Buffalo Mountain Natural Area Preserve
Near Buffalo Mountain's treeless summit
Map showing the location of Buffalo Mountain Natural Area Preserve
Map showing the location of Buffalo Mountain Natural Area Preserve
Location within Virginia
Map showing the location of Buffalo Mountain Natural Area Preserve
Map showing the location of Buffalo Mountain Natural Area Preserve
Buffalo Mountain Natural Area Preserve (the United States)
LocationFloyd County, Virginia
Coordinates36°47′45″N 80°28′37″W / 36.79583°N 80.47694°W / 36.79583; -80.47694
Area1,140 acres (4.6 km2)
Governing bodyVirginia Department of Conservation and Recreation

Buffalo Mountain Natural Area Preserve is a 1,140-acre (4.6 km2) Natural Area Preserve in Floyd County, Virginia.[1]

Description

Buffalo Mountain Natural Area Preserve covers the summit and slopes of Buffalo Mountain, a 3,960-foot (1,210 m) peak in southwest Virginia.[2] It is open to the public and includes a small parking area from which an approximately one-mile-long (1.6 km) trail may be traversed to reach the summit.[1]

The treeless summit is home to rare plant species including three-toothed cinquefoil (Sibbaldia tridentata) and Rocky Mountain woodsia (Physematium scopulinum); other rare plants, such as bog bluegrass (Poa paludigena) and large-leaved grass-of-Parnassus (Parnassia grandifolia), are found at seeps along the mountain's base. In total, the preserve protects thirteen rare plant occurrences, three rare animal occurrences, and six significant natural communities.[1] Buffalo Mountain is also the only place in the world where the mealybug Puto kosztarabi is known to live.[3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Buffalo Mountain Natural Area Preserve". Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. Retrieved July 3, 2016.
  2. "Buffalo Mountain". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved July 3, 2016.
  3. Miller, Douglass R.; Miller, Gary L. (October 30, 1993). "A new species of Puto and a preliminary analysis of the phylogenetic position of the Puto group within the Coccoidea (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae)" (PDF). Jeffersoniana (4): 9. ISSN 1061-1878. Retrieved July 3, 2016.


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