Cheat Mountain

Cheat Mountain encompasses 8,191 acres of montane terrain on the Monongahela National Forest, with elevations ranging across Limekiln Ridge, Shavers Mountain, and Little Beech Mountain. The area forms the headwaters of the Red Run–Shavers Fork watershed, a system of major hydrological significance. Water originates in high-elevation seeps and springs, flowing downslope through named drainages including Fall Run, Fishing Hawk Creek, Red Roaring Run, Deer Lick, Limekiln Run, Rose Run, and Stalnaker Run before converging into Shavers Fork. This network of cold, clear streams creates the physical and biological foundation of the landscape, carving valleys and supporting distinct aquatic communities as elevation and gradient change.

The forest composition shifts with elevation and moisture availability across the area. At higher elevations and on north-facing slopes, Red Spruce (Picea rubens) and Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) form dense conifer thickets where light penetrates sparsely to the forest floor. In these cool, moist microsites, the ground layer supports threeleaf goldthread (Coptis trifolia), mountain woodsorrel (Oxalis montana), and Fraser's Sedge (Carex fraseriana). At mid-elevations and on warmer aspects, Mixed Hardwood and Northern Hardwood forests dominate, with American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) and Striped Maple (Acer pensylvanicum) prominent in the canopy and understory. Great Rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum) and Rhododendron and Laurel Thickets form dense shrub layers in moist coves and along stream corridors. The spring ephemeral layer includes yellow trout lily (Erythronium americanum) and painted trillium (Trillium undulatum), which flower before the canopy fully leafs out. Small whorled pogonia (Isotria medeoloides), a federally threatened orchid, occurs in specific microsites within these mixed hardwood communities.

Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) inhabit the cold headwater streams, where they feed on aquatic invertebrates and serve as prey for larger predators. The federally endangered gray bat (Myotis grisescens) and Virginia big-eared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii virginianus) forage over open water and along stream corridors for insects. The Cheat Mountain salamander (Plethodon nettingi), a federally threatened endemic species found only on this mountain, occupies the moist leaf litter and rocky substrates of hemlock and mixed hardwood forests. Snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) browse low vegetation in conifer thickets, while American black bear (Ursus americanus) and bobcat (Lynx rufus) move through all forest types as apex predators. Allegheny mountain dusky salamander (Desmognathus ochrophaeus) and Wehrle's salamander (Plethodon wehrlei) occupy seepage areas and stream margins, where moisture remains constant year-round.

Walking through Cheat Mountain, a visitor experiences distinct transitions in forest character. Following a stream drainage upslope, the forest darkens as Eastern Hemlock density increases and the understory becomes a thick mat of rhododendron and low herbaceous plants. The sound of water becomes louder as the gradient steepens. Breaking out onto a ridge, the canopy opens to mixed hardwoods with more light reaching the forest floor, and the understory shifts to scattered striped maple and beech saplings with spring wildflowers visible in early season. Crossing from a north-facing slope to a south-facing aspect, the hemlock gives way to oak and hickory, and the air feels warmer and drier. The streams themselves—Red Run, Fall Run, Limekiln Run—are cold and clear, their beds rocky and their banks lined with hemlock and rhododendron, places where the salamanders shelter and the trout hold in deeper pools.

Indigenous peoples used the high Allegheny region, including present-day Cheat Mountain, primarily as hunting grounds rather than as locations for permanent settlements. The Shawnee, an Algonquian-speaking people, historically claimed these lands west of the Alleghenies as their territory. The Lenape (Delaware) people utilized the Cheat River basin, referring to it as Ach-sin-ha-nac, meaning "stony river." A major trail network known as the Shawnee Trail or Seneca Trail crossed the crests of the Allegheny Mountains and the upper tributaries of the Cheat River near the current roadless area, serving as a vital corridor for trade and military movement between the South Branch of the Potomac and the Tygart Valley. In the 1600s, the Beaver Wars led by the Iroquois forced many Shawnee and other groups to temporarily abandon settlements in the Ohio Valley and surrounding highlands. By the mid-1700s, the Shawnee actively defended these hunting lands against European-American encroachment. The Proclamation of 1763 attempted to use the Allegheny Mountains as a boundary between settlers and Indigenous lands, but this boundary was largely ignored by westward-moving colonists.

