Apple Mountain
The Apple MountainDemonstration Site was started as a way to reach landowners by showing them good forest / wildlife management on a large scale. The site had been selectively logged (highgraded) for several generations. This became a mirror of typical forest management in Western North Carolina. The site's species diversity had been reduced to a fraction of what should be native to the site. The project goal was to restore the site to a healthy & diverse Southern Appalachian forest. Resetting this forest also provided early successional habitat which is sorely lacking in the region. This property has been transformed from a site with a very small number of tree species and a very low carrying capacity for wildlife, to a site that has over 25 different tree species & abounds with many game & non-game wildlife species. The site has provided educational opportunities for many different groups including 4-H, Boy Scouts, professional continuing education, landowner meetings, & a collaborative National Forest planning session.