Naked Mountain Natural Area Preserve

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, forbes 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 recently acquired preserve is closed to the public.