"My vision is to one day step out on the front porch in the morning and see the sun rising through the balsam fir that is growing again in Blister Swamp".John Dalen, November, 1998
The 1998 vision of the private landowner in mountainous Pocahontas County, WV will most likely become a reality within the next 10 years, thanks to co-financing from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency, and numerous non-profit, local government, and volunteer partners. However, that few mountain-specific compensation mechanisms for conservation and sustainable development exist in the U.S. remains a problem in need of further review, and thoughtful comparison with the international experience.
Blister (the local name for "balsam fir") Swamp in Pocahontas County, WV represents one of the last remaining Balsam Fir-Red Spruce wetlands in unglaciated eastern North America. Beginning in the early 1900s, the beautiful and remote region was significantly altered by deforestation, livestock grazing, and aggressive non-native species. In spite of this, sixteen rare plant species have been reported, of which two are globally uncommon, and the swamp has remained a significant breeding bird site. Beginning in the early 1990s and with the counsel of Dr. Roy Clarkson, a botanist from West Virginia University, the private landowners sought ways to protect and restore this unique habitat for future generations of family, friends, and educators.
In 1998, the landowners approached The Mountain Institute (TMI) and The Nature Conservancy/WV Chapter (TNC) for assistance. Together, the three parties developed a series of project objectives that included (1) reduce or eliminate the most significant threats to the special flora and the key ecological processes that affect the wetland, (2) enhance populations of rare plants and restore key ecological processes within the wetland ecosystem, (3) protect the long-term health of the ecosystem by developing an ongoing conservation program that maintains these activities into the foreseeable future, and (4) document and disseminate the lessons learned from the project's participatory approach and strategies.
