Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Blackwater Canyon

Blackwater Canyon and Canaan Valley have been described as ''a piece of Canada gone astray''. At an elevation of 3,000-4,000 feet both the canyon and the valley share a flora very similar to Canada. Bogs,cranberries,balsam fir and tamarack just to name a few. The area also receives an average of 150'' of snow much of it attributed to lake effect . It's an area of extreme beauty and one that offers many recreational possibilities. As a forestry student at WVU I spent 3 summers hiking in the canyon looking for genetically superior trees. Once identified we would make a map and then come back and collect the seeds either by climbing the tree or shooting branches out with seeds on them. Once collected we'd plant them in a nursery and follow their growth cycle.

It's from this point here that West Virginia's Office of Tourism shoots their photos for come and visit '' Wild Wonderful West Virginia''

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! Now I know why you know so much about trees...

Anonymous said...

Ok, I think I need to make a visit there! What an amazingly gorgeous view! Breathtaking!!!

It's interesting to hear about your background!

Banjo Bob said...

I use to know but have forgotten alot. The leaves have started to turn up there and I'm heading back this weekend to photograph them. My wife and I were there last weekend but it rained the majority of the time. The weather looks much better this time. Stay tuned.

Banjo Bob said...

I didn't end up in the forestry field but in construction instead. The only people hiring when I got out of college was the Army and they wanted me to go to Vietnam. Not a great choice. Turned out that I missed that thank God.

Anonymous said...

Amazing shot... so beautiful... so peaceful...