Black Mountains Conservation Area Black Mountains Craggy Mountains (Big Ivy) Black Mountains Jarrett Creek Mackey Mountain Woods Mountain Proposed Midsize Protection Areas: Lost Cove Ridge Craggy Mountains (Big Ivy) a. Snowball Mountain b. Ivy Knob Download this Map Black Mountains Conservation Area 2.6 mb pdf file Lost Cove Ridge Approximate size: 2,095 acres Old growth acreage: 410 acres Lost Cove Ridge contains one USFS Large Old Growth Patch and two candidate old growth sites. Rob Messick found two Class A old growth forests in this area in August 2001. This outing has been written up and mapped, yet the area has not been delineated. Forest communities include Spruce-Northern Hardwood, Northern Harwood, Northern Hardwood Boulderfield, and Hemlock-Northern Hardwood. Note: rhododendron thickets were common in many of these communities. Rock cliff environments, both wet and dry, were found in upland areas northwest of the Blue Ridge. Heath was common among these cliffs and on the main ridge. An extraordinary number and variety of fungi were found after a wet spring and summer. One Northern Hardwood cove forest had medium to high herb diversity, nine varieties of ferns, and numerous herb species common to rich coves. to Top of Page >> Craggy Mountains (Big Ivy) - Snowball Mountain Approximate size: 1,479 acres Old growth acreage: 667 acres Snowball Mountain contains a FS Large Old Growth Patch, 669 acres of old growth, a NC Natural Heritage listing, and one candidate old growth site. Little Snowball Mountain has Rich Cove and Submesic Oak forest communities. Little Fork Ridge has Northern Hardwood, Northern Hardwood Boulderfield, and High Elevation Northern Red Oak forest communities. Herb cover is very thick and "quite diverse" in Northern Hardwood forests associated with upland coves on Snowball Mountain (Alan Smith 1999). This is especially true in upper Hawkbill Creek. One rare herb was found in this area: trailing wolfsbane. High fungal diversity was also found in this area. There area a large number of stressed or dead American beech and yellow birch trees in rocky areas associated with Little Fork Ridge. Trees generally do not reach great size in rocky areas, but atmospheric deposition of pollutants is the likely cause of mortality in this area. Northern Hardwood Boulderfield forest was found in coves on either side of Little Fork Ridge. This is a relatively rare community where trees are rooted in moss mats atop boulders. to Top of Page >> Craggy Mountains - Ivy Knob Approximate size: 1,329 acres Old growth acreage: 241 acres While Ivy Knob does not contain a USFS Large Old Growth Patch or any candidate old growth sites, it does have 241 acres of old growth and a NC Natural Heritage Listing. High Elevation Northern Red Oak and Dry Oak are the forest communities for the area. Several rare herbs were found in Mafic Mesic coves associated with Ivy Knob including: spotted mandarin (Disporum maculatum), mountain catchfly (Silene ovata), divided-leaf ragwort (Senesio millifolium), shooting star (Dodecatheon meadia), and branching draba (Draba ramosissima).Surveyors spotted two rattlesnakes on rock outcrops on Ivy Knob. to Top of Page >>

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