Stadium Woods is an approximately 15-acre wooded section found adjacent to the east side of Lane Stadium on the Virginia Tech campus. It is approximately a rectangle 2000 feet long (running north/south) and 300 feet wide (Figure 1). The area is heavily wooded, with numerous white oak (Quercus albaL.) trees over 36 inches in [...]]]>

Stadium Woods is an approximately 15-acre wooded section found adjacent to the east side of Lane Stadium on the Virginia Tech campus. It is approximately a rectangle 2000 feet long (running north/south) and 300 feet wide (Figure 1). The area is heavily wooded, with numerous white oak (Quercus albaL.) trees over 36 inches in diameter at breast height (dbh).

The age structure of the area is an unbalanced, uneven-aged stand with a large amount of coarse woody debris and standing snags indicative of old-growth forest (Figure 2 and 3) (Oliver and Larson, 1996). There are approximately 450 trees per acre over 4 inches in dbh. Each acre contains three to five white oak trees over 250 years old, and these large trees make up a significant percentage of the overstory. In all of Stadium Woods, there are 56 trees in total (including 46 white oaks) over 3 feet in dbh (two are large standing dead snags).

via Save Stadium Woods | About.

Related articles

• Upcoming Guest Alert: Stadium Woods to be Featured on ‘The Colbert Report’(colbertnewshub.com)

  ---

Planning for the seven-mile long trail, which follows the roadbed of the now defunct railway, has been a real community effort for organizations [...]]]>

After more than 15 years of planning, raising money and construction, the Virginia Blue Ridge Railway Trail Project is nearly complete. It runs along the Piney River in Amherst and Nelson counties.

Planning for the seven-mile long trail, which follows the roadbed of the now defunct railway, has been a real community effort for organizations in both counties.

More than that, the first phase of the trail, four miles long, has become a tourist attraction, according to Stephen Martin, one of the organizers of the trail project and a member of the Virginia Blue Ridge Trail Foundation board.

“It’s a wonderful facility for the citizens of the counties, but above that it’s a great tourist attraction,” he said recently. People come from all over the state to use the trail for biking, horseback riding, walking and running. The trail also provides a destination for school nature walks and hosts fishing exhibits and a mini-triathlon.

The Virginia Blue Ridge Railroad was created in 1915 to transport chestnut logs out of the mountains. It closed in 1981.

via Completing Trail a Credit to Its Fans | The News & Advance.

Both Shenandoah and the Blue Ridge Parkway straddle the eastern-most “front range” of the Appalachians. That can mean that most of the snow from the region’s storms falls on more westerly ridges West Virginia peaks can receive nearly 200 inches of snow!.

via Winter: A “Secret Season” in the South’s Loftiest National [...]]]>

Shenandoah National Park

Both Shenandoah and the Blue Ridge Parkway straddle the eastern-most “front range” of the Appalachians. That can mean that most of the snow from the region’s storms falls on more westerly ridges West Virginia peaks can receive nearly 200 inches of snow!.

via Winter: A “Secret Season” in the South’s Loftiest National Parks | National Parks Traveler.

Each year, deep in Appalachia, the holiday season is ushered in as Christmas-red cardinals decorate snow-covered hemlocks. Icicles become nature’s diamonds frosting rocky mountainsides. The brisk air makes [...]]]>

John-Boy might not be there, but you’ll still get a taste of Appalachian Christmas cheer with a visit to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park this coming Saturday.

Each year, deep in Appalachia, the holiday season is ushered in as Christmas-red cardinals decorate snow-covered hemlocks. Icicles become nature’s diamonds frosting rocky mountainsides. The brisk air makes one’s skin tingle. Christmas bells treat ears to a medley of jingles. And at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park’s “Taste of Christmas Past” children of all ages will thrill in the magic of mountain holidays of old.

via Head To Cumberland Gap National Historical Park To Taste Appalachian Christmas Cheer | National Parks Traveler.