A new museum at the Arc’s headquarters was completed in 2010. Its mission is to tell the story of the eastern broadleaf forests of the US, now torn into tiny shreds by settlement, agriculture, and development. That huge single forest is an idea people need help to understand, to identify with, and to help preserve. Arc Director Stranahan explains:

This is one forest. The Temperate Broadleaf Forest covers the eastern third of our continent. That biome is the most disturbed of the earth’s 14 biomes: more in peril than the tropical rainforests, even the Boreal forest, even the prairies. So this incredibly disturbed system worldwide is one we want to bring citizen awareness too. The Appalachian Forest Museum is a place where in 15 minutes we’re going to get this concept across to people: that they belong to something, that it is special beyond measure, that much has been lost, and it is our job to restore, connect, and reunite.

Murals in the Arc’s Museum depict the temperate forest and its ecosystems.

Fort Hill, Paint Valley

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