Efforts to Protect Biodiversity and Promote Sustainable Forestry in the Appalachian Mountains

Abstract

John Dalen: My family were early settlers, coming here in the 1740s. They moved into what eventually became the state of West Virginia in 1863. My great, great uncle John McClure, who was in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, bought up a lot of land in this area, specifically in the high Allegheny out here from Dry Fork into what’s called the upper Sinks. After the Civil War, he managed to accumulate a little cash, mainly through a dowry that was given to his wife when they were married. He bought the property in 1867; over the years, he accumulated about 15,000 acres for about $20.00 an acre. He bought it as grazing land, and around 1905, cleared off the balsam fir (‘Blister Pine’) forest that was in Blister Swamp for grazing. It’s been open rangeland since then.