Sods is a term used in the

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...

of eastern

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

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 these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or artif ...

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 muskeg; a ...

, in an area that is otherwise generally forested. The term is similar (perhaps identical) to that of a "

grass bald In the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States, balds are mountain summits or crests covered primarily by thick vegetation of native grasses or shrubs occurring in areas where heavy forest growth would be expected. Balds are found pr ...

", 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 – originally simply Dolly Sods – is a U.S. Wilderness Area in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, US, and is part of the Monongahela National Forest (MNF) of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). Dolly Sod ...

, a federally designated

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

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 R ...

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

Randolph County Randolph County is the name of eight counties in the United States: * Randolph County, Alabama *Randolph County, Arkansas * Randolph County, Georgia *Randolph County, Illinois * Randolph County, Indiana *Randolph County, Missouri *Randolph County, N ...

Ecology

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

botanist

Earl L. Core Earl Lemley Core (January 20, 1902 – December 8, 1984) was a botanist and botanical educator, researcher, and author as well as a local West Virginia historian. He was founder of the Southern Appalachian Botanical Club and editor of its journa ...

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. Parsons is the county seat and largest city in Tucker County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 1,322 at the 2020 census. The mayor of Parsons is Dorothy Judy and the city administrator is Jason Myers. The city is also governed b ...

McClain Printing Co. The McClain Printing Company (MPC) is a printing company specializing in books of West Virginia history and lore. The company was incorporated in 1958 in Parsons, West Virginia as an outgrowth of the local weekly newspaper, the '' Parsons Advocate' ...

, pp 55-56.

Ecology

See also

References

Further reading