Current Land Use on Coal River Mountain

 

 

Coal River Mountain sits nestled in the Coal River Valley between the Clear and Marsh Forks of the Big Coal River, and spans an area of approximately 62 square miles. The mountain is blanketed with what is known as a mixed mesophytic hardwood forest, and is home to a rich biodiversity of both flora and fauna, as well as to the residents living in the many valleys around the mountain.

 

 

 

Residents of Horse Creek, Dry Creek, Rock Creek, Sycamore Hollow  and the towns surrounding the mountain rely on the mountain for non-timber forest products, hunting, and recreation.  Their families have been able to survive in these valleys for hundreds of years both due to coal mining jobs and because they always had the mountain to sustain them. Now, the only reason many of them remain is because of their connection to the mountain.  Although Coal River mountain has been mined both underground and stripped in areas, the community has still had access to the mountain. That connection, and the rich histories many of the residents carry with them, is now being threatened with permanent obliteration.

 

Move the mouse pointer over the images below for captions that appear below the collage.  Click the images to learn about previous mining, wind resources, timbering and forest resources, slurry impoundments, and community use of the mountain.  

 

 

For more information on sources used in this theme, please see the Notes on Sources page.