By Stephen Smoot
The ridges and valleys of West Virginia’s mountain regions, as well as their sometimes unique climate conditions and isolation from human development, offer protection to a wide variety of plants and animals.
Sometimes, however, these fragile areas need a little help from their friends.
One such area, Blister Swamp in Pocahontas County, is currently owned by Franklin resident Andrea Larrivee but has an illustrious history both in human and nature terms. The area sits about 15 miles due west of Spruce Knob near the Randolph-Pocahontas County line.
It takes its name from the Blister Pine, also known as Balsam Fir, that grew prominently in the area.
In 2000, the property was in the hands of John Dalen, a descendant of John McClure. After serving in the armed forces of the Confederate States, McClure purchased substantial acreage “in the high Allegheny out here from Dry Fork into what’s called the upper Sinks,” stated Dalen. The purchases eventually totaled 15,000 acres.
McClure bought it to establish a massive cattle operation and used the area around Blister Swamp. The future “Cattle King of West Virginia” cleared the land of its original forest, finding it perfect for grazing livestock.
As did Dalen, who stated in the 2000 interview that although “we were . . . interested in what the swamp was like before it was cleared,” he also stated that when plans emerged to restore the original habitat, “I didn’t want to exclude the whole thing because it’s still a valuable grazing resource.”
He added that wild animals also benefit from access to the open grasses because “they had to eat somewhere.”
Dalen received assistance from West Virginia University botanist Dr. Roy Clarkson, who conducted surveys on the plantlife still extant there a quarter century ago.
Eventually, 50 acres would be set aside to restore the Blister Pine and also a number of rare plants, including a number of wildflowers, that struggle to thrive in most other areas.
In 2012 Dave Seville, a contributor to Wonderful West Virginia magazine, described the bounty that found refuge at Blister Swamp.
He wrote that he could see “countless thousands of Jacob’s ladder blossoms, blue and bell-like, covered acre after acre, bending ever so slightly in the breeze. Goldthread, a rare plant in West Virginia, was as abundant as anywhere I had seen it, even in its typical habitat in the far north. In addition, purple avens were seemingly everywhere, while alderleaf buckthorn was knee-deep and forming vast, continuous mats of shrubby vegetation. Finally, and importantly, hundreds of native balsam fir seedlings, planted in the early 2000s, had grown between three and six feet tall.”
All of the work and patience led to the Earth Day event that included approximately 40 attendees. They represented the Monongahela National Forest, AmeriCorps, Master Gardeners, the West Virginia Nature Conservancy, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, West Virginia Land Trust, United States Fish and Wildlife, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, and the Kump Education Center.
Festivities kicked off with a presentation by biologist Elizabeth Byers, who provided what the West Virginia Nature Conservancy called “an insightful presentation on the globally rare wildflowers residing in the swamp.”
Volunteers then removed with great care the wire cages that protected a stand of Blister Pines from their planting 20 years prior. They then planted 300 more seedlings of the same tree to create a true forest, reflecting the original prehuman state of the land.
Restoring a stand, then a forest of these trees helps that species take a significant step forward in its persistence and existence. As Dr. Alton Byers, a University of Colorado expert, explained, “This swamp, which is located on private land near the Sinks of Gandy, represents one of the last remaining balsam fir-red spruce, neutral pH wetlands in the unglaciated areas of eastern North America.”
