Trillium:
      Several species of trillium are found in Pocahontas County. Large-flowered trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), painted trillium (Trillium undulatum), and red wakerobin (Trillium erectum) are among the more common examples found here. Blooming April through June, large-flowered trillium is one of the most common and showiest trilliums in eastern North America, growing in rich, moist deciduous forests. As its common and Latin names suggest, it's also the largest in the family, growing six-to-20 inches tall, with flowers ranging two-to-four inches wide. Native Americans once chewed the rootstalks for a variety of medical uses, while the greens were often cooked and eaten.

Squirrel Corn Photos by Drew Tanner

Jack-in-the-pulpit

Spotted Lily

      Less common than its larger cousin, painted trillium, with its splash of pink, prefers more acidic coniferous forests with laurel and rhododendron. The undulatum of its latin name refers to the wavy edges of this flower s petals.
      While wakerobin catches the eye with its beautiful deep red petals, it is less of a treat for the nose. Its other common names stinking Benjamin or stinking Willie attest to the flower's pungent odor, described as wet dog or carrion, depending on which guide you consult. In fact, it is the flies attracted by the odor who are the main pollinators of this plant.

Squirrel Corn:
      Squirrel corn prefers rich hardwood forests and can be found along several Monongahela National Forest trails, notably the Pocahontas Trail and South Fork Trail. Some Native Americans called this plant ghost corn, believing it was food for the spirits of the woods. It is often found in the same areas as its close cousin, Dutchman's breeches, which has similar flowers that resemble pairs of white pants, hanging upside down on a clothesline.

Jack-in-the-pulpit:
      Another early-bloomer, the roots of jack-in-the-pulpit were used by Native Americans and early settlers as food. Also known as Indian turnip, or pepper turnip, the roots can cause an intense burning sensation in the mouth if eaten raw, due to needle-like crystals of calcium oxalate. Those who ate the plant would cook or dry the roots to subdue its fiery taste.

Wild Columbine
      This showy flower has long spurs, or nectaries, that attract long-tongued insects and hummingbirds. It is the only native columbine of eastern North America and prefers dry woods and limestone slopes. Native Americans used the crushed seeds to treat headaches and control lice, while a tea made from the roots was used to treat digestive problems.

Showy Orchis

Showy Orchis

      Showy orchis, like other orchids, is cleverly adapted for attracting insects. By the time an insect has crawled in and out of the elaborate flower's carolla in search of nectar, it has pollinated the plant. Showy orchis can be found in rich hardwood forests, near the banks of streams and at the bottom of slopes, growing to a height of three-to-10 inches. The flowering stalk rises from between two large, glossy green leaves and can bear as many as 15 flowers. This example was found very near the jack-in-the pulpit pictured in this article.

Pink Lady s Slipper

Wakerobin or Stinking Benjamin

Crimson Bee Balm

      One of the largest orchids native to eastern North America, pink lady s slipper can be found in a variety of habitats, but it favors acidic, mixed coniferous and hardwood forests. The plant s Latin genus name essentially means Venus slipper. This plant was once used to treat nervous conditions and depression.

Crimson Bee Balm
      Crimson bee balm is a favorite of hummingbirds and eastern tiger swallowtail butterflies. This flower likes moist mountain woods and bottom lands. It is well-established along parts of the Highland Scenic Highway, where it can be found in bloom around midsummer. Its other common name, Oswego tea, is attributed the Oswego Indians of New York, who used the leaves as a tea. Early settlers also picked up on this use. At least one guide notes that the plant's leaves were used as a substitute for imported tea by colonists after the Boston Tea Party of 1773.

Turk's Cap Lily
      There's nothing subtle about the Turk's cap lily. Its Latin name, Lilium superbum, says it all: the superb lily. It is the largest native lily of eastern North America. The plant can grow to eight feet in height, bearing as many as 40 nodding, bright yellow-orange flowers with purple speckles. In mid-to-late summer, Turk's cap lilies can be found along the Highland Scenic Highway. Not unlike jack-in-the-pulpit, Native Americans reportedly would boil the roots of this plant for food.

The Yellow Adder's Tongue, also known as the Fawn Lily, makes its appearance on the High Rocks and elsewhere in the county in early spring. Photo by David Holtzman

