What to look for in nature in West Virginia this April

When are ramps up in West Virginia, and how much can you pick?

• The Feast of the Ramson at Richwood

  Annual, in April; the 2026 feast was Saturday, April 18, and no 2027 date had been posted when this page was written · Richwood, Nicholas County

  West Virginia Tourism listed the 2026 gathering as the 87th annual Feast of the Ramson, with a plate of ramps, potatoes, beans and cornbread and an arts and crafts show starting at 10 a.m., at Richwood High School. An earlier listing, for April 18, 2020, called it the "granddaddy of all Appalachian ramp feeds" and described a meal that also included ham, bacon and sassafras tea, plus craft sales in the town's fire station, city hall and library. The Richwood Area Chamber of Commerce organizes it. Venues, hours and prices have changed over the years, so ask the chamber for the 2027 details.

• Where you may dig, and where you may not

  Spring, while the leaves are up · National park units and the Monongahela National Forest

  Three national park units in the southern part of the state, New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, Gauley River National Recreation Area and Bluestone National Scenic River, have not allowed ramp harvesting since January 1, 2022. Park biologists could not find several historic populations and judged the rest too small to harvest. The Monongahela National Forest takes a different approach. Its guidelines, published in March 2024, allow personal use of up to two gallons per person, about a grocery bag or roughly 180 whole plants, and rule out selling ramps, collecting for someone else or gathering for a fundraiser. The Forest Service also asks pickers to skip patches of fewer than 100 plants, take no more than one-fifth of a large clump, use a hand trowel and cover bare soil with leaves. Elsewhere the rules differ, so ask the manager or owner.

• Picking so the patch comes back

  Any time you gather · Forest, yard and field patches

  West Virginia Living quotes forager Deaonna Crowe on gentle picking: cut only the leaves with a knife and leave the bulbs, or cut a bulb at its base so the roots stay, or trim a quarter off the bottom and replant the rest. She also passes on a traditional rule of four. Leave the first plant for wildlife, the second for other foragers and the third to reseed the patch, and take only the fourth.

Which spring wildflowers and butterflies show up in West Virginia in April?

• A trail with a calendar: the Mylius Trail

  Early April through early May; snow is possible on the ridge as late as the end of April · Mylius Trail (No. 128), Cheat-Potomac Ranger District, Monongahela National Forest, east of Elkins off U.S. 33

  The Forest Service publishes a bloom schedule for this trail. Cutleaf toothwort and crinkleroot open in early April, and the yellow dogtooth violet (trout lily) follows in early to mid-April. From mid-April come blue cohosh, Carolina springbeauty, spotted geranium, red trillium, nightcaps, dwarf ginseng and several violets, and Canada mayflower, among the latest, opens in early to mid-May. The agency calls early April into early May the viewing window and warns of steep ground and late snow. The path climbs about 1.8 miles to the top of Shaver's Mountain, 850 feet up, or runs about 2.6 miles to Otter Creek. Carry a map.

• The West Virginia white butterfly

  On the wing in April and May in the southern Appalachians · Moist hardwood woods where toothworts grow; recent records include Kanawha, Fayette and Pocahontas counties

  This small, translucent whitish butterfly shares the state's name. Look for blurry brown or gray scaling along the veins on the underside of the hindwing; the wings span about 1.75 to 2.1 inches. Its caterpillars eat toothworts, the early mustard-family flowers of April, so its calendar is tied to theirs. Butterflies and Moths of North America says southern Appalachian populations fly from April into May and northern ones only in May, and it lists invasive garlic mustard, which crowds out toothwort, as a threat along with logging and development.

• Trillium and jack-in-the-pulpit

  Mid-April into May, later at higher elevations · Rich forest floors across the mountains

  The West Virginia Highlands Conservancy singles out two woodland favorites. Large-flowered trillium opens pure white and ages to soft pink, and the group says the Appalachians have the greatest variety of trilliums, with six species in the Greenbrier Valley. Jack-in-the-pulpit wears a hooded spathe, and oxalic acid crystals in the plant numb the mouth if eaten, so look and leave it.

