New River Gorge Eco Tours

08/29/2024

Calling all curious nature lovers! Today is your last chance to book the last regularly scheduled New River Gorge Eco Tour of the Summer! Join us on the Burnwood Trail tomorrow at 9:00 AM. Save your spot on Eventbrite.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-river-gorge-group-eco-tour-guided-forest-walk-open-registration-tickets-868355764467

08/26/2024

Gardeners and naturalists agree that the Tree of Heaven is not very heavenly, but it sure does attract some fancy-looking visitors!

This invasive species takes over ecosystems and can out-compete native trees for light and nutrients (and it smells bad!). The Ailanthus, or "Tree of Heaven" is more than a nuisance, it is very bad for the long-term health of our forests. The tree has been spreading throughout North America for nearly a century, and over the years several insects that have adapted to using it for food or shelter. Two of these, the Ailanthnus webworm moth and the Spotted Lanternfly are brightly-colored and showy.

Thankfully the Spotted Lanternfly has not yet made it to the New River Gorge, but we do see the Ailanthus webworm moth from time to time.

Want to find out more about how invasive species affect our National Park? Join us for the summer's last New River Gorge Eco Tour this Friday, August 30 at 9:00AM.

You can register here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-river-gorge-group-eco-tour-guided-forest-walk-open-registration-tickets-868355764467

08/24/2024

Of all of the Sumac Tree species we have in and around the New River Gorge, Smooth Sumac is the one we see least.

It, along with its cousins Winged Sumac and Staghorn Sumac, produce a large cluster of berries that have been used for food by people for thousands of years. These berries can be dried and used as flavoring, or soaked into water to make a drink that tastes EXACTLY like pink lemonade.

Look for these trees along roadways and other clearings. Or come on a New River Gorge Eco Tour and we'll show them to you up-close and personal!

Our last regularly-scheduled group Eco Tour is next Friday, August 30 at 9:00AM. You can register to join us on our Eventbrite page. Here is the link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-river-gorge-group-eco-tour-guided-forest-walk-open-registration-tickets-868355764467

08/23/2024

Boy, does this flower get a bad rap.

Goldenrod, the beautiful and plentiful plant that emerges in late summer and stays with us through the fall, is often falsely accused of making people sneeze. Goldenrods are primarily insect-pollinated - their flowers attract bees and other pollinators. The pollen grains they produce are large and heavy, so they stay near the plant. They also produce less pollen because they don’t have to rely on wind to carry it to other far-off plants.

While it is certainly possible to be allergic to one of the several species of goldenrod found in the New River Gorge, most people would need to touch the plant or put their face near it to get pollen into their nose and trigger their allergies.

In comparison, ragweed (second photo) is primarily wind-pollinated, meaning the plants rely on wind to disperse their pollen. As a result, they produce massive amounts of tiny pollen grains that the breeze then carries every which way and beyond. Ragweed stays a more neutral color and therefore isn't as noticeable as Goldenrod, but it often grows in the same areas.

So, please, if you have a sneezing fit while out in nature this fall, put the blame where it belongs. Goldenrod says "don't hate me because I'm beautiful."

This public service message was brought to you by New River Gorge Eco Tours.

08/22/2024

The big blooms are here!

As we transition from summer to fall, our wildflowers get bolder and larger. They are competing for the attention of pollinators and are unafraid to let it all hang out. Ironweed, with its purple flowers have been with us for a few weeks, but Joe Pye W**d is coming on strong now. The yellow flowers of Wingstem will soon be joined by a slew of other large yellow bloomers like Jerusalem Artichoke, Cutleaf coneflower and Black-Eyed Susan.

While we love this amazing display that nature puts on every year, it does indicate the approaching end of summer, and the end of the New River Gorge Eco Tour season. Join us for the last public tour of the summer next Friday, August 30 at 9:00 AM.

Look in the comments for the link to our Eventbrite page where you can sign up, or visit our website at NewRiverGorgeEcoTours.com

08/19/2024

Fall is creeping up on us!

This Red Maple leaf we saw yesterday is a good indication that summer is waning and fall will be here before we know it. Then we looked at the calendar and realized that the last public New River Gorge Eco Tour of the summer is next week!

That's right, our last regularly-scheduled tour will be held at 9:00 AM on Friday, August 30. Please join us as we take one last stroll through the woods to see what nature is up to as it gets ready for the big fall color extravaganza. Here is a link to our Eventbrite page where you can register for this event:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-river-gorge-group-eco-tour-guided-forest-walk-open-registration-tickets-868355764467

08/06/2024

The smallest things are sometimes the most beautiful. Slow down and take a close look at nature this week.