Trail of the Month: The High Rocks Trail

David Holtzman
Contributing Writer
      Wildflowers are usually popping out of the ground by mid-April, even at Pocahontas County s highest elevations. But this year, a cold snap left few flowers visible on the High Rocks Trail. A flurry of heavy wind and rain in the wake of the cold sent many tree branches crashing across the path.
      The trail is the first that motorists hit as they head north on the Highland Scenic Highway from the Cranberry Visitors Center. At just under two miles, it s a modest trail, but it offers a sumptuous reward at its end. After a relatively level walk through mostly dry woods of chestnut oaks, black cherry and other hardwood trees, the hiker arrives at a commanding view of the Little Levels valley, Hillsboro and Mill Point. On a clear day the beauty of the view of the mountains to the east and south is hard to exaggerate.
      The name of the trail derives from the outcrop of rock at this scenic point. The sandstone here, known as the Princeton, is an especially durable variety that sets it apart from other rock types in the region. Down below, one can spot the campground of the local nonprofit organization, High Rocks Academy for Girls, which takes its name from this place. To the southeast is Bald Knob and Rodgers Mountain.
      To the south of the ridge on which the hiker stands is Little Mountain, which recently became the location of a housing subdivision. The neat, narrow roads that connect the newly divided lots contrast with the rougher-looking logging roads cut on the mountain closer to the High Rocks. The view from the other side of the ridge, looking north, is pretty interesting, as well. Here the hiker sees the valley of Mountain Lick Run, which feeds into the Williams River.
      As this is territory once conquered by lumbermen in the early 20th century, it is fitting that an old logging trail crosses the path. It is the only sign of the devastation that took place here, when tree cutting as well as uncontrolled fires laid waste to the area. Nearby Black Mountain, a few miles farther up the Scenic Highway, was especially hard hit.
      The chickadee and pileated woodpecker are frequent companions of walkers on the High Rocks Trail. For those who like to keep an eye on the ground, wildflowers are not infrequent, except perhaps this spring when unseasonably low temperatures and even more unseasonal snowfall delayed the springtime blossoms.

   

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Bailey, known to many as the “Godfather of modern turkey management,” was the first recipient of the NWTF Conservationist of the Year Award in 1978. Photo courtesy National Wild Turkey Federation

The man who saved the gobblers

David Holtzman
Contributing Writer
      Few animals are as revered among hunters in West Virginia as the wild turkey. Aside from deer and bear seasons, perhaps the most exciting time for people to hunt comes during a month-long period in April and May, when it is legal to shoot gobblers.
      That wasn't always the case. Until 1968, turkey season was only in autumn. Because of the research and advocacy of Rolfe “Wayne” Bailey, a Mercer County native who lived for many years in Pocahontas County, the state allowed it in springtime. It did so against the wishes of hunters who valued tradition and thought it odd to hunt turkeys during breeding season.
      This wasn't the first time sportsmen had disagreed with Bailey, who died in February at age 89. But by the late 1960s most wildlife managers credited Bailey with reversing the decline of the wild turkey population in West Virginia and, indeed, every other state in the nation. As far as they were concerned, his logic could not be countered.
      It was in the 1940s, when turkey numbers were at their low point in this state, that the West Virginia Conservation Commission (now called the Division of Natural Resources) coaxed Bailey away from his graduate studies at Cornell University to oversee wildlife management in the Monongahela National Forest. There were maybe 7,000 turkeys left across the state, and nearly all of them were in Pocahontas County and a handful of neighboring counties. Turkeys had survived in this area because of its remoteness, not because hunters here were any less skilled at tracking them down.
      At the time, the state's practice was to breed turkeys on game farms and release them into the wild. Pocahontas County's larger state parks and forests, including Watoga and Seneca, had been purchased in the 1920s as refuges for these turkeys. But the game farm method of expanding the turkey's numbers always failed.
      “We abolished the refuges because the turkeys didn't possess the right traits,” says Curtis Taylor, chief of wildlife resources for the DNR. “They just didn't have the wildness in them.”
      Bailey was the one who made this point to state officials, but they didn't always want to listen to him. For one thing, there were people who wanted to keep the game farms open. On the other hand, there was tremendous political pressure to grow the number of turkeys as soon as possible.
      Bailey became so interested in bringing back the wild turkey that he created a full-time position for himself with that purpose. “He understood the diseases that affected turkeys and was very familiar with their digestive and immune systems,” says Cheryl Hardy, one of Bailey's daughters. “He knew introducing the pen-raised birds into the wild would endanger the wild flock. He desperately wanted to keep them separate.”
      His work was not the only reason Bailey and his family moved to Pocahontas County. He was an avid hunter and fisherman and wanted to be near this area's forests and streams. Hardy recalls that Bailey and his hunting buddies would often get together at their house in Marlinton. Their hunting parties typically included fellow state biologists, newspaper writers, and other outdoor enthusiasts.
      Bailey started to experiment with trapping wild turkeys in this part of the state and transporting them to other areas where they hadn't been seen in decades. He was especially active on Middle Mountain, between Minnehaha Springs and the Virginia state line, but also on Lockridge and Allegheny mountains and in the county's state parks and forests.
      He achieved a breakthrough in the 1950s with the development of cannon nets, which allowed him to trap large numbers of turkeys at once. The nets also enabled him and his colleagues to band the turkeys, so they could study their mortality rates and the number of birds that could be harvested without putting the population at risk.
      Bailey's efforts to catch and move Pocahontas County turkeys to other parts of the state displeased some local hunters. On several occasions, wildlife managers discovered the cannons intended to trap turkeys had been tampered with, said Taylor. Someone had turned them around so that they pointed at the blinds where the trappers sat.
      By the 1960s the turkeys were coming back, thanks to the relocation program. But the practice of fall hunting, which often killed female turkeys as well as males, was keeping them at a low level. In the spring, when hens are breeding, they stay on their nests, but the toms have nothing to keep them from roaming. So Bailey took a stand against tradition.
      “In my early years of research, I was still fighting the hunters about that,” said James C. Pack, who worked under Bailey and replaced him at the DNR in 1970. “But today there are more turkeys killed during the spring than in fall.”
      Pack carried on and expanded Bailey's work in this part of the state after his mentor took a similar job in North Carolina. Using methods Bailey had pioneered, Pack was involved with nesting studies in the 1970s and began using radio collars to track the birds in the 1990s.

