White Horse Mountain will permanently preserve imperiled wildflowers and wildlife habitat

Five years ago, the wild wonderland that is White Horse Mountain in Hampshire County, West Virginia was owned by developers who planned to raze the intact forest and construct 70 homes. At Potomac Conservancy, we wanted to protect this untouched land for the sake of clean water - after all, the shaded streams that trickle downhill form the headwaters of the Potomac River.

Deforestation and unsustainable development on this mountain could have polluted our river at its source. That’s why over 300 private citizens, foundations, organizations, and corporations donated to help us purchase White Horse Mountain, which is now permanently protected by a conservation easement and open to the public for recreation.

What makes this news even better? In addition to preserving the 1,730 forested acres of White Horse, we’re also permanently protecting the globally rare habitat and plants found on adjacent Rock Dome Preserve.

In 2018, West Virginia’s chapter of the Nature Conservancy donated Rock Dome to Potomac Conservancy as a contribution toward our White Horse Mountain project.

It’s only eight acres, but it’s eight acres we’re really excited to protect - here’s why!

Rare finds at Rock Dome

Named for the dome-like shape of the 400-million-year-old sandstone that makes up the area, Rock Dome includes three types of rocky habitat rare in West Virginia and throughout the world: sandstone glades, acidic glades, and sandstone cliffs.

A recent study of the property also found that the area supports two types of rare wildflowers. The oldfield toadflax is considered imperiled in the state of West Virginia, and the eastern fameflower is listed as critically imperiled, meaning the flower is extremely rare.

A rare flower is gone, for now...

State biologists suspect that the area used to support another rare wildflower, two-flower melicgrass, but that expansion of an adjoining road destroyed the population. Hopefully, we can get it back.

The conservation easement that Potomac Conservancy is putting in place will protect the oldfield toadflax and eastern fameflower from a similar fate by restricting development and timber harvesting, and only allowing scientists and researchers access to critical habitat areas.

Behind-the-scenes of protecting vital habitat

Protecting an entire mountain has been no small feat. In fact, it's been years in the making!

Potomac Conservancy’s Senior Director of Land Conservation, Emily Warner, ensured all the amazing features of White Horse and Rock Dome will be protected forever through a conservation easement, a legal document that’s bound to the land in perpetuity.

Emily's behind-the-scenes work included developing a report that details all the things on White Horse and Rock Dome worthy of protection. The 102-page document required five days of field work and over 200 pictures. The draft easement went through over 16 iterations with West Virginia officials, and the easement is just one of many legal documents that goes into a land deal such as this. So what makes all this work worth it?

The value of protecting unique habitat

The discovery of rare wildflowers shows that, even after Emily’s careful reporting, we never know what treasures our protected land holds. Perhaps by letting the land be, previously wiped out populations (like that of the two-flower melicgrass) will come back. Perhaps allowing these rare wildflowers to flourish will support more robust populations of the animals that feed and pollinate from them. We never know how nature will regenerate itself once protected.

Wilderness habitats like White Horse Mountain are home to so many species that may not inspire donations on their own, but are still worth saving. The terms of its legal protections we work out can make the difference between life or death for rare species.

Every year, Potomac Conservancy places more of our region’s land under conservation easements for the sake of clean water. In the process, we safeguard the habitat of small, little-known, yet valuable plants and animals like the toadflax, flameflower, wood turtle, bobwhite quail, tiger salamander, and many others.