Beginning in the late nineteenth century, the region underwent intensive industrial exploitation. A "clear-cutting spree" stripped the original red spruce and hardwood forests from the mountainsides; by the mid-1920s, these forests had been almost entirely removed. Logging operations relied on a vast network of narrow-gauge railroad grades, many of which remain visible as abandoned grades throughout the roadless area today. Temporary logging camps supported these extraction operations, while established company towns such as Bemis and Cass served as regional hubs for the extraction economy. The area also lay at the eastern edge of the Appalachian coal region. Extensive logging followed by subsequent fires left the landscape severely damaged—described in contemporary accounts as a "barren wasteland."

During the American Civil War, Cheat Mountain was the site of a significant engagement. The Battle of Cheat Mountain (September 12–15, 1861) was Robert E. Lee's first offensive campaign as a field commander. Union forces under Brigadier General Joseph J. Reynolds defended a fortified position known as Cheat Summit Fort (or Fort Milroy) to protect the vital Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike. Confederate forces under General Lee attempted a complex multi-pronged attack but were repelled due to poor weather, difficult terrain, and lack of coordination. During this campaign, Colonel John A. Washington, Lee's aide-de-camp and the last private owner of Mount Vernon, was killed during a scouting mission near the nearby Elkwater camp.

The environmental devastation caused by logging and fire prompted federal action to protect the region's watersheds. The Weeks Act of 1911 authorized the federal government to purchase private lands in the eastern United States for watershed protection of navigable streams. The first tract of land for the future forest, known as the Arnold Tract (7,200 acres in Tucker County), was purchased from Thomas J. Arnold on November 26, 1915. The Monongahela National Forest was officially established on April 28, 1920, by Presidential Proclamation signed by President Woodrow Wilson, initially comprising approximately 54,000 acres of federally owned land. The forest underwent its most significant growth during the Great Depression: between 1932 and 1942, acreage increased from 261,968 acres to nearly 806,000 acres. On April 28, 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Proclamation 2166, which redefined the forest boundaries—transferring lands in Hardy County, West Virginia, and western Virginia to the George Washington National Forest while expanding the Monongahela's boundary to the southwest near Richwood. The forest has since grown to encompass over 921,000 acres of federal land within a proclamation boundary of approximately 1.7 million acres. In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps was active in the area, constructing roads, trails, and fire towers and conducting extensive reforestation on denuded slopes. Today, the Cheat Mountain area is an Inventoried Roadless Area protected under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

Vital Resources Protected

Headwater Protection for Four Federally Listed Bat Species

The Cheat Mountain roadless area contains mature mixed hardwood and conifer forests that provide essential roosting habitat for four federally endangered bats: the gray bat, Indiana bat, northern long-eared bat, and Virginia big-eared bat. These species depend on the structural complexity of old trees—cavities, loose bark, and dense canopy—that develop only in unlogged forests. The roadless condition preserves the continuous forest canopy across the ridgelines of Limekiln Ridge, Shavers Mountain, and Little Beech Mountain, allowing these bats to forage and navigate between roosting sites without exposure to open areas. Loss of this canopy connectivity would fragment their habitat into isolated patches too small to sustain viable populations.

Endemic Salamander Refuge in High-Elevation Microhabitats

The Cheat Mountain salamander, found nowhere else on Earth, persists in the cool, moist forest floor microhabitats of this area's high-elevation red spruce and hemlock thickets. This federally threatened species requires intact leaf litter, dense moss cover, and stable soil moisture—conditions maintained by the unbroken forest canopy and absence of soil disturbance. Research documents that the species' occupancy has declined significantly since the late 1970s as warming temperatures and forest fragmentation expand the range of the competing red-backed salamander into higher elevations. The roadless condition preserves the thermal refugium and microhabitat stability this endemic species needs to survive as climate change narrows its suitable habitat range.

Headwater Stream Integrity Across Nine Tributary Drainages

The area contains the headwaters of the Red Run–Shavers Fork system and eight additional tributaries (Fall Run, Fishing Hawk Creek, Red Roaring Run, Deer Lick, Limekiln Run, Rose Run, Stalnaker Run) that feed into the Upper Cheat River watershed. These headwater streams provide spawning and rearing habitat for native brook trout and sensitive aquatic species including hellbenders. The unbroken riparian forest buffers—maintained by the roadless condition—stabilize stream temperatures, filter runoff, and prevent sedimentation of spawning gravels. The absence of roads means no culverts to block fish passage and no chronic erosion from cut slopes that would degrade the clean substrate these species require.

High-Elevation Climate Refugium for Rare Plants

The montane elevation gradient across Cheat Mountain, from mixed mesophytic forest to high-elevation conifer thickets, creates a landscape where species can shift upslope as temperatures warm. The roadless condition preserves this elevational connectivity for federally threatened small whorled pogonia and vulnerable species including goldenseal, long-stalked holly, and beautiful Barbara's-buttons. These plants depend on the specific soil, moisture, and light conditions found in undisturbed forest understories. Road construction would fragment this gradient, preventing species migration and isolating populations in shrinking suitable habitat patches.

