Spring Means a New Series of Tree Talks!

The Elkins Tree Board and Kump Education Center will launch a new Tree Talks Lecture Series on Wednesday, March 4, at 7 p.m., inviting the community to learn more about the region’s Appalachian woodlands and the challenges they face.

The free, three-part series will be held at the historic Kump House, 401 Randolph Ave., and will bring together experts and community members to explore the forests’ biological diversity and the many ways people of all ages can connect with and care for them.

The first lecture, “Under Pressure: A Tale of Two Salamanders,” will feature Lacy Rucker (pictured above), a biological scientist with the U.S. Forest Service’s Northern Research Station. Rucker will explain why the Appalachian Mountains are considered a biodiversity hotspot and are often called the salamander capital of the world.

Her presentation will also examine how widespread logging and intense wildfires between the 1880s and 1910s in West Virginia reshaped forest habitats and influenced the distribution of species such as the Cheat Mountain salamander. She will discuss how habitat fragmentation, destruction and climate change continue to threaten salamander populations today.

The remaining lectures in the series include “Exploring Woods with Wonder: Multi-Generational Ways to Share the Outdoors,” presented by Valerie Hart and Kate Reed, co-owners of the nonprofit Wonder & Grow and coordinators of the Randolph County Outdoors program, on April 1 at 7 p.m., and “Forest Invaders: How Invasives Wreak Woodland Havoc,” presented by Michelle Fonda, private lands and invasive species biologist with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, on May 6 at 7 p.m.

All lectures are free and open to the public. Parking is available behind the Kump House and is accessible from Seneca Road.

For more information, visit https://kumpeducationcenter.org.

This article was written by Alyssa Stump, a Davis & Elkins College student studying communications and journalism.