CONSERVATION REPORT:

Sierra Club Releases "America's Great Outdoors" Report

Crabtree Creek area in Western Maryland selected for conservation effort.

Graphic by Tom Brown

“We are fast approaching the point where no place is sacred, where no part of America is safe from drilling, logging or development,” said Ellen Pepin, Co-Conservation Chair of the Sierra Club’s Maryland Chapter, in a prepared statement to the press.

Most East Coast old-growth forests were wiped out long ago. Crabtree Creek, part of the Potomac State Forest, is an exception. It is one of the region's few forests that has remained relatively undisturbed by commercial logging.

The Sierra Club's synopsis on the site reads, "This 2,000-acre swath on Backbone Mountain includes a core oldgrowth forest and, at 3,200 feet, is Maryland’s highest point. The area is home to black bear, bobcat and wild turkeys. The forest’s enormous trees often have large cavities perfect for black bear denning. Twenty rare, threatened and endangered plant and animals can be found in Crabtree Creek, such as the Allegheny Woodrat and the Wild Bleeding Heart. With this extraordinary wildlife, mountain vistas and spectacular forests, Crabtree Creek welcomes remote recreationists for superb hunting, hiking and bird watching."

Commercial logging is not currently taking place near the old-growth forest, but the Sierra Club notes that this situation could change at any time, "since no formal protections are in place to prevent this action." The organization also points out that coal mining has occurred on adjoining private lands, and that a limestone quarry has been attempted on a private in-holding of the State Forest that needs protection.

Illegal offroad vehicle (ORV) use is also a threat to the old-growth forest, as it is penetrated by a fire access road and illegal vehicles often go around the gates and use it. "These threats, combined with the potential for industrial wind energy development on the state forest along the ridgecrest of Backbone Mountain, could fragment the surrounding buffer area of habitat and endanger the qualities of this rare Eastern old growth forest," according to the Sierra Club's report synopsis.

The Sierra Club advocates protecting ancient forests by having them denoted as state-protected wild lands—"a Maryland state equivalent of Wilderness Areas"—thus preventing activities that would leave lasting human imprints. The group is also asking the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to prohibit future logging of the state's remaining old-growth forests and their surroundings.