Threats from Road Construction

Sedimentation and Stream Temperature Increase from Canopy Removal

Road construction on Cheat Mountain's steep slopes would require cutting through the forest canopy and excavating cut banks, exposing mineral soil to erosion. Runoff from these disturbed areas would deliver fine sediment into the nine tributary drainages, smothering the clean gravel spawning substrate that native brook trout and hellbenders require for reproduction. Simultaneously, removal of the riparian forest canopy along stream corridors would increase water temperature—a direct consequence of losing shade—making streams unsuitable for cold-water species and favoring warm-water competitors. The Upper Cheat River watershed is already classified as "at risk" for watershed integrity; road-induced sedimentation would accelerate the documented loss of hydrologic function in this drainage.

Habitat Fragmentation and Edge Effects Favoring Invasive Competitors

Road construction would create linear corridors of disturbed forest edge that fragment the continuous canopy habitat the four federally endangered bat species require for movement and foraging. These edges also create conditions favoring invasive species: research documents that the red-backed salamander—a competitor of the endemic Cheat Mountain salamander—is expanding its range into high-elevation habitat along forest edges and disturbed areas. Road construction would multiply these edge habitats across the ridgelines, accelerating the competitive displacement of the federally threatened Cheat Mountain salamander from its remaining refugium. The roadless condition is essential because this endemic species has no other habitat to retreat to; fragmentation here means local extinction.

Culvert Barriers and Aquatic Connectivity Loss

Road crossings of the nine tributary streams would require culverts or bridges. Culverts frequently create barriers that block upstream movement of native brook trout and hellbenders, isolating populations in smaller stream segments and reducing genetic diversity and recolonization potential. Even where culverts do not completely block passage, they alter stream hydraulics and temperature, creating unsuitable conditions for sensitive species. The headwater streams on Cheat Mountain are already fragmented by historic logging roads in adjacent areas; the roadless condition preserves the last continuous stream corridors where aquatic species can move freely between tributaries and maintain connected populations across the Upper Cheat drainage.

Invasive Species Establishment Along Road Corridors

Road construction creates disturbed soil and edge habitat that invasive plants exploit to establish and spread into the surrounding forest. The West Virginia State Wildlife Action Plan identifies "roads and railroads" as a primary terrestrial stress in the High Alleghenies Conservation Focus Area where Cheat Mountain lies. Invasive plants alter soil chemistry, light availability, and understory structure, degrading habitat for the rare plants documented in this area—goldenseal, long-stalked holly, beautiful Barbara's-buttons, and small whorled pogonia—which depend on specific forest floor conditions. Once established along a road corridor, invasive species spread into the roadless interior, making restoration of native plant communities difficult or impossible. The roadless condition prevents this vector of ecosystem change.

The Cheat Mountain Roadless Area encompasses 8,191 acres of steep, high-elevation terrain in the Monongahela National Forest. Mixed hardwood and red spruce forests dominate the ridges and slopes, with rhododendron and laurel thickets filling the understory. The area's roadless condition preserves the character that makes each of these recreation opportunities possible.

Hunting

Cheat Mountain and the overlapping Cheat Wildlife Management Area support hunting for black bear, white-tailed deer, wild turkey, ruffed grouse, woodcock, squirrel, snowshoe hare, and rabbit. The terrain—steep to moderate slopes reaching over 4,000 feet—is historically known for bear hunting with dogs. Portable tree stands only are permitted on public lands. All hunters must carry a valid West Virginia hunting license; non-residents require a non-resident license. Sunday hunting is allowed on the WMA, though group use is prohibited on Sundays between October 10 and December 31. The Stonecoal Dispersed Camping Area provides primitive campsites for hunters. Access for hunters with permanent disabilities is available via Forest Road 933 (Godwin Road), Forest Road 385/183B (Little Beech Mountain), and Forest Road 153/153A (Five Lick). The rugged, roadless interior remains the core of the hunting experience here; roads would fragment habitat and disrupt the quiet necessary for hunting success.

