The Environmental Journal of Southern Appalachia
15 Life on Land

15 Life on Land (131)

Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

Friday, 10 January 2025 15:31

Saving barrens full of life

Written by

tennessee coneflower couchville cedar gladeTennessee coneflower is seen in Couchville cedar glade, a prime example of cedar glade habitat that is a target of preservationists — such as the land acquired recently in Rutherford County by TennGreen Land Conservancy. The Couchville property is managed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. It is similar in nature to the TennGreen property in Rutherford County, and is part of a nexus of such glades around the Cumberland Plateau. According to TDEC: “Couchville supports one of the largest known and best quality populations of the Tennessee coneflower (Echinacea tennesseensis), which was delisted as a federally endangered species in September 2011. Couchville also provides one of the finest examples of a glade-barrens complex and protects many rare plant species. The glades are distributed where limestone outcropping and shallow soils limit growth of perennial plants and support annual species like leavenworthia, sporobolus, and sedum. The barrens species, that also includes Tennessee coneflower, occur where soils increase and grasses like little bluestem and side oats grama become dominant. The glades and barrens interface forming a complex.”  Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation

Cedar glade habitat protected in fast-growing Tennessee county

MURFREESBORO — To close out 2024, TennGreen Land Conservancy and Allen Patton protected 50 acres of globally unique cedar glade habitat in Middle Tennessee’s Rutherford County with a conservation easement.

Called Rockdale Cedar Glades and Woodlands, Patton’s land abuts TennGreen’s Lamar Cedar Glades & Woodlands Conservation Easement, increasing this connected corridor of protected land to an expansive 256 acres. Limestone cedar glades and barrens, which are incredibly diverse but under threat from development and pollution, are found on the protected properties. This additional 50-acre easement is also within the Spring Creek HUC 12 Watershed and the Stones River Upper HUC 12 Watershed, marking it as critical habitat.

(Hellbender Press has previously reported on the special nature and importance of cedar barrens, including one located in Oak Ridge, just on the cusp of the Cumberland Plateau, which is better known for its cedar glades).

 IMGP0083 2 ENHANCED FOR PRINT 768x541Cedar gladecress (Leavenworthia stylosa) during a prescribed burn at Couchville State Natural Area; this wildflower is only found in the Central Basin of Tennessee.  TDEC

Published in News, Earth, 15 Life on Land
Last modified on Monday, 13 January 2025 11:24

Hop on a call to start planning Amphibian Week

Amphibians Masters of Two Worlds

Join an engaging webinar to jumpstart planning for Amphibian Week 2025, which highlights the diversity and ecological importance of amphibians while exploring ways to support their conservation.

The annual hopalong, set for May 4-10,  is organized by Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation.

The event is highly collaborative in nature; anyone from scientists to teachers and regular citizens can celebrate amphibians during the week, which will feature different themes each day. PARC is hosting a planning webinar at 3 p.m. Jan 30.  

According to organizers, the call will discuss the significance of Amphibian Week, its history and the urgent need to protect these fascinating creatures. Get a first look at the 2025 theme, “Masters of Two Worlds,” along with exciting activities and success stories from last year. Learn how to get involved, access valuable resources and collaborate. Register for the Zoom call.

4 cbc pileated caneycreek Evan Kidd photo 600x846A pileated woodpecker is seen seeking dinner; it is a common denizen of winter Southern Appalachian forests and likely made many Christmas bird lists.  Evan Kidd via Smokies Life

Citizen-led Audubon Christmas Bird Count tallies our feathered friends for yet another year

Holly Kays is the lead writer for Smokies Life.

GATLINBURG — Since its origin in 1900, the Christmas Bird Count has become a holiday fixture for ever-expanding numbers of birders across the globe, giving a valuable gift to generations of wildlife scientists — a massive trove of data on bird populations in the Western Hemisphere.

This annual avian census, set to commence for the 125th time, began in an era when many bird species were facing steep declines, especially waterfowl prized for their feathers. The Christmas Bird Count was the National Audubon Society’s answer to the traditional Christmas Side Hunt, a team competition that encouraged participants to kill as many furred and feathered creatures as possible in a single outing.

“The Christmas Bird Count really got started as an alternative to those kinds of hunting efforts,” said Curtis Smalling, executive director of Audubon North Carolina. “This year is the 125th annual Christmas Bird Count, and that makes it the longest-running community science project in North America.”

Anyone can participate in the CBC, regardless of their birding skill level, by joining one of the thousands of circles, each 15 miles in diameter, that comprise the event. The organizer of each circle chooses a day between December 14 and January 5 to conduct their count. On the appointed day, all participants in the circle have 24 hours in which to tally as many birds as they can. In addition to listing the individual species spotted, they also count the number of individual birds seen and participant hours logged.

