Department of Conservation and Recreation
LOCALITY |
OWNER |
ACRES |
ACCESS |
NEWS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nelson | Private | 278 | By Arrangement with DCR and the landowner | Latest News |
SITE DESCRIPTION:
In the spring of 2006, the observant and curious owners of this property were drawn to the blooms of shooting-stars (Dodecatheon meadia) growing in natural openings on the otherwise heavily forested mountainside. When they learned shooting-stars are uncommon east of the Blue Ridge, they invited Natural Heritage Program staff to take a closer look at the property. The shooting-star habitat proved to be a complex of globally rare barrens and woodlands - low-elevation basic outcrop barrens and mountain/piedmont basic woodlands, respectively - associated with outcrops of amphibolite bedrock on the dry, southeast-facing slope of the mountain.
A small population of globally rare Torrey's mountain mint (Pycnanthemum torrei) was also discovered among the native grasses, forbs and small shrubs that occupy the shallow patches of soil around the exposed bedrock of the barrens. Recognizing the need to protect this special habitat, the landowners acted swiftly to donate an easement on the entire property and dedicated 278 acres as the Naked Mountain Natural Area Preserve.
VISITATION:
This privately owned preserve has no public access facilities and is not open to the public. Guided field trips to the preserve may be arranged by CONTACT:ing DCR.
Click here to read a blog authored by Marcia Mabee Bell, owner of the Naked Mountain Natural Area Preserve. Marcia shares episodes of life on Naked Mountain, and the "delights and challenges of living close to nature".
CONTACT:
