Description
Situated between the Monongahela National Forest’s Dolly Sods Wilderness Area and the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Dobbins Slashing is a 1,393-acre property that serves as an important connector of not only the protected land that surrounds it, but also nearly 80 miles of trails in the area.
Home to the headwaters of Red Creek, Dobbins Slashing boasts the largest intact peatland wetland in Dolly Sods. In fact, this property is one of the largest wetlands in Central Appalachia, with over 800 acres of high-quality, high-elevation acidic bog habitat. These types of bogs absorb large rain events and allow water to drain slowly to regulate flooding.
Central to the property is an open shrub and herbaceous beaver-influenced area bordered by seepage fens and peaty shrub swamps, with a few small remnants of forested peaty swamps on the southwestern margin. Located in the High Alleghenies, Dobbins Slashing is in an area that includes the highest mountains and the coldest, wettest, snowiest places in West Virginia. It also boasts numerous headwater streams and more than 400 priority plant and animal species of greatest conservation need. Some species on the property include red spruce, balsam fir, blueberries, cranberries, peat-forming sedges and mosses, ruffed grouse, southern rock vole, Vesper sparrow, two-spotted skipper, and northern spreadwing.