| Western Allegheny Plateau | |
|---|---|
 Western Allegheny Plateau (area 70 on the map) | |
| Ecology | |
| Realm | Nearctic |
| Biome | Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests |
| Bird species | [1] |
| Mammal species | [1] |
| Geography | |
| Country | United States |
| State | West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky |
The Western Allegheny Plateau is an ecoregion of the Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests Biome, located on the western Allegheny Plateau and in the Appalachia region of the Eastern United States. [2]
The Western Allegheny Plateau ecoregion is located on the western Allegheny Plateau, which is within the central region of the Appalachian Plateau. [3] [4]
The World Wildlife Fund defines the ecoregion as being the northern part of the Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests.[ citation needed ]
The Environmental Protection Agency defines it as running from west-central Pennsylvania, east-central and south Ohio, north and northwest West Virginia, and a portion of northeast Kentucky. [2] [3]
The ecoregion covers approximately 84,500 km2 (32,630 mi2). [2] It is about 72 percent forest and 23 percent agriculture. Coal mining is still active in the Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky portions of the ecoregion, and in Appalachian Ohio to a lesser extent. [2]
The forest area is mostly mixed oak and mixed temperate forests. [2]
Native plant species include: [5]
Between 1890 and 1920, loggers cleared most of the Allegheny Plateau. Save for a few pockets of old growth forest, the current forests, which contain most of the presettlement species in different relative abundances and distribution, originated at that time. The heavy cutting favored hardwoods and created massive amounts of coniferous slash, providing ideal conditions for widespread and intense fires. The fires were a major factor in the virtual elimination of white pine and hemlock in the Allegheny forests. Repeated fires also tended to reduce the proportion of sugar maple, beech, and other typical hardwoods and increase such species as aspen, pin cherry, sedges, grasses, and honeysuckles. [5] [6]
The Ohio River and Allegheny River systems within the ecoregion have been adversely affected by acid mine drainage and industrial pollution, which has caused degradation of the stream and riparian habitats, and loss of native fish species. [2]
Prevalent mammal species of the ecoregion are: white-tailed deer, [7] cottontail rabbit, [8] groundhog, [9] and wild turkey. [10]
Wildlife of lesser relative abundance are: gray and fox squirrel, [11] gray fox, [12] raccoons, [13] opossum, [14] red fox, [15] and striped skunk. [16]
For the state of Ohio portion of the ecoregion, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife maintains state listed wildlife that are considered endangered, threatened, species of concern, special interest, extirpated, or extinct. [17]
The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. Here, the term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain. The general definition used is one followed by the United States Geological Survey and the Geological Survey of Canada to describe the respective countries' physiographic regions. The U.S. uses the term Appalachian Highlands and Canada uses the term Appalachian Uplands; the Appalachian Mountains are not synonymous with the Appalachian Plateau, which is one of the provinces of the Appalachian Highlands.
The Allegheny Mountain Range, informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less developed eras. The Allegheny Mountains have a northeast–southwest orientation, running for about 300 miles (480 km) from north-central Pennsylvania, southward through western Maryland and eastern West Virginia.
The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and portions of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia. The terms "Allegheny Plateau" and the "Cumberland Plateau" both refer to the dissected plateau lands lying west of the main Appalachian Mountains. The terms stem from historical usage rather than geological difference, so there is no strict dividing line between the two. Two major rivers share the names of the plateaus, with the Allegheny River rising in the Allegheny Plateau and the Cumberland River rising in the Cumberland Plateau in Harlan County, Kentucky.
The Appalachian Plateau is a series of rugged dissected plateaus located on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. The Appalachian Mountains are a range that run from Nova Scotia in Canada to Alabama in the United States.
The Environment of West Virginia encompasses terrain and ecosystems ranging from plateaus to mountains. Most of West Virginia lies within the Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests ecoregion, while the higher elevations along the eastern border and in the panhandle lie within the Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests.
Forbes State Forest is a Pennsylvania state forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #4. The main offices are located in Laughlintown in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania in the United States. Mount Davis, the highest peak in Pennsylvania, is located in the forest.
