WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



15 



nut, and walnut come in from the south ( Carolinian area) and 

 do not extend much beyond the southern or warmer parts of the 

 Alleghanian area." 



This zone, like that which lies below it, is well adapted to 

 agriculture in most places and has been occupied for many years 

 by agricultural people. There is much rough and unproductive 

 land here, also^ along the stream channels and on the hillsides, 

 where woodlots should be allowed to remain permanently and 

 should be attend^ and made more profitable than they are at 

 present- 



The Canadian life zone embraces, in West Virginia, large 

 areas on mountains and plateaus above the 3,000-foot level, in 

 Tucker, Grant, Pendleton, Randolph, Webster, Pocahontas, and 

 Greenbrier counties. The typical forest trees of this zone are the 

 cone-bearers, such as red spruce.hemlock and yellow birch : and 

 the animal life consists of such species as the varying hare, the 

 star-nosed mole, the veery, and the Canadian warller. 



Farming is here not g^erally successful. Grazing and 

 fruit-growing are profitable in some sections and some varieties 

 of vegetables can be grown. It has been pointed out that "labor 

 spent in attempting to grow wheat or corn is not only wasted, 

 but this labor hastens the destruction of soil, which should be 

 protected by every means possible."' 



I\Iany of the rivers of the state rise in this high region and 

 are largely dependent upon the forests for their resnlar 

 flow of water. Unfortunately, these forests which are of greatf^st 

 value to the state are most readily demolished — mature trees, 

 young growth, and even the soil itself — by lumbermen and by 

 the fires which follow their operations. 



The Original Forests. 



What the favorable conditions for the growth of forests 

 would naturally produce they did produce in West Virginia. 

 "When white men first came into the state it was all forest 

 except a few cliffs and rocky pSakfe, and two or three old fields 

 where Indians had probably cultivated corn."* To the small 



*Report W. Va. Conservation Commission, p. 18.. 



