W. C. Coker Old Growth Forest – Highlands Biological Station

The W. C. Coker Old Growth Forest is ~3.7 acres of old growth Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) (Canada Hemlock Forest (Typic Subtype)) that represents some of the largest remaining Eastern Hemlock in the Eastern U.S., with several trees > 3.3 feet (100 cm) in diameter and the largest 4.2 feet (131 cm) in diameter (as of February 2021). A subset of the largest trees was cored and the oldest was reliably dated to 1761. However, our largest trees were either hollow or had heartwood that was too degraded to be reliably aged, but we estimate the oldest trees exceed 350 years of age. The hemlocks have been treated every few years since 2004 for the introduced Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (Adelges tsugae), so most of the trees are still healthy. The forest is a remnant of the "primeval forest" that was found on the Highlands Plateau prior to being harvested in the 1930s and 40s. There are also impressive specimens of Northern Red Oak (Quercus rubra), Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), Yellow Birch (Betula alleghaniensis), and Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia). The understory is dominated by Rosebay Rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum). At one time the forest was home to the State-listed Green Salamander (Aneides aeneus), but the species hasn’t been seen in the past 15 years and may be extirpated due to development on the fringes of the forest and over-collecting by herpetologists.