• Guided wildflower walks

  Usually April; confirm 2027 dates with the organizers · Kanawha State Forest near Charleston, and Chief Logan State Park near Logan

  The Osbra Eye Memorial Spring Walks at Kanawha State Forest are an April tradition. The 2024 edition was a Saturday, April 20, with registration at the Nature Center at 8:30 a.m. and guided walks on wildflowers, edible plants, trees, birds and local history until noon, plus an easier walk for limited mobility. Adults paid $7, ages 12 to 18 paid $2 and younger children were free; Master Naturalists, the Brooks Bird Club's Handlan Chapter and the West Virginia Native Plant Society helped lead. The state tourism office says the forest has up to 40 kinds of April wildflowers, and that the Sue Browning Wildflower Hike at Chief Logan State Park, on trails of 2.5 to 7 or 8 miles, can turn up 75 to 100 species, including Dutchman's breeches and violet larkspur. No 2027 dates were posted, so ask the parks.

• Looking ahead: the Wildflower Pilgrimage

  May 6 to 9, 2027 (the 65th annual) · Blackwater Falls State Park, Tucker County

  The DNR lists the 2027 pilgrimage for Thursday through Sunday, May 6 to 9, at Blackwater Falls, a West Virginia Garden Club project co-sponsored by the DNR. It offers guided tours, birding, wildflower and fern identification, photography workshops and talks, with Thursday aimed at beginners. Registration is required; lodging bookings go through 304-558-2754. It is the way to meet the high-elevation bloom that is still weeks away in April.

When do redbud and serviceberry bloom, and when is Arbor Day in West Virginia?

• Redbud and serviceberry

  April, earlier in the lowlands · Hillsides, roadsides and fencerows, most noticeable in the valleys

  West Virginia Explorer counts redbud among the first native plants to bloom in the Appalachians in April, along with white-flowered serviceberry. It quotes Anthony Tomkowski, professor emeritus of forest resources at West Virginia University, on how early settlers read redbud and black walnut as signs of good cropland. The blossoms are edible, with a history in tea, jelly and pie filling, and their sugars draw bees.

• Arbor Day, the second Friday in April

  Friday, April 9, 2027 · Statewide, with plantings in towns and schools

  The Division of Forestry says West Virginia keeps Arbor Day on the second Friday in April, which is April 9 in 2027. Communities plant trees, and fourth and fifth graders can enter the division's yearly poster contest. Ask your town about a community planting.

• Bloom, frost and the orchards

  April, when a freeze at the wrong moment can cost a crop · Berkeley, Jefferson, Morgan and Hampshire counties in the Eastern Panhandle

  Those four counties grow well over 90 percent of the state's apples and peaches, a 2016 trade report said, and in that year an orchard operator near Martinsburg expected April freezes to cost his farm 20 to 30 percent of its apples and about 30 percent of its peaches. Virginia Tech's fruit specialists give these thresholds: apple blossoms at early or full bloom lose about 10 percent below 28 °F for more than 30 minutes and about 90 percent below 25 °F, while peaches and sweet cherries should not be hurt much above 28 °F. The last-freeze table below shows how late a freeze can come.

Which birds arrive in April, and where can you hear warblers?

• First warblers along the creeks

  Early to mid-April for the first arrivals; more each week through May · Wooded streams, river bottoms and sycamores

  Journey North's report of April 8, 2020 said northern parulas, Louisiana waterthrushes and yellow-throated warblers were abundant in Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio and Missouri, so walk a wooded stream early in the month and listen. Cornell's BirdCast mid-April summary describes migration as in full effect in many areas, with peak windows approaching. Timing follows the weather, so a log of your own first dates beats any calendar. The Brooks Bird Club, the state's bird society since 1932, and its affiliate the Mountwood Bird Club, which runs a spring migration count in Wood County and keeps early and late dates for it, are good places to compare notes.

