It didn’t take long to figure out that nobody was in charge here. The trees were in charge. The railroad facilitated. The rest of us went along for the ride and did what we could to help the trees and the railroad and the river.

Just after 8 a.m. on Saturday, April 21st, as I drove to Cheat Bridge for a Mountain Odyssey outing called "Bringing Back the Spruce," it began to rain. The day before, five of us had met at a tributary of the upper Shavers Fork to gather several hundred red spruce seedlings from an old roadbed the Forest Service plans to reclaim. I had slept peacefully that night in a rhododendron thicket beside First Fork, then picked up the seedlings we had stowed behind bushes. However, as I arrived at the railroad siding I saw many more cars than I had expected and the railbus, the Cheat Mountain Salamander, was leaving.

What?! I’m supposed to be the outing leader, I have the trees, and the railbus, completely full, is leaving fifteen minutes early without me. Two carloads of participants are just driving up and someone is shouting, "Those people are cutting trees while you all are planting trees!" The track inspector puts the seedlings in a yellow Bronco mounted on the rails. He tells me to get in with my pack and shovel and tells the others he’ll come back for them. I still don’t know what’s going on, but it is clear I am not in charge.

A year ago another tree-planting outing was held during the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy’s Spring Review. This was done in collaboration with Trout Unlimited and the Shavers Fork Coalition. TU "adopted" the upper Shavers Fork several years ago and set out to help restore the river by planting spruce to stabilize the banks and shade the water. Outings have been held every April and October for the past two years, at sites accessible by car and foot. This time we wanted to plant in a less accessible stretch of river about 14 miles upstream from Cheat Bridge.

John Smith, Operator of the West Virginia Central Railroad, generously offered to transport the group. John and his company want to keep the upper Shavers Fork "as it is or better." As the rail-Bronco makes its way upstream, Keith, the inspector, tells me that in addition to our tree-planters the Salamander is carrying some rail enthusiasts who are planning a trip that will cater to photographers. Their contract with John Smith called for cutting brush to clean up photo vistas.

Before we catch up with our group above Second Fork, we see the Salamander returning. The Bronco backs a couple of miles to a siding and stops. Fifteen people swarm out of the railbus and begin whacking weeds and clipping brush. Earlier, this crew cut more than brush: lots of rhododendron and one six-inch diameter tree were dropped right into the river. At this very spot a year or so ago, someone cut a small copse of eight-inch spruces on the lip of a steep bank in order to take a better photograph. Now that bank is visibly eroding. Today, John has to forcefully restrain the rail buffs from cutting more trees. I can see that John and his wife Kathy are going to have their hands full on the day-long trip down to Bowden and back to Cheat Bridge.

So our day of tree-planting begins with alarm and confusion. The pushy rail buff leader insisted the Salamander take off early, and the tree-planters, several of whom knew no one else on the railbus, began to wonder if they had found the right outing. Chainsaws? Fortunately, Bryan Moore of TU had everyone introduce themselves and told them where and how to plant. Snowshoe Mountain Resort had delivered many bags of seedlings as a contribution to the restoration effort. By the time I arrived, the eighteen participants had spread along the streambank and were busily planting trees. The trees had taken control. Everyone was intent on helping restore a balance in this beautiful place by planting the sturdy green spruce seedlings where they could help stabilize banks and bars. During the next five or six hours, we worked upstream for most of a mile on the west side of the river.

We paused for lunch in the shelter of a couple of spreading hemlocks. After one o’clock the rain stopped, the sun came out, raincoats and sweatshirts were shed. The Bronco, which had been shuttling trees and people, took a few participants back to Cheat Bridge. The rest of us continued to work, even planting some trees on steep banks close to the rails "for the rail photographers to cut!" Their outrageous attitude was still on our minds. And we were startled to see two four-wheelers speeding up the tracks. Surely they knew it was illegal to use ORV’s in that part of the National Forest.

When he returned, the rail inspector told us he had seen the four-wheelers and had asked the riders to leave. After he had gone on to Cheat Bridge, the riders had placed rocks and spikes and old ties on the rails as their way of thumbing their noses at the railroad. This mischief occurs often at certain places along the line. The rail inspector has to clear the tracks before each train can make its run. Two excursion trains and various freight trains operate on the 122-mile West Virginia Central line.

While we focused on the harmony that could help the river restore itself, we were reminded that there are forces still at work in the opposite direction. Most of the upper Shavers Fork has come into public ownership only in the last decade. The long-term effects of catastrophic logging, road building, mining, acid precipitation, and other human activities have severely degraded the river and fragmented the montane spruce forests. The river is beginning to recover, and the area is among the state’s most popular for a wide variety of outdoor recreation, but the watershed needs help to bring it to its potential as a native brook trout fishery. The landscape supports a wealth of plants and animals including large concentrations of globally rare species. Eventually, the Shavers Fork can remind us how it was in the pristine, high elevation watersheds that once defined the Allegheny Mountains.

In the spring of 2000, a diverse group of partners came together and found ways to cooperate in that endeavor. Eighteen private corporations, government agencies, and non-profit organizations, including the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, signed the "Healing the Headwaters" vision statement and pledged their commitment to restoration and conservation on the 70,000-acre Upper Shavers Fork watershed. These partners will work to further broaden support for recovery by increasing public understanding and appreciation.

Our "Bringing Back the Spruce" outing demonstrated what can happen when a diverse group of well-intentioned people come together for a simple task. The energy of the 13 adults and five children shifted into a deep caring for the whole place.

Alerted to signs of recent water flows, they learned just where to put trees to best stabilize the banks for high water. They carefully spread the roots in the holes they had dug and covered them firmly but gently, wishing them well. Perhaps working with children is the most important thing we accomplished on this outing. Seven-year-old Bryanna Moore, still energetic after five hours in the field, held up a seedling to me and said, "Isn't this the sweetest little baby spruce? I'm going to bring my grandchildren to see this when it’s a TALL spruce!" The trees kept Bryanna going. We were keeping the trees going. We must see to it that the children grow up to keep the trees so that the trees will help keep the river and creatures and companion plants and our children’s children going.