Gallitzin State Forest is a Pennsylvania State Forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #6. The main offices are located in Ebensburg in Cambria County, Pennsylvania in the United States.
Minford is a census-designated place located on the border of Harrison and Madison townships in northeastern Scioto County, Ohio, United States, about 14 miles (23 km) northeast of the county seat of Portsmouth. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 641.
Ohiopyle State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on 20,500 acres (8,300 ha) in Dunbar, Henry Clay and Stewart Townships, Fayette County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The focal point of the park is the more than 14 miles (23 km) of the Youghiogheny River gorge that passes through the park. The river provides whitewater boating, recreational fishing, and kayaking. Ohiopyle State Park is bisected by Pennsylvania Route 381 south of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The park opened to the public in 1965 but was not officially dedicated until 1971.
The Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests is an ecoregion of the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund. It consists of mesophytic plants west of the Appalachian Mountains in the Southeastern United States.
The Appalachian–Blue Ridge forests are an ecoregion in the Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests Biome, in the Eastern United States. The ecoregion is located in the central and southern Appalachian Mountains, including the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians and the Blue Ridge Mountains. It covers an area of about 61,500 square miles (159,000 km2) in: northeast Alabama and Georgia, northwest South Carolina, eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and central West Virginia and Pennsylvania; and small extensions into Kentucky, New Jersey, and New York.
Hillman State Park is a 3,600-acre (1,457 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Hanover Township, Washington County in the United States. It is about 25 miles (40 km) west of Pittsburgh. The park opened in the late 1960s and has been managed for hunting by the Pennsylvania Game Commission since the early 1980s. The park also has hiking, cross-country skiing, horseback riding, a radio-controlled aircraft field, and mountain bike trails that are open to the public. The largely undeveloped park is north of U.S. Route 22 and east of Pennsylvania Route 18 in northern Washington County near the village of Bavington and the borough of Burgettstown. Part of the park has been designated as Pennsylvania State Game Lands 117.
The Allegheny woodrat, is a species of "pack rat" in the genus Neotoma. Once believed to be a subspecies of the eastern woodrat, extensive DNA analysis has proven it to be a distinct species.
Appalachian Ohio is a bioregion and political unit in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio, characterized by the western foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and the Appalachian Plateau. The Appalachian Regional Commission defines the region as consisting of thirty-two counties. This region roughly overlaps with the Appalachian mixed-mesophytic forests, which begin in southeast Ohio and southwest Pennsylvania and continue south to Georgia and Alabama. The mixed-mesophytic forest is found only in Central and Southern Appalachia and eastern/central China. It is one of the most biodiverse temperate forests in the world.
The New England-Acadian forests are a temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregion in North America that includes a variety of habitats on the hills, mountains and plateaus of New England and New York State in the Northeastern United States, and Quebec and the Maritime Provinces of Eastern Canada.
The life zones of West Virginia allow for a diversity of habitats for fauna, varying from large lowland farming valleys bordered with forest and meadow to highland ridge flats and heavy forestland, some with rocky ridge-line peaks. The "Mountain State" harbors at least 56 species and subspecies of mammals. The state has more than 300 types of birds and more than 100 species of fish.
The natural environment of Virginia encompasses the physical geography and biology of the U.S. state of Virginia. Virginia has a total area of 42,774.2 square miles (110,784.67 km2), including 3,180.13 square miles (8,236.5 km2) of water, making it the 35th-largest state by area. Forests cover 65% of the state, wetlands and water cover 6% of the land in the state, while 5% of the state is a mixture of commercial, residential, and transitional.
The Allegheny Highlands forests are a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion located in a large part of the Allegheny Plateau physiographic province, including both unglaciated and glaciated portions, in Pennsylvania and New York within North America, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund. The United States EPA defines the area as belonging to the Northern Central Appalachians and Northern Appalachian Plateau and Uplands ecoregions.
The Southeastern mixed forests are an ecoregion of the temperate broadleaf and mixed forest biome, in the lower portion of the Eastern United States.
The Eastern Temperate Forests is a Level I ecoregion of North America designated by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) in its North American Environmental Atlas. The region covers much of the Eastern and Midwestern United States, the U.S. Interior Highlands, and parts of Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes.