page_title: Lewis Fork Wilderness
section_title: Natural history
hierarchical_section_title: Lewis Fork Wilderness / Natural history
caption_attribution_description: English: Forest of Red Spruce and Fraser Fir on the slopes of en:Mount Rogers, en:Virginia
context_page_description: The Lewis Fork Wilderness is an area in the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area protected by the Eastern Wilderness Act of Congress to maintain its present, natural condition. As part of the wilderness system, it is intended to preserve a variety of natural life forms and contribute to a diversity of plant and animal gene pools. Over half of the ecosystems in the United States exist within designated wilderness.
  The highlight of the wilderness is Mount Rogers, which at 5729 feet is the tallest mountain in Virginia and the highest point in the Appalachians between North Carolina and New Hampshire. With frequent cloud cover and moist moss draping from rocks and tree limbs, the wooded area at the top of the mountain creates a sense of awe in a silence so quiet that a finger snap can produce an echo.
  The area is part of the Mount Rogers Cluster.
context_section_description: Habitats created by high elevations, extended slopes and streams support a large biological diversity. The wilderness and surrounding country are considered one of the most important centers for biological diversity in the eastern United States.  Besides the oak-hickory forest common in eastern deciduous woodlands, a variety of forest communities include cove forests in rich, moist secluded areas; northern hardwood forests on upper slopes; and seeps, wet places supplied by water from an underground aquifer. 
  Frazer firs on the summit of Mt. Rogers are beginning to decline because of infestation by the balsam woolly adelgid, an exotic insect pest.
  Streams in the area have been recognized for their high water quality.  Wild natural trout streams in Virginia are classified by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries by their water quality, with class i the highest and class iv the lowest.  Lewis Fork is a class i stream and Charlies Branch, Daves Branch, Grindstone Branch and Helton Creek are class ii streams.
  Grayson Highlands State Park, adjacent to the wilderness, contains balds, large open grassy areas at a high elevation with good views in many directions.  Ponies have been introduced into the highlands and allowed to run wild while grazing the balds.
caption: Mount Rogers - Spruce-Fir Forest
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