On the chopping block

West Virginia conservation group Friends of Blackwater has released a new scientific bibliography and updated report on the impacts of global warming and climate change on the Mid-Atlantic Allegheny Highlands region, which runs along the highest ridges of the Appalachian mountain chain in West Virginia and surrounding states.
The report is titled “On the Chopping Block,” and concludes that the distinctive ecology and economy of the Highlands region are at grave risk from rising temperatures, increased drought and flooding, animal and plant extinction, and damage to critical outdoor and natural resources.
In West Virginia, the Highlands are home to the Monongahela National Forest, Canaan Valley, and the Blackwater Canyon. In Pennsylvania, the scenic Highlands region includes Mount Davis, the state’s highest peak; in Maryland, the ski resorts at Deep Creek Lake are an important regional economic engine. And in Virginia, Shenandoah National Park and George Washington National Forest are among the finest public lands in the East.
More than 70 peer-reviewed scientific studies listed in the bibliography document the impacts of climate change that are already occurring, and the dangers of further warming.
“This is a crisis. Our regional snow sports industry will take a terrible hit if we don’t rein in global warming,” said Tom Rodd, Director of the Initiative. “And the West Virginia state fish, the brook trout, is poised to lose most of its cold-water habitat in coming decades.”
A copy of the report is available for downloading and printing at www.alleghenyclimate.org