The Great Smoky Mountains region includes circles in Gatlinburg, Cades Cove, Knoxville, Franklin, Highlands, Waynesville, Hot Springs and Asheville.

3 Common mergansers Warren Bielenberg 768x512A male (left) and female common merganser perch on a rock. Though this species may winter in coastal areas, it tends to prefer freshwater habitat and winters in the Smokies in small numbers.  Warren Bielenberg via Smokies Life

Last modified on Monday, 06 January 2025 15:54
Wednesday, 18 December 2024 14:21

Learn about using your forest as a carbon sink

logo200w

KNOXVILLE — The next installment of Conservation on Tap is set for 7 p.m. Jan. 8 at Albright Grove Brewing Company, 2924 Sutherland Ave., Knoxville.

Join forester Sean Bowers to learn about the Family Forest Carbon Program, a partnership between the American Forest Foundation and The Nature Conservancy. The program allows owners of small tracts of forest access to carbon markets, empowering them to improve the health and wellbeing of their forests and help tackle climate change.

All proceeds from Conservation on Tap benefit Discover Life in America.

Last modified on Monday, 13 January 2025 00:00

foothills map

Conservation groups have cautioned against the zombie roadway between Wears Valley and Gatlinburg; EIS-level study uncertain

This story will be updated.

The National Park Service (NPS) said Dec. 9 it “will conduct additional design work and technical studies for Foothills Parkway Section 8D. This decision was based on feedback from subject matter experts and public comments received during a 30-day public comment period that ended Aug. 21.
“The NPS will reinitiate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process and inform the public of opportunities for future public engagement once this additional work is completed. A schedule for completing the additional work has not yet been established,” according to a release from NPS public affairs specialist Dave Barak.
 
Conservation groups, including the National Parks Conservation Association, say the road would further fragment forest habitat and present unacceptable water-quality hazards.
 
The NEPA offers a range of alternatives, however, and it was not immediately known whether the park service would again embark on a more detailed environmental impact statement (EIS) or proceed with a relatively cursory environmental assessment.
 
A draft of the previous EIS process for this parkway project were completed decades ago, as reported by Hellbender Press.
 
The federal government last year opened the latest round of public comment on the project, which would traverse Buckeye Knob and Cove Mountain and multiple aquatic and karst environments.

 

Concerns raised by the public over the decades range from impacts on domestic water supplies and endangered or threatened species to the fact the roadway might be a catalyst for excessive tourism infrastructure in Townsend and Wears Valley. 

Last modified on Monday, 09 December 2024 23:34

ForWarn Helene 2 Screenshot 2024 10 30 120938The ForWarn vegetation tracking tool shows areas of red where extreme disturbance to the forest canopy occurred in Western North Carolina, East Tennessee and southern Virginia as a result of Hurricane Helene in late September 2024.  Jitendra Kumar/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Information will help timber gleaning, fire-hazard mitigation

Stephanie Seay is a senior science writer and communications specialist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

OAK RIDGE — A visualization tool that tracks changes to the nation’s forests in near-real time is helping resource managers pinpoint areas with the most damage from Hurricane Helene in the Southeast.

The ForWarn visualization tool was co-developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory with the U.S. Forest Service. The tool captures and analyzes satellite imagery to track impacts such as storms, wildfire and pests on forests across the nation. 

When staff with the Forest Service’s Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center in Asheville, North Carolina, were unable to work in the immediate aftermath of Helene due to utility outages, the ORNL-hosted ForWarn system continued monitoring the storm’s impact and providing reports. ForWarn indicated areas of severe disturbance to the forest canopy that were later confirmed by aerial photography. 

“ForWarn helps quickly identify areas that may need remediation such as timber harvesting or prescribed burns as piles of felled trees dry out and potentially pose wildfire hazards,” said ORNL’s Jitendra Kumar.

Last modified on Friday, 22 November 2024 00:29

Gear up/look out: Deer hunting shot off Saturday

unnamed

KNOXVILLE Tennessee’s 2024-25 statewide gun hunting season for deer opens Saturday, Nov. 23. The season traditionally opens each year on the Saturday prior to Thanksgiving. During gun season, sportsmen may also use muzzleloaders or archery equipment. 

The statewide bag limit for antlered bucks is two. No more than one antlered deer may be taken per day, not to exceed two for the season. In Units 1, 2 and 3 there is an antlerless bag limit of three per day, and a limit of two antlerless for this season in Units 4, 5 and 6. The bag limit may only be exceeded as part of the Earn-A-Buck program or as replacement buck in a CWD positive county.

During season setting, new hunting units were implemented for this season. Hunters should refer to the 2024-25 Tennessee Fishing, Hunting and Trapping Guide for specific information about their hunting unit and complete license requirements.

Anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 1969, is required to carry proof of satisfactory completion of a hunter education class or be in possession of the Apprentice Hunter Education Permit (along with other required licenses) while hunting any species in Tennessee. Hunter education can be completed online for free along with in person options offered by TWRA. 