We'll be doing just that on Friday when we host another public group New River Gorge Eco Tour. Join us at 9:00 AM on the Burnwood Trail. The link to our Eventbrite registration page is in our profile.

08/02/2024

A lovely Cardinal Flower, seen on a recent New River Gorge Eco Tour.

Cardinal flower is a brilliant scarlet-colored native wildflower that grows in marshes, stream banks and low woods. Its extremely showy blossoms can be recognized at considerable distance. Few native plants have flowers of such intense color as this common herbaceous perennial. Since most insects find it difficult to navigate the long tubular flowers, Cardinal Flower depends on hummingbirds, which feed on the nectar, for pollination. Its common name alludes to the bright red robes worn by Roman Catholic cardinals.

Late summer wildflowers like these are abundant around the New River Gorge National Park if you know where to look. We do, and we'll take you there!

Sign up for our next public group eco tour on our Eventbrite page:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-river-gorge-group-eco-tour-guided-forest-walk-open-registration-tickets-868510687847

07/26/2024

Sometimes, right here in this Appalachian forest, we see things that look positively tropical. There is no better example than the Purple Passionflower. Not only is the flower stunning, the fruit that develops 2 or 3 months after it blooms is a delicious treat. The plant grows as a vine up to 25 feet long, and loves old fence lines like those that exist on several historic National Park sites within the New River Gorge.

Have you ever seen a passionflower or eaten its fruit? Are you curious about it now? Our naturalist-guided forest walks are made for curious people like you. Join us on our next public tour on August 9!

Here is the link where you can sign up:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-river-gorge-group-eco-tour-guided-forest-walk-open-registration-tickets-868510687847

07/24/2024

The little bit of rain we've received in the past few days has coaxed some mushrooms to appear. We always love to find Pleated Inkies like these in grassy areas, but we have to be quick! They pop up overnight and expand in the morning hours and are usually withered away by afternoon. We were lucky to see these this morning while they were at their max. Scroll to the second image to see what they look like when they first pop up.

07/20/2024

Still some spots available for tomorrow's 9AM Eco Tour at Burnwood!

Use promo code "LASTMINUTE" and get half-off at checkout on Eventbrite. The link is in our profile.

07/20/2024

Still a few spots available for tomorrow's 9 AM Naturalist-led Forest Walk at Burnwood. Join us!

Use promo code "LASTMINUTE" and get 50% off your registration.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-river-gorge-eco-tour-naturalist-guided-forest-walk-tickets-939732514247

Join new friends for an open-registration guided forest walk with Amy & Shawn as your guides. This tour open-to-the-public, minimum age 18.

07/19/2024

There's still time to reserve your spot for this Sunday's Naturalist-led Forest Walk on the Burnwood Trail. Join new friends and explore the wonderful, mysterious, and majestic natural world on a relaxing walk in the woods with master naturalists, Amy & Shawn.

Make your reservation on Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-river-gorge-eco-tour-naturalist-guided-forest-walk-tickets-939732514247

07/19/2024

We love everything about nature, but we get extra excited when mushrooms start showing up!

Late July through early September are some of the best times to see mushrooms in the New River Gorge, so we're just now beginning to see some popping up along the trails like this one, a Bitter Bolete. This mushroom is not toxic to humans, but so bitter that nobody would want to eat it. In some cultures, though, it is dried and powdered and used as a very tangly seasoning.

A lot of people these days want to know more about mushrooms, mostly curious about which ones are edible. While we love to eat mushrooms too, we also find beauty in the mystery of their existence, and the amazing way they interact with other plants in the forest. On our Eco Tours, we love to share stories about the "Wood Wide Web," the vast and complex underground network that connect plants and fungi. We like to tell folks about how fungi is the great recycler of the forest and are responsible for creating the very soil we walk on and that other plants need to survive. We talk about how animals and insects depend on mushrooms as a food source, and yes, we do enjoy finding the ones that people eat too.

We hope you can join us for a New River Gorge Eco Tour sometime during mushroom season. Visit our website at http://NewRiverGorgeEcoTours.com to see our upcoming events or request a private tour for your group.

07/16/2024

Frasier Magnolia is one of our favorite trees in the forest, so we were saddened to see this healthy looking specimen that had been knocked down by another falling tree. But it did give us a good excuse to pair the image with the most appropriate music. Sound on!

