Priority Landscapes

Central Appalachians

Scientists predict the iconic Central Appalachians will withstand climate change and help ensure nature’s survival.

Blue mountain ridgetops roll across the landscape ending at the pink horizon.
Bear Rocks Preserve Dawn high above Canaan Valley, in the Dolly Sods Wilderness, West Virginia. © Kent Mason
Contact Us

Adopt an Acre

We're working across six states—Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee—to protect this critical stronghold. Adopt an Acre and you’ll help protect the Appalachians now and for future generations.

Support Our Work

Our Stories

Panther Knob Preserve in West Virginia

Places We Protect

Natural Climate Solutions in West Virginia

The Central Appalachians will help ensure nature’s survival as climate change alters natural areas and weather patterns.

A forester wearing orange protective gear harvests trees. Six large logs lay piled together on the snow covered ground.

Feature

Working Woodlands Program

TNC's Working Woodlands program partners with private landowners in Pennsylvania to protect and sustainably manage forests.

View looking out over a valley to the forested mountains beyond. Two small farms are nestled into green openings in the forest.

Program Overview

Healthy Forests in Maryland

Keeping Western Maryland’s forests healthy and connected.

VIEW MORE
A forest of fall colors spreads into the distance.

Places We Protect

Explore the Central Appalachians

Spanning six states and more than 50,000 square miles of the most awe-inspiring landscapes in America.

Explore
×

Take a Closer Look

A wooden boardwalk winds through low, leafy green bog plants as white mist rises up into the trees in the background.
Cranesville Swamp Boardwalk through the wetlands of The Nature Conservancy's Cranesville Swamp Preserve in West Virginia. © Kent Mason
Overlook view of a thickly forested valley stretching to the mountains in the distance. The slanting afternoon sun casts shadows over the fall colors.
Endless Mountains Bear Loop overlook at Warm Springs Mountain, Virginia. © Jennifer Dalke / TNC
Bright fall colors of orange, red and gold frame an open valley. Misty mountains rise in the background.
Clinch Valley The forests of the Clinch Valley help filter and protect the last free-flowing tributaries of the Tennessee River system. © Jon Golden
Bright red leaves of low ground cover plants stand out in contrast amid a patch of gray rocks. Haze covers the mountains in the background.
Moosic Mountain Barrens Autumn in the barrens at the Dick and Nancy Eales Preserve at Moosic Mountain. © George C. Gress/TNC
The sun reflects on a river, turning the water silver, as it gently winds through a. wide green forest.
Penobscot River West Branch of the Penobscot River and tributaries as it winds to the southeast of Mount Katahdin. © Bridget Besaw
A girl in a purple jacket sits on a rock outcrop with her back to the camera, looking out over a view of low rolling ridges and shadowed valleys.
Bad Branch State Nature Preserve in Kentucky during Autumn. © Devan King / TNC
A river flows and pools over rocky rapids, framed by green tree-lined banks.
Obed River Obed River © Byron Jorjorian
Fingers of pink-tinged clouds stretch low over a landscape of low green ferns, gray rocks, and scraggly conifer trees.
Bear Rocks Preserve Springtime scene at The Nature Conservancy's Bear Rocks Preserve in West Virginia. A flat, windswept expanse of subalpine heath barrens opens up to the sky. © Kent Mason
Five people in red life preservers navigate a yellow raft through the large boulders and white water rapids of the New River, with the New River Gorge Bridge in the background
New River Gorge Rafters at this popular West Virginia spot, which was protected thanks to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. © Kent Mason
× A wooden boardwalk winds through low, leafy green bog plants as white mist rises up into the trees in the background.
× Overlook view of a thickly forested valley stretching to the mountains in the distance. The slanting afternoon sun casts shadows over the fall colors.
× Bright fall colors of orange, red and gold frame an open valley. Misty mountains rise in the background.
× Bright red leaves of low ground cover plants stand out in contrast amid a patch of gray rocks. Haze covers the mountains in the background.
× The sun reflects on a river, turning the water silver, as it gently winds through a. wide green forest.
× A girl in a purple jacket sits on a rock outcrop with her back to the camera, looking out over a view of low rolling ridges and shadowed valleys.
× A river flows and pools over rocky rapids, framed by green tree-lined banks.
× Fingers of pink-tinged clouds stretch low over a landscape of low green ferns, gray rocks, and scraggly conifer trees.
× Five people in red life preservers navigate a yellow raft through the large boulders and white water rapids of the New River, with the New River Gorge Bridge in the background