photographs by Kayshawn Arr

by Jillian Kern

bam

posting muy snake pics here beclaws my main is functionally dormant And i want you all to look at them

Baby Northern Watersnake (Nerodia sipedon sipedon)

Cranberry Glades is a high elevation wetlands complex located in a deep valley cradled by the Yew Mountains, whose cold, draining air creates a natural frost pocket. In some years, the frost-free period in the valley is as short as 81 days. The cool climate allows the sphagnum bogs at Cranberry Glades to support a plant and animal community more typical of Southern Ontario or Maine than the Mid-Atlantic region. Beavers play a key role in shaping the ecology of the Glades; last spring, the industrious rodents succeeded in submerging a section of the boardwalk that loops through one of the bogs. The pond still comes up to the edge of the structure (top photo) and offers up-close interaction with the animals and plants that live in this environment, including the common watersnake (Nerodia sipedon), fire cherry (Prunus pensylvanica), marsh marigold (Caltha palustris), green false hellebore (Veratrum viride); swamp buttercup (Ranunculus septentrionalis); eastern skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus); Canada yew (Taxus canadensis), for which the local mountains are named; and red spruce (Picea rubens), the most important tree in the Central Appalachians and the key to the restoration of the region’s mountain forests following their decimation at the turn of the last century. Cranberry Glades is a short drive off the Highland Scenic Highway and abuts the Cranberry Wilderness, the largest forest service wilderness area in the eastern United States and a state-designated black bear sanctuary.