Using estimates of the mean monthly temperature as a function of elevation in west-central Virginia, it is inferred that red spruce (Picea rubens) and other boreal vegetation should be a common natural vegetation type above about 3,000 feet. The current existence of an Appalachian Oak Forest above these heights, however, is due to the lumbering and subsequent repeated burning of the red spruce in this region during the last half of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. This destruction of the favorable microclimate and soil conditions for spruce germination and initial growth eliminated this species throughout much of its range in this area.
The current documented climatic cooling in the region, however, along with the reestablishment of a moister, cooler climate beneath the oak forest canopy, provides a suitable environment for the reestablishment of spruce. Unfortunately, the distribution of this tree, in regions where it had been eliminated by logging and fire, is limited because of its poor seed mobility. Thus, the dispersal, in a reasonably short time frame, of this tree type over its apparent natural range in the Appalachian Mountains will require reforestation by man.