As part of the wilderness system, it helps to preserve a variety of natural life forms and contributes to a diversity of plant and animal gene pools.

[3][5] With a rugged and steep terrain, there is a level of personal risk as one leaves the edge of the wilderness and could become lost or injured in a life-threatening situation.

[6] While there are no maintained trails, several bushwhacks and old roads offer a chance to enter the area:[7] Protected coves in the wilderness contain white oak, tulip poplar, Frazier magnolia and yellow birch, while ridges contain varieties of oak and hickory, and the whole forest has thickets of rhododendron covering the under-story.

[3] The dense forests provide above-ground dens for black bear, and loose, flaking bark for good summer roosting spots for the endangered Indiana bat.

Remnants of steel rails, cross ties, small bridge abutments and large tree stumps still provide evidence of the timbering industry that brought logs to local mills and kilns.