Description
Covid-19 Update (June 3, 2020)
West Virginia’s public preserves remain open, with the exception of Ice Mountain Preserve. We ask all visitors to please follow any local restrictions put in place for your safety as well as guidance from the West Virginia Department of Health & Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), including maintaining a distance of at least 6 feet from others (social distancing).
Parking may be limited at many of our preserves. If parking areas are full, or if you find you can’t social distance at any trail or preserve, it may be best to visit the area at another time.
Thank you for helping us in our efforts to protect our visitors’ health and well-being. Together, we can each do our part to stop the spread of COVID-19 so we can continue to do the important work needed in West Virginia.
The Hungry Beech Preserve ranges from level to rolling meadowland on Paxton Ridge and along Green Creek, to a steep-sided cove, about 300 feet deep, lying between two ridges protruding off of Paxton Ridge. The primary feature of the preserve is the nearly 30 acres of outstanding cove hardwood and oak-hickory forests. While likely not virgin forest, they have high natural value, with no signs of recent disturbances. Many of the large American Beech and White Oaks in the cove are over 13 feet in circumference. A few trees exceed 56 inches in diameter. An 80-acre buffer zone of second growth forest and ridgetop meadows secures this primeval forest. There are over 80 species of spring flowering plants and many neotropical migrant birds.
What TNC Is Doing
Volunteers have played a special role on this preserve. Several volunteers from the Charleston area have helped map trails and design maps for the property. Students from West Virginia University have also volunteered, and worked to improve the trails. The Conservancy continues to seek a corps of regular volunteers to carry out projects on the preserve.