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Volunteers gathered at the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge (CVNWR) to help restore the historic conifer forest that once dominated the refuge landscape at the turn of the century.  On April 18, 2009 over 40 volunteers worked for a weekend to plant 4,000 native red spruce seedlings with the Freeland Run drainage of the CVNWR.  Red spruce was one of the native conifers that was almost extirpated from the landscape following an explosive logging boom in the late 1800's and early 1900's.  Once one of the most common trees in Canaan Valley, spruce now only occurs sporadically in higher elevations and in cold drainages and wetland areas.

The red spruce ecosystem supports many species considered rare in the state of West Virginia, including blackburnian warbler, saw-whet owl, northern goshawk and fisher.  Additionally the recently de-listed WV northern flying squirrel and federally threatened Cheat Mountain salamander are tied to high elevation mixed conifer/hardwood forests. Because of the importance of this ecosystem to rare wildlife and plant species, red spruce restoration was prioritized in the West Virginia Wildlife Action Plan.  The refuge has been working to restore this component of the ecosystem with multiple partners who are now organized state wide.  The refuge is active in a high elevation forest working group, working to restore and manage conifer forests throughout the state and across political boundaries.

The planting event held on the refuge on April 18-19 is a part of the collaborative effort to restore the spruce ecosystem in West Virginia.  Volunteers provided over 320 hours planting trees on the refuge and contributed to the restoration of an ecosystem and the management of priority migratory birds and threatened species on the Canaan Valley NWR. The refuge was aided in the planting by an AmeriCorps team who helped organize and work on the planting event.