One of the many intermittent streams along the Mon River Trail. These streams play a critical role in maintaining Appalachia's hydrologic well-being, a fact reinforced by a number of studies documenting alterations in stream flow and salinity brought about by mountaintop removal mining. Even in drier months, the moist seeps created by intermittent streams are vital to a number of species, including salamanders. Yellow buckeye (Aesculus flava), a big, gorgeous tree of Appalachia’s flood plain forests and damp hollows, loves the cool, moist environments created by these streams. You can see a young buckeye growing at the edge of the stream above (to the right). As an added bonus, this specimen was in bloom - those flowers are some kind of wonderful crazy (I never stop being amazed by nature’s many forms).
