The Conference on the Ecology and Management of High Elevation Forests in the Central and Southern Appalachians was conceived to bring together managers, practitioners, and researchers working to better understand the unique issues relevant to high-elevation forests in the central and southern Appalachians. We invited Charles Cogbill (Harvard Forest) to summarize the biogeography of high-elevations forests in the central and southern Appalachians, Carolyn Copenheaver (Virginia Tech) to provide insight into the historical conditions of high-elevation forests in the region, Greg Nowacki (U.S. Forest Service) to summarize the current state of the forest, and Mark Anderson (The Nature Conservancy) to address how climate change may influence these forests in the future. The conference also consisted of 42 offered oral presentations and 14 posters. Concurrent sessions were organized to cover topics relevant to acid deposition and nutrient cycling, ecological classification and forest dynamics, avifauna, wildlife and fisheries, forests pests and climate change, and regeneration and restoration.