Clinic Project Proposal: Central Appalachians, Eastern US

DESCRIPTION

The Appalachian mountain range was formed over 250 million years ago when the African and North American continents collided. The Central Appalachians bridge the southern and northern mountain ranges and serve as an ecological crossroads. It contains one of the Earth's healthiest and most biologically diverse temperate forests due to its varying elevation and diverse landforms leading to a variety of habitats including mountain ponds, bogs, ridgetop barrens, and numerous caves. The Nature Conservancy's Central Appalachian Integrated Landscape (IL) works across more than 50,000 square miles and six states. The headwaters of three rivers rise in the Central Appalachians and protect water quality in these major Chesapeake Bay tributaries and to millions of people living in the east. This diverse wilderness is at the doorstep of the urban East Coast and faces many threats from second home development to energy development. Perhaps the largest change on the horizon is global climate change.

CREATION DATE	April 14, 2009
LAST MODIFIED	April 14, 2009
CREATED BY	Kristin Richards Betz
KEYWORDS	Central Appalachians, Eastern US; Climate Clinic; project proposal; Mountains
PUBLICATION YEAR	No Publication Year
LICENSE	Attribution Non-Commercial