Naked Mountain Natural Area Preserve

Naked Mountain Natural Area Preserve
Naked Mountain Natural Area Preserve
Location	Nelson County, Virginia
Coordinates	37°45′09″N 78°49′41″W / 37.7525°N 78.828°W
Area	356 acres (1.44 km2)
Established	2006
Owner	Private

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]

References

^ "Naked Mountain". ProtectedPlanet. United Nations Environment Programme's World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Naked Mountain Natural Area Preserve". Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
^ Koerting, Katrina (January 11, 2012). "Preserving native, rare parts of Virginia". Nelson County News. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
^ "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.