The statewide deer hunting season will continue through Jan. 5, 2025. The second Young Sportsman Hunt is Jan. 11-12.

Ukraine forest Serhiiy Skoryk 2A range of vegetation has moved into the former Kakhovka reservoir in Ukraine. Russian occupying forces destroyed the dam along the Dnieper River in June 2023.  Photos by Serhiiy Skoryk

Russia’s bombing of Kakhovka Dam in 2023 killed hundreds of people and tens of thousands of animals, but it also provided a potential ecological reset.

This story was originally published by The Revelator.

KYIV — In the early hours of June 6, 2023, two large explosions reverberated across cities and small towns located on the banks of the Dnieper River in southern Ukraine. The Russian military had reportedly set off multiple bombs, destroying the three-kilometer-long Kakhovka Dam and draining its massive reservoir into nearby settlements.

Water from the dam flooded the plains, killing hundreds of civilians and countless livestock, destroying farms, and displacing the residents of more than 37,000 homes.

The bombing made headlines around the world. It’s the long-term impact of the attack on the local biodiversity, however, that has scientists and experts concerned. In the weeks following the explosion, researchers from Ukrainian ministries and independent organizations carried out several assessments as best they could to the backdrop of the war.

They found that the attack had flooded about 60,000 hectares (230 square miles) of forest in at least four national parks, threatening an estimated population of 20,000 animals and 10,000 birds.

Serhiiy Skoryk with minesSerhiiy Skoryk, a national park director, is seen with landmines that are typical of those that have literally flooded the conflict zone during the Russian occupation of parts of Ukraine. These mines and other hazards complicate efforts to gauge the impact of the Russian invasion on Ukraine’s unique natural environment. 

Published in News, Earth, 15 Life on Land
Last modified on Tuesday, 19 November 2024 23:35

Red-cockaded woodpecker in flight.A red-cockaded woodpecker in flight. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced last month the bird had been removed from the Endangered Species List.  Martjan Lammertink/USFS

Staccato voice of Southern woodlands removed from Endangered Species List

ATLANTA Life is looking up for red-cockaded woodpeckers.

These perky, family-focused woodpeckers of mature Southeastern pinelands — they’re the nation’s only woodpecker that excavates cavities in living pines — had been federally listed as endangered for 50 years. Yet late last month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service downlisted them to threatened.

Their recovery from an estimated 1,470 family groups in the 1970s to about 7,800 groups today from Virginia to Texas reflects decades of work by government agencies, nonprofits and private landowners.

Georgia mirrors that outlook and effort. The number of red-cockaded woodpecker family groups here “is now well north of 1,500,” said Joe Burnam, lead Department of Natural Resources biologist for the species.

The success story ranges from military lands like Fort Stewart, where controlled burns and “recruitment” clusters of artificial nest cavities inserted in trees are helping the population grow, to southwest Georgia quail properties enrolled in Safe Harbor, part of a U.S.-first habitat conservation plan that DNR developed in 1999 for the woodpeckers and private landowners.

Burnam said the downlisting keeps federal protections in place and will not affect DNR conservation practices in the state. “We’ll continue to do what we’ve been doing … managing for the birds (and) their habitat.”

Habitat loss and degradation, a combo that landed the woodpeckers on the Endangered Species Act list, remain the leading threats. For example, Hurricane Helene wiped out over 40 percent of the nest cavity trees at Moody Forest Wildlife Management Area and Natural Area near Baxley.

But new cavity inserts have already been chainsawed into pines, and others will be added, Burnam said.

Last modified on Friday, 22 November 2024 00:35

springcreekPreservation of the Spring Creek watershed near Cedars of Lebanon State Park will protect water resources in a rapidly growing part of the Southeast.  TennGreen Land ConservancyTennessee cave salamanders, other wildlife will benefit from creation of unique preserve

LEBANON — TennGreen Land Conservancy joined with Headwaters Reserve LLC to protect and restore a high-risk stream habitat adjacent to Cedars of Lebanon State Park. Located on approximately 47 acres, the property’s streams and wetlands are protected by a conservation easement held by TennGreen in perpetuity.

The waters of this property, called Cedar Forest, are within the Spring Creek watershed, which has been noted to contain more than 28 rare species, including the Tennessee cave salamander (Gyrinophilus palleucus).

Stream restoration, a vital process that breathes new life into natural aquatic environments, is a key objective of this conservation easement, offering numerous benefits to both wildlife and the community.

This permanent protection and intentional restoration will help to remove pollutants from waters in one of the nation’s fastest-growing counties while protecting the resource for generations to come.

TennGreen has previously conserved land in the area to expand Cedars of Lebanon State Park and Natural Area and Cedars of Lebanon State Forest.

Last modified on Thursday, 26 September 2024 23:29
Page 1 of 10