Sods is a term used in the

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range ( ) — also spelled Alleghany or Allegany, less formally the Alleghenies — is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada. Historically it represented a significant barr ...

of eastern

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

for a mountain top

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as they maintain an open character. Meadows can occur naturally under favourable con ...

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

, in an area that is otherwise generally forested. The term is similar (perhaps identical) to that of a " grass bald", a more widespread designation applied throughout the central and southern

Appalachian region Appalachian may refer to: * Appalachian Mountains, a major mountain range in eastern United States and Canada * Appalachian Trail, a hiking trail in the eastern United States * The people of Appalachia and their culture ** Appalachian Americans, e ...

. The best known example of a sods is

Dolly Sods The Dolly Sods Wilderness (DSW, originally simply Dolly Sods) is a U.S. Wilderness Area in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia and is part of the Monongahela National Forest of the U.S. Forest Service. Dolly Sods is a rocky, high- ...

, a federally designated

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural) are Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human activity, or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally ...

Tucker County, West Virginia Tucker County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,762, making it West Virginia's fourth-least populous county. Its county seat is Parsons. The county was created in 1856 from a part of ...

and popular destination for recreationalists. Other examples include Nelson Sods ( Pendleton County) and Baker Sods ( Randolph County).

Ecology

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

botanist

Earl L. Core Earl Lemley Core (January 20, 1902 – December 8, 1984) was an American botanist and botanical educator, researcher, author and historian of West Virginia. He was founder of the Southern Appalachian Botanical Club and editor of its journal, ''C ...

addressed the origin of the "sods" in 1973:

How did it happen that these grassy tracts were originally rior to white settlementtreeless, when all the surrounding areas were covered with trees? No one really knows. Although the "sods" and "balds" have been the subject of much speculation, discussion, and research, no generally-accepted explanation has yet been proposed for their existence. Perhaps there is not really any one cause; the treelessness may be the result of a complex situation which may vary from place to place. Factors suggested may be classified as natural or artificial. Among the natural have been listed climatic, edaphic (soil), topographic, biotic and pyric (fire).

The dominant grass is Allegheny flyback ( d''anthonia compressa''), a grass so light in weight that it would "fly back" against the scythe of the mower.Core, Earl L. (1974), ''The Monongalia Story: A Bicentennial History, Vol. I: Prelude'', Parsons, W.Va.: McClain Printing Co., pp 55-56.

Ecology

See also

References

Further reading