Forest Heritage
The Appalachian Forest showcases the interrelationship of people and the forest. Forest Heritage is the ongoing story of how the forest shapes history and culture, and how nature and human use shape the forest.
Forest Abundance
Ancient mountains of the Appalachian Forest feature abundant mixed hardwood and red spruce forests, where mountain microclimates and northern and southern species converge to create some of the most biodiverse forest ecosystems in North America.
Crucible of Isolation
People from many cultures came together in the Appalachian Forest, where geographic isolation and the rough mountain terrain fostered a distinctive Appalachian culture of self-reliance and connection to the land expressed through folkways and living traditions that enrich America today.
Logging Boom Builds the Nation
On the cusp of the 20th century, the expansion of railroads opened the widespread harvest of the Appalachian Forest in a logging boom that helped fuel industrial expansion for the Eastern United States but devastated the landscape and altered mountain economies.
Resilient Forest
Recovery of the landscape from the logging boom shows the resilience of the Appalachian Forest, with scientific management today conserving forestlands for multiple purposes including ecological stewardship, recreation and tourism, and sustainable harvest of forest products.
