Imet William Maxey in 1996, during the annual meeting of the Lucy Braun Association for the Mixed Mesophytic Forest (LBA) held that year in Charleston, West Virginia. The LBA had formed four years earlier in Beckley, West Virginia, for the purpose of studying and preserving the hardwood forest system covering the Central Appalachian Plateaus. The founders of the organization named it for the pioneering woman botanist who first recognized the ecological integrity of the Central Appalachian forest, and linked that integrity to the region's unglaciated topography. A quasi-scientific organization, the LBA welcomed all devotees interested in promoting the well-being of the mixed mesophytic forest (mmf) throughout its range (see Figure 1), including me, a practicing anthropologist trained in folklore with a special research interest in ecological crisis.

This content is only available as a PDF.
You do not currently have access to this content.