Western Allegheny Plateau (ecoregion)

The forest area is mostly mixed oak and mixed temperate forests.[2]

Native plant species include:[5]

• Acer rubrum (Red maple )
• Betula alleghaniensis (Yellow birch)
• Betula nigra (Black birch)
• Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
• Fraxinus americana (White ash)
• Diervilla lonicera (Northern bush honeysuckle)
• Pinus strobus (White pine)
• Populus grandidentata (Big-tooth American aspen)
• Prunus pensylvanica (Pin cherry)
• Prunus serotina (Black cherry)
• Tsuga canadensis (Hemlock)

Between 1890 and 1920, loggers cleared most of the Allegheny Plateau. Save for a few pockets of old growth forest, the current forests, which contain most of the presettlement species in different relative abundances and distribution, originated at that time. The heavy cutting favored hardwoods and created massive amounts of coniferous slash, providing ideal conditions for widespread and intense fires. The fires were a major factor in the virtual elimination of white pine and hemlock in the Allegheny forests. Repeated fires also tended to reduce the proportion of sugar maple, beech, and other typical hardwoods and increase such species as aspen, pin cherry, sedges, grasses, and honeysuckles.[5][6]

The Ohio River and Allegheny River systems within the ecoregion have been adversely affected by acid mine drainage and industrial pollution, which has caused degradation of the stream and riparian habitats, and loss of native fish species.[2]

Prevalent mammal species of the ecoregion are: white-tailed deer,[7] cottontail rabbit,[8] groundhog,[9] and wild turkey.[10]

Wildlife of lesser relative abundance are: gray and fox squirrel,[11] gray fox,[12] raccoons,[13] opossum,[14] red fox,[15] and striped skunk.[16]