Bailey, known to many as the “Godfather of modern turkey management,” was the first recipient of the NWTF Conservationist of the Year Award in 1978. Photo courtesy National Wild Turkey Federation

      These days Cully McCurdy, wildlife manager for the area of Pocahontas County east of the Greenbrier River, is carrying on the work Bailey started. He is currently working on a study of why the death rate is so high for two-year-old male turkeys. McCurdy, who is also treasurer for the Pocahontas Strutters, a chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, only met Bailey once but has great praise for him.
      “He was the reason I got into this business, and his work influenced pretty much all the papers I wrote in college,” he said. “He's the godfather of wild turkey management.”
      Today, the state's turkey population has passed 130,000, and turkeys thrive in every county of the state. Their numbers are actually lower in Pocahontas County than in most other counties, said Pack, because the habitat here is not as ideal as elsewhere. But this part of the state remains a critical refuge for the birds, given how much land is in federal and state ownership and protected from development.
      “We could lose turkeys again as man occupies more habitat,” McCurdy. “But the remote counties will always have turkeys.” ?

   

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Erica Lipps and Larry Morgan in a scene from "Proof. Photo by Neal Krakover

'Proof' performed at Opera House this month

Margaret Baker
Contributing Writer
      In 2001 both the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize went to David Auburn's play, "Proof." The Pocahontas County Drama Workshop will present "Proof" for its spring production. The conflict in "Proof" revolves around an extraordinary mathematical proof discovered in the home of Robert, a brilliant mathematician who eventually succumbs to madness. The proof is "a mathematical theorem about prime numbers, something mathematicians have been trying to prove since... since there were mathematicians."
      Robert's daughter, Catherine, who merely "took some classes at Northwestern," claims to be the author of the proof. Hal, a student of Robert's, is attracted to Catherine but has doubts about whether it's Robert's genius or his insanity that she has inherited. Catherine, while caring for her deranged father, has allowed herself to lapse into self-pity and erratic behaviors so that her mental capabilities are also questioned by her own sister, Clair. Catherine so resents having to prove herself, that she creates mistrust in those who love her most.
      Catherine will be played by Erica Lipps, with Lois Wilfong as her sister, Clair. John Davis plays Robert and Larry Morgan will portray Hal. Show times for “Proof” are May 18, 19 at 8 p.m. and May 20 at 2 p.m. This play does contain strong language. Parental discretion is advised.

   

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New improved webite promotes county

Mel Hobbs
Executive Director, Pocahontas County
Convention & Visitors Bureau
      How do you design a website to capture the total essence of what visitors see and experience in Pocahontas County?
      How do you convey the beauty of our mountains?
      How do you relate the exhilarating feeling of biking one of our many trails? Or describe the wonderment of seeing the Green Bank Telescope for the very first time?
      Well, nice colorful pictures help. So, too, do words on a screen that describe the emotions one experiences, for example, when they begin their very first journey on the historic Cass train.
      Actually, no web site, brochure or advertisement, for that matter, can in reality match the experience of being here in person. But we still work hard to come as close as possible.
      All of us at the CVB invite you to visit PocahontasCountyWV.com. This address will now lead you to a new tourism website that we believe helps capture the excitement and adventure that is only found in Pocahontas County.
      The new website is dynamic, yet warm and appealing, with vibrant graphics and colors. It quickly communicates our Brand message, conveyed through Nature s Mountain Playground.
      Whether one is seeking a particular attraction, such as Cranberry Glades or Watoga State Park, or a specific activity, like hiking or fishing, all are only one click away from any page on the site.
      An extensive drop-down menu at the top of every page provides information on lodging, dining, maps, county history and other types of information designed with the visitor in mind.
      In 2006, there were close to one-half million visits to our website, averaging more than 40,000 per month. In the past two years, visits to the site have increased by 70%.
      The web continues to grow dramatically as a marketing and information tool, not only for the tourism market, but for all businesses.
      One important CVB objective with the new site is to dramatically increase the number of pages viewed. Currently, people are viewing less than three pages each time they visit. With the new site, we anticipate people will treat it like a good book where they just can t put it down.
      Some illogical person once said, just build it and they will come. Of course the key to any successful website is in implementing programs that will drive people to it.
      This year, the CVB will invest more than $150,000 in print and online advertising and direct mail to attract people to our website. Once there, we feel they will get a sense of the wonderment and excitement that is waiting for them in Pocahontas County.
      Check it out. PocahontasCountyWV.com. It is absolutely the next best thing to being here!

   

 

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