• The cerulean warbler, a mountain specialty

  Spring and summer, nesting in the canopy; check eBird and local clubs for first-arrival dates · Oak and hickory forests on ridges and steep slopes

  The sky-blue males sing from high in the trees, and West Virginia matters to the species. The DNR says roughly 80 percent of the world's cerulean warblers breed in the Appalachians and about a third of those nest here, and that the bird has declined by more than 65 percent since 1966 because of habitat loss. It likes forests with canopy gaps, and the agency has patch cut about 150 acres at Summersville Wildlife Management Area to make them. The birds winter in the Andes. Bring binoculars and patience, and stay on the trail.

• New River Birding and Nature Festival

  April 26 to May 1, 2027, per the organizer's site; register through it · New River Gorge National Park and Preserve and nearby, Fayette County

  The Fayette County Education Fund runs the festival, with guided birding and nature trips for all skill levels, lodging partners and online registration; a first-day birding outing is listed for April 27. The park around it, the Park Service says, is breeding ground for warblers, vireos and thrushes that need unbroken forest.

• Eaglets in the nest at Shepherdstown

  Chicks grow fast through April; fledging comes in mid-June · National Conservation Training Center, Shepherdstown, Jefferson County, and its live camera

  The Fish and Wildlife Service's nest notes describe eaglets at about two weeks as the size of small chickens with growing talons and beaks, and at about 32 days as nearly covered in feathers and starting to stand. Parents bring fish, sometimes hourly, plus squirrels, rabbits and waterfowl, and a bulge at the base of the neck, the crop, shows a chick has just fed. At three to four weeks the young begin to feed themselves.

• Wild turkeys and the spring gobbler season

  Youth hunt April 17 and 18; the season for bearded birds runs April 19 to May 23, 2027 · Statewide

  Male turkeys gobble at dawn in spring, and the state's season is timed to it. The DNR's regulations summary lists a two-day youth hunt on Saturday and Sunday, April 17 and 18, and a statewide season for bearded turkeys from April 19 through May 23, with one bird a day and two for the season. Shooting ends at 1 p.m., and an uncased firearm, bow or crossbow in the woods after that hour is illegal, as are electronic calls, bait and dogs.

What salamanders, toads and snakes are active in West Virginia in April?

• Four-toed salamander, a bog nester

  Females lay eggs in April and May · Sphagnum moss in fens, seeps and mossy pool edges

  The DNR's salamander field book describes a rusty-brown animal about four inches long, with a white belly flecked with black, a pinched tail base and just four toes on each hind foot. Males stay in the forest; females go to fens and pools to lay about 40 eggs each in hummocks of sphagnum moss, and several females may share a nest of several hundred eggs. If you find one, photograph it from a distance.

• Ravine salamanders and their relatives

  Mating and egg-laying in April and May · Forest floor under logs and rocks; ravine salamanders live west of the high Allegheny ridges

  Ravine salamanders are long and slender, with short legs, a tail half their length and gold or white flecks. The northern species lives north of the New and Kanawha rivers. Two look-alikes, the Valley and Ridge and Shenandoah Mountain salamanders, live east of the Alleghenies and probably lay in April and May too, though the field book says West Virginia data are lacking. Put every log and rock back as you found it.

• Toads and treefrogs

  Calling typically begins in April and builds in May; later at higher elevations · Ponds, ditches, wet fields and, for treefrogs, woods near water

  The DNR counts 12 frog species and three toads in the state: the Eastern American toad, Fowler's toad and the Eastern spadefoot. The Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Atlas, a Northeast source and not a West Virginia one, puts the start of calling for American toads and gray treefrogs in April, later in shade and at higher elevations. Treat that as a rough guide. Listen for a long, steady trill.

• Snakes leave their dens

  Spring warm-up, in April for most · Rocky slopes, wood edges and trails

  Copperheads and timber rattlesnakes are the state's only venomous snakes. Trevor Moore, a biologist at the West Virginia Wildlife Center, told MyBuckhannon that rattlesnakes are leaving their winter dens and looking for food, and that sucking out venom and similar remedies are myths; a bitten person should seek medical care at once. Look before you step over a log or put a hand on a ledge.

