Shannon Brennan
Special to The News & Advance
As sunlight sifted through the treetops onto the forest floor, a dozen hikers stopped to look up at the yellow-bellied sapsuckers courting above.
This stretch of land in the George Washington National Forest in Amherst County is slated to be slashed to the ground, taking countless life forms above and below the soil for a relatively small amount of timber on this particular mountaintop.
The U.S. Forest Service says the logging will provide early successional forest, which includes herbs, shrubs and small trees as the forest regenerates after cutting. Several species rely on this type of forest for their food and habitat.