Naked Mountain Natural Area Preserve

Naked Mountain Natural Area Preserve
Map showing the location of Naked Mountain Natural Area Preserve
Map showing the location of Naked Mountain Natural Area Preserve
LocationNelson County, Virginia
Coordinates37°45′09″N 78°49′41″W / 37.7525°N 78.828°W / 37.7525; -78.828[1]
Area356 acres (1.44 km2)
Established2006 (2006)
OwnerPrivate

Naked Mountain Natural Area Preserve is a 356-acre (1.44 km2) Natural Area Preserve located in Nelson County, Virginia. The preserve was dedicated in 2006.[2]

It was created to protect an uncommon growth of shooting-stars (Dodecatheon meadia) and a small population of the globally rare Torrey's mountain mint (Pycnanthemum torreyi), which occupy rocky clearings on otherwise forested slopes. The preserve includes an example of a "low-elevation basic outcrop barrens", a rare natural community that grows in dry areas with thin, basic soils and outcrops of amphibolite bedrock. The forests also represent a rare community known as "mountain/piedmont basic woodlands".[2][3]

The preserve is privately owned and protected by a conservation easement held by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).[4][dead link]It is not open to the public, although organized field trips may be arranged through the DCR and the property's private owners.[2]

  1. ^ "Naked Mountain". ProtectedPlanet. United Nations Environment Programme's World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "Naked Mountain Natural Area Preserve". Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  3. ^ Koerting, Katrina (January 11, 2012). "Preserving native, rare parts of Virginia". Nelson County News. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  4. ^ "Naked Mountain Natural Area Preserve". For the Love of the Land - 100 Conservation Stories from Across Virginia (PDF). Piedmont Environmental Council. p. 60. Retrieved December 22, 2016.