Broadback island is one of those most impacted by invasive species invasive species
An invasive species is any plant or animal that has spread or been introduced into a new area where they are, or could, cause harm to the environment, economy, or human, animal, or plant health. Their unwelcome presence can destroy ecosystems and cost millions of dollars.
Learn more about invasive species , particularly Japanese knotweed which any visitor will have to hack through if exploring the island today. Originally, the island was covered by a mature and diverse riparian riparian
Definition of riparian habitat or riparian areas.
Learn more about riparian forest (this is the forest that grows along the banks of rivers and lakes, and which has a different composition than the forests found on the upland hills higher above the river). It would have been covered with towering sycamore, silver maple, American elm, and Cottonwood trees. Paw Paw and Spicebush would have made up the understory.
According to the late Marilyn Ortt, a local naturalist, “Native Americans had hunting camps on the islands but it is uncertain (and unlikely – they knew the hazards of building in the flood plain) if there were villages. Summer crops may have been planted in small patches to take advantage of the rich alluvial soil deposited after each flood event. Similar habitat would have been available on the flood plain on the mainland, but perhaps less easy to defend against poachers.”
“When European settlers arrived and long before the navigation dams were built, the normal low water level allowed ready access to the island. The forests were cleared to raise crops (although trees were often left on the upper end of the islands, including Broadback – no doubt the protection offered against floating debris and erosion was recognized).”
“Local residents can remember when pigs were taken to Broadback, presumably after the potatoes and corn. Over time the agricultural use ceased and the land lay fallow. Growth no doubt started immediately but probably consisted primarily of agricultural weeds. There were few seed sources of the native plant species that had grown there before European settlement. Birds help disperse seeds but the rive was active, too – not only seeds but rhizomes of plants growing further upstream were deposited during flood events or just came to rest on the beaches of the islands.”
“Japaneese knotweed can have rhizomes as large as the diameter of your wrists and they will readily grow where there is soil for roots to grow into. Like many non-native species in a new land, undeterred by shortening daylight hours or cooler temperatures, this knotweed stays green much later into the fall, giving it a real advantage and preventing native vegetation from getting a foothold. The formerly cultivated soil provided easy colonization of large portions of the island, and today this island in particular is dense with knotweed.”
Adapted from an article in The Parkersburg News, March 8, 1981:
Broadback is the largest of three islands that together were originally referred to as “Three Brothers Islands,” named in honor of the Briscoe brothers who are said to have taken tomahawk claims on them about 1783. The late Robert L. Pemberton, editor and historian of Pleasants County, wrote that the smallest of the trio is First Brother Island, at Belmont. The original channel between it and the mainland has filled so much since the construction of the Belmont dike in 1885 that it is now only an island in high water (this is all the land between the railroad tracks and the river in Belmont below French Creek).
He continued: “Second Brother Island is the largest and is the only one which has a permanent dwelling. Its popular name is Broadhead. It was to this island that the dike from Belmont was built for the purpose of increasing the depth of the steamboat channel on the western side of it. When the water poured over the dike it was a fine place to fish for jack salmon and bass, and the music of the cataract could be heard far upon the hills back of the village.” The third island today is called Eureka Island, just downriver from Broadback.
Island Access: St. Marys public access ramp at St. Marys off SR 2