Is April still trout-stocking season in West Virginia, and what do you need to fish?

• How big the April stockings are

  Weekly through April; the DNR posts stockings by the end of each business day · Rivers, creeks, tailwaters and lakes statewide

  The DNR reported 92 waters stocked in the week of April 3, 2023, among them Anthony Creek, Big Sandy Creek, the Blackwater and Cranberry rivers, Shavers Fork and lakes in its "Gold Rush" program, and 72 waters in the week of April 21, 2025, including the Greenbrier and Williams rivers and Spruce Knob Lake. The agency publishes no schedule ahead of time, and stockings missed in bad weather are made up with extra runs or extra fish.

• Licenses and where to check

  Before every trip · WVdnr.gov fish stocking page; hotline 304-558-3399

  Anglers 15 and older need a West Virginia fishing license, a trout stamp for trout and a valid ID. The DNR says the stocking hotline, 304-558-3399, and its stocking page list recently stocked waters. Rules and creel limits change, so read the current fishing regulations summary.

How warm, wet and stormy is April in West Virginia?

When is the last spring freeze in West Virginia?

How much daylight does West Virginia gain in April?

What can you see in West Virginia's night sky in April 2027?

• The Pink Moon

  Full on Tuesday, April 20, at 6:27 p.m. EDT; moonrise that evening a little after 8 p.m. · Low in the east-southeast after sunset

  SeaSky says early Native American tribes called this moon the Pink Moon for the moss pink (wild ground phlox) that appears around then, and also knew it as the Sprouting Grass Moon and the Fish Moon. The exact full moment comes before the moon is up, so the show is the moonrise itself on the evening of the 20th.

• The Lyrids under a bright moon

  Peak around 9:40 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 22; the shower is active about April 14 to 30 · Face east to northeast, with the moon behind you

  On the peak night a nearly full moon (95 percent lit) climbs above the horizon near 10 p.m., leaving only a short dark stretch beforehand, while Lyra, the shower's home constellation, is only beginning its climb in the eastern sky. SeaSky puts a typical peak at about 20 meteors an hour and says moonlight will hide the faint ones, so expect a few an hour. Better meteor viewing arrives with the Eta Aquariids, which begin about April 19 and peak around May 5 to 7, when there is no moon to spoil it.

• Jupiter and Mars after dark

  Moon beside Jupiter on the evenings of April 14 and 15, and near Mars late on the 15th · High in the south in the evening, in and near the stars of Leo

  Jupiter outshines every star around it and stays up into the small hours. Mars, orange and fainter, sits in Leo. The two-thirds-lit moon is closest to Jupiter on the morning of the 15th, so the dusks before and after give the best view, and it sits roughly 3 degrees from Mars late that day. Binoculars show Jupiter's four big moons as dots in a row.

• Dawn crescent by Venus, dusk crescent by the Pleiades

  Mornings of April 3 and 4; the evening of April 9, with the moon still near the Pleiades on the 10th · Low in the east before sunrise; low in the west after sunset

  Venus stands out low in the east at first light, and its slow drift toward the Sun trims its head start as the month goes on, from about 75 minutes on April 1 to about 60 by April 30, by our own figures. A thin waning crescent sits beside it on the 3rd and 4th. Days later, by our own computation, a young crescent drifts past the Pleiades, coming within about a degree of the cluster around the 9th and 10th. Saturn slips behind the sun on the 7th.

• The Milky Way before dawn

  Moonless mornings of April 1 to 14 and April 28 to 30, around 40 degrees north · A dark site with a clear southern horizon

  The bright heart of the galaxy is returning to the southeast before dawn but stays in true darkness only about two hours at best. Aurora is possible on any clear dark night; the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center posts a forecast.

What can West Virginia families do outdoors in April?

Safety notes for April in West Virginia