The Blackwater Canyon in Tucker County, recognized as West Virginia’s scenic "Crown Jewel," has been threatened by logging and development since 1998 -- when part of the Canyon was sold to a private timber company. Dr. Weigl was hired by the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, under a grant from the World Wildlife Fund, to document squirrel habitat in the Canyon.

Dr. Weigl is the world’s leading expert on the Appalachian flying squirrel subspecies. He carried out his study under a permit approved by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. Dr. Weigl’s field workers struggled with rough roads and difficult weather conditions to document squirrel populations in the Blackwater Canyon -- and their persistence paid off! Eight squirrels were located at sites along the Canyon’s south rim! Staff at Blackwater Falls State Park helped ear-tag the captured squirrels, before they were released.

The nocturnal squirrel has a warm furry coat, and large black eyes to see better at night. It "flies" or glides on flaps of skin called pelagia. The squirrel’s habitat is the northern conifer forest of the West Virginia highlands -- red spruce and hemlock, and associated older growth northern hardwoods, like beech, sugar maple, yellow birch and cucumber tree. A major part of the squirrel’s diet is tree lichens and a subterranean fungus that grows on tree roots, and helps the trees obtain nutrients from the soil. The squirrel spreads this fungus in the forest floor. This mutually beneficial ecological relationship, between the mature trees and the furry mammals who live and nest in their branches, has existed for millenia – but it is threatened by such factors as global climate change, and logging and development that reduces the mature forest ecosystem.

Dr. Weigl says in his final report, "In working with this species since 1964, the senior author has never observed a series of captures spread over such a continuous transect of forest as seen in the present study along the rim of Blackwater Canyon....further fragmentation of the populations in the Blackwater area could not only affect their survival directly , but undermine the maintenance of the genetic variability critical for meeting environmental challenges in the future."

World Wildlife Fund support of this effort was crucial. This international organization helps animals on the brink of extinction around the world. The results of Dr. Weigl’s study further demonstrate how vital the Blackwater Canyon is – to us, and to the survival of creatures like "Ginnie," the flying squirrel. We must fully protect this unique wilderness -- and move it into public ownership NOW – so that these special animals, and our love for them, will survive.