The Nature Conservancy - Virginia's Warm Springs Mountain

Virginia's Warm Springs Mountain

The Nature Conservancy in March 2002 acquired more than 9,000 acres of one of the largest and most ecologically important tracts of privately-owned forest in Virginia — Warm Springs Mountain. Bordering the historic Homestead resort, this area includes a globally rare montane pine barren and an old-growth hickory forest, which provide habitat for several rare plants and invertebrates.

Bobcat
© Janet Haas

Strategic Importance

	Preservation Impact: This acquisition helps stitch together hundreds of thousands of acres of surrounding undeveloped public lands. It was one of the few large privately-owned tracts of critical habitat remaining in the Central Appalachian Forest ecoregion, some 23 million acres of wooded mountains and pastoral valleys including parts of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
	Ecological Significance: It includes Virginia's only substantial montane pine barren, a globally rare, arid landscape that is fire dependent. In all, the mountain provides habitat for three rare plants, eight rare invertebrates and three rare natural communities.
	Partners: The land was purchased from Virginia Hot Springs Inc., a holding company which is now part of Celebration Associates, a community development firm.
	Plans: The Conservancy will work with federal and state land managers, neighboring property owners like The Homestead resort and Celebration Associates, and the local community to maintain the ecological health and natural beauty of Warm Springs Mountain.

Warm Springs Mountain Facts

Size: More than 9,000 acres, the single largest Conservancy purchase in Virginia
Location: The Allegheny Mountains in western Virginia
Plant Species: Stunted pitch pine, catawba rhododendron, mountain laurel, scrub oak, variable sedge, bunchberry, Fraser's marsh St. John's-wort
Animal Species: Migratory songbirds, raptors, black bears, bobcat, wild turkey, ruffed grouse, timber rattlesnake, wood frog, red-spotted newt

Learn More:

About the Warm Springs acquisition
About The Nature Conservancy's work in Virginia
About the Conservancy's conservation strategy
About The Nature Conservancy's success stories worldwide
About how The Nature Conservancy works to achieve conservation results

Learn more about this project with the Online Field Guide.