07/16/2024

Great spangled fritillary!

While that sounds like it might be an exclamation used by Yosemite Sam, it is actually the common name of this butterfly, known by scientists as Speyeria cybele.

We like the common name better.

This little guy was resting on a milkweed blossom and kindly posed for a photo and a close inspection by recent New River Gorge Eco Tour guests.

While we can't guarantee you will see a butterfly with such a colorful name when you join us, we can promise you will walk out of the forest with a deeper appreciation of nature and of this special place, New River Gorge National Park.

Sign up for our next Eco Tour naturalist-led forest walk this coming Sunday, July 21.

Here's the link to the registration page:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/939732514247

07/15/2024

It's Macro Monday!

Here's a closeup of a delicious little morsel that can be found many places throughout the New River Gorge National Park. We call them "Fairy Pickles'!

Fairy Pickles are the developing flower structures of Wood Sorrel, or as you might know it, "Sourgrass." They are tiny, but pack a wallop of flavor that many people compare to a lemon. If you are lucky enough to happen on a good crop of these little flavor bombs, put a few on your next salad as a delicious treat!

It's probably not a good idea to eat too many, though, because the thing that makes them tangy is Oxalic Acid. Too much oxalic acid can cause kidney problems, so enjoy only a few at a time.

We love to offer a taste of nature to Guests of New River Gorge Eco Tours, including Fairy Pickles. Come join us on our next public tour on July 21. Here's the link to the registration page on Eventbrite:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-river-gorge-eco-tour-naturalist-guided-forest-walk-tickets-939732514247

07/13/2024

The Queen.

Queen Anne’s lace is a common sight in dry fields, roadside ditches and open areas. There are many explanations for the origin of this common name, including the flower’s resemblance to the lace that was fashionable around the time of the British monarch, wife of King James I; because people thought it resembled Queen Anne’s lace headdress; 18th-century English courtiers used the flowers as “living lace;” and supposedly because Queen Anne challenged her ladies-in-waiting to a contest to see who could produce a piece of lace as beautiful as the flower, but none could rival her own efforts.

It is also called wild carrot because this is the European plant from which cultivated carrots were developed. It has become naturalized throughout North America and serves as food and habitat for many different insects and small mammals.

Not a forest flower because it loves full sun, we often see it growing near the trailheads where we begin our Naturalist-Guided Forest Walks and always take the time to appreciate its beauty. Since there are a couple other flowers that look somewhat similar (namely Yarrow and Poison Hemlock) we like to show our guests how to tell the difference. One of our clues is "The Queen has hairy legs," as we note the wiry looking leaves around the stalk directly under the flower (see side view).

You should come with us on our next New River Gorge Eco Tour on July 21. Here's the link to the registration page:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-river-gorge-eco-tour-naturalist-guided-forest-walk-tickets-939732514247

07/12/2024

Who knows the name of this summertime plant?

In a lot of places around the New River Gorge, especially along roadsides and railroad rights of way, you can find this plant growing tall this time of year. Growing six-feet tall or more, this plant provides food for pollinators, birds. The stalks have many flowers, but only bloom a few at a time throughout the summer, maturing on the stalk from the bottom to the top in successive spirals. Each individual flower opens before dawn and closes by mid-afternoon. Originally native to Europe, northern Africa and Asia, it was likely brought to North America who traveled with it because they valued it as a medicinal.

Can you name this plant, or are you still mullin' it over??

Join the next New River Gorge Eco Tour on Sunday, July 21 at 9:00 and we'll talk about this and other summertime plants that we find in this amazingly biodiverse National Park. Book your spot on Eventbrite by following this link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-river-gorge-eco-tour-naturalist-guided-forest-walk-tickets-939732514247

07/06/2024

On a recent Eco Tour we ran into...(cue dramatic music)..an assassin!

Assassin bugs are generalist predators that feed on a wide variety of pests ranging from small ones like aphids to larger ones like caterpillars.

These patient hunters may either stalk their prey, or quietly wait for an appetizing insect to cruise by, then suddenly attack with their dagger-like, piercing-sucking beak.

Assassin bugs are generally larger and have longer legs than most other bugs, and have beady round eyes well suited for spotting prey.

Join us on our next public New River Gorge Eco Tour on Sunday, July 21 and you too might encounter ... The Assassin!

Book your spot on Eventbrite. Link in profile.

