatic life under the debris piles. Mountain top mining not only harms aquatic ecosystems and water quality, but also destroys hundreds of acres of healthy forest and wildlife habitat, including the habitat of threatened and endangered species, when mountain tops are blasted away.

This practice is also ravaging Appalachian wywoz gruzu ruda slaska communities and cultures that have existed in these mountains for centuries. Residents of surrounding communities are threatened by rockslides, catastrophic floods, poisoned water supplies, constant blasting, destroyed property and lost culture. Mountaintop removal mining occurs in many Appalachian states, with the highest concentrations in West Virginia, Kentucky, southern Virginia and eastern Tennessee.

In West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee and eastern Kentucky, coal companies are blasting up to 600 feet over mountain tops and then dumping the rock and debris into mountain streams. Over 300,000 acres of America’s finest hardwood forests have already been converted to barren grasslands. Mining mountain tops increases flooding, contaminates drinking water supplies, destroys foundations of nearby homes, and blankets cities in dust and noise from blasting.