Fishing

Shavers Fork, the major river flowing through the area, is one of the highest-elevation rivers in the eastern United States and supports wild and native brook trout, brown trout, rainbow trout, and golden rainbow trout. The West Virginia DNR stocks the upper section from Cheat Bridge downstream to the end of Forest Road 46 once in February, then weekly from March through May, with additional stockings in late October. A unique program uses the Cheat Mountain Salamander excursion train to stock remote, roadless reaches between Beaver Creek and Bemis. A 5.5-mile catch-and-release section extends from Whitmeadow Run downstream to McGee Run. Red Run, a remote, high-gradient tributary on the northern end of the complex, is managed as a genuine native brook trout fishery and is fly-fishing only. Other named tributaries—Fishing Hawk Creek, Red Roaring Run, Fall Run, and Stalnaker Run—are part of the Shavers Fork headwaters. The High Falls Trail (TR 345) and Shavers Mountain Trail provide foot access to interior sections. The Stonecoal Dispersed Camping Area offers river-side access. The absence of roads allows anglers to reach remote, high-country streams where native brook trout remain wary and wild.

Birding

The high-elevation red spruce and northern hardwood forests support species with northern affinities. Saw-whet Owl, Northern Goshawk, Olive-sided Flycatcher, and Red Crossbill are documented at nearby Gaudineer Knob. Golden-crowned Kinglet, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Winter Wren, and Dark-eyed Junco inhabit the coniferous thickets. Eastern thrush species—Veery, Swainson's Thrush, Hermit Thrush, and Wood Thrush—breed throughout the area. Spring and summer bring breeding warblers including Magnolia, Blackburnian, Canada, and Mourning Warblers in spruce and rhododendron thickets, and Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Chestnut-sided Warblers and Ovenbird in mixed and northern hardwoods. Golden-winged Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, and Swainson's Warbler pass through during migration. Common Raven, Black-capped Chickadee, and Purple Finch are frequent in the high forests. The Pocahontas County Christmas Bird Count circle overlaps the southern range. Gaudineer Scenic Area on Shavers Mountain features the Gaudineer Interpretive Trail and Allegheny Trail #701 through old-growth red spruce. The roadless interior provides unbroken forest habitat essential for interior-forest species like Ovenbird and breeding warblers that require large, unfragmented patches away from edge effects.

Paddling

Shavers Fork is the primary paddling destination. The upper section from Cheat Bridge to Bemis begins as Class I and builds to Class III, with an 8-mile canyon section approximately two miles upstream of High Falls featuring continuous Class III/IV whitewater. From Bemis to Stuart Recreation Area, the river mellows to Class II–I over 5 miles. The Stuart Recreation Area to Parsons section is 26 miles of Class I–II water suitable for intermediate open canoe or beginner whitewater paddling. The river is rain-dependent, most reliably runnable from February to May. Paddlers use the "Shavers Fork Near Cheat Bridge" gauge for upper sections and the "Parsons" gauge for lower sections. The Upper Cheat River Water Trail is a designated 38-mile water trail with nine documented access points. Cheat Bridge and Bemis serve as put-in and take-out locations for the technical upper section. Stuart Recreation Area, located at the junction of WV Route 6 and Forest Road 91 approximately 6 miles northeast of Elkins, is a major access point for the lower section. Parsons, at the confluence with Black Fork, is the primary take-out. Blackwater Outdoor Adventures provides canoe, kayak, and tube rentals and shuttle services. The roadless condition preserves the remote character of the upper canyon and allows paddlers to experience the river's natural flow and gradient without the noise and fragmentation that roads would introduce.

Photography

The High Falls Trail traverses Shavers Mountain's crest, offering views of the alpine forest and the Shavers Fork gorge. High Falls of the Cheat—a 20-foot-tall, 100-foot-wide waterfall with a large pool at its base—is the signature feature, approximately 3.7 miles from the West Fork Trailhead at Glady. Shavers Fork Cascades are visible along the river, particularly near High Falls. Red Run Falls, accessed via FSR 244, features a rock face with a cave-like appearance. The rare high-elevation red spruce and spruce-northern hardwood forests support endemic botanical species including small whorled pogonia, long-stalked holly, Fraser's sedge, and threeleaf goldthread. The forest floor is characterized by abundant liverwort, mountain woodsorrel, and painted trillium. The Cheat Mountain Salamander, a federally threatened endemic species, is black or dark brown with brassy or silvery flecks and found under rocks, logs, and leaf litter in moist spruce forests. Brook trout in remote river sections and American black bear and snowshoe hare offer wildlife photography opportunities. The high-elevation plateaus provide dark sky conditions suitable for Milky Way and deep-sky photography. The Cheat Mountain Salamander excursion train runs along the roadless area's border, providing views of the remote gorge otherwise accessible only on foot. The roadless condition preserves the undisturbed watersheds and unfragmented forest that make these botanical and wildlife subjects accessible and photographable.