07/03/2024

Thanks Brad Rice and Brandon Stover for featuring us on Wild Appalachia!

Shawn Means and Amy McLaughlin know the New River Gorge up and down.The married couple opened Lafayette Flats Boutique Vacation Rentals in Fayetteville about 10

06/30/2024

These Boxelder Bugs have the right idea, seeking the shade of the underside of milkweed leaves in this hot, hot weather we're having.

Our July 3 Eco Tour starts at 9:00 AM. We'll follow the example of these Boxelder Bugs and stay in the shade on the Burnwood Trail. Join us!

Registration link in profile.

06/27/2024

Common Milkweed, most people know, is a prime food source for the Monarch Butterfly caterpillar, but it is also fed upon by as many as 450 other species of insects. If you look closely at this photo you can see the tiny little butts of ants sticking out of many of the individual flowers.

Thankfully, this native plant is plentiful in the New River Gorge. One reason it does so well here is because it loves forest edges and we have lots of those along the many miles of railroads that run the full length of the Gorge within the National Park boundary.

We love coming upon a large patch of Milkweed, especially in the later summer when the seeds have developed their furry little parachutes, and we can help them catch the wind by blowing them into the air. Watch this space and we'll post photos of the flying seeds as soon as they ripen!

06/18/2024

On last week's Eco Tour, we ran across a patch of ferns in which several had these unusual orb-like structures. What's happening here? The orb is created when a "Leaftier" moth caterpillar builds himself a little shelter in which to metamorphosize, pulling the leaves of the fern around itself like a cocoon.

If we were to have peeled back the leaves of the fern we could have possibly seen the caterpillar in the process of becoming a moth, but we figured we'd leave them alone; no one likes to get walked in on when they're changing clothes!

There are several species of moths that exhibit this behavior.

At New River Gorge Eco Tours, we like walking through the forest at a relaxing pace so we don't miss the tiny curiosities that nature provides. Come join us on our next Naturalist-Guided Forest Walk on July 21 and see for yourself! The link to the Eventbrite registration page is in our profile.

06/10/2024

"Oh, what a pretty fern," you might have said. But swipe and you'll see that -- surprise-- it's not a fern but a tiny moss leaf.

At New River Gorge Eco Tours, we are drawn to the beautiful little things in nature that are often overlooked. Come with us sometime and we'll show you.

05/30/2024

Keeney's Creek has several waterfalls that visitors to Nuttallburg pass along the way. Some of the taller ones are hard to photograph safely, but this lovely little guy is an easy visit.

05/23/2024

Are you an Anti-Hiker? Do you like the idea of being in nature, but not the physical exertion of a long hike? This post is for you:

Comedian Jim Gaffigan is wildly anti-hiking. "I wouldn't hike to escape the N***s," he says in one of his stand-up bits. His chief complaint is that he doesn't like to walk, and he sees no point in walking through the woods, and "at some point you realize you're going to have to walk back!" While we...

05/21/2024

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." We're pretty sure that William Shakespeare wasn't talking about this plant, because while it does have a flowery fragrance, many people think it stinks for other reasons.

Multiflora rose, Rosa multiflora, also known as rambler rose and baby rose, is native to eastern China, Japan, and Korea. It was introduced to the U.S. from Japan in 1866 as rootstock for grafted ornamental rose cultivars. The spread of multiflora rose increased in the 1930s, when it was introduced by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service for use in erosion control and as living fences, or natural hedges, to confine livestock. It was also discovered to provide effective habitat and cover protection for pheasant, northern bobwhite, and cottontail rabbit and food for animals such as songbirds and deer.

Multiflora rose is extremely prolific and can form dense thickets, excluding native plant species. This non-native invasive rose invades open woodlands, forest edges, early succession pastures and fields. It also invades fence rows, right-of-ways, roadsides, and margins of swamps and marshes.

We often see this invader on our New River Gorge Eco Tours, and use the opportunity to educate our guests on the importance of native plants. Come with us sometime!

NewRiverGorgeEcoTours.com

05/19/2024

Mountain Laurel is beginning to bloom throughout the New River Gorge!

The second in the line of our three major plants in the Heath family, it follows Catawba Rhododendron and precedes Rhododendron Maximum on the blooming schedule. It's not as big and flashy as its two cousins, but it makes up for size in the delicate details of its flowers.

Join us in the woods for an Eco Tour and we'll show you why we love this and all the other native plants that make up the amazing biodiversity of the New River Gorge!