The Environmental Journal of Southern Appalachia

Displaying items by tag: citizen science opportunity

National Champion Sitka Spruce Washington state at Olympic National Park photo credit e1736800302775 1800x1200The 2024 National Champion Tree Register features the largest documented trees across the U.S. such as the National Champion Sitka Spruce, which people can see in Olympic National Park in Washington.  Brian Kelley via American Forests

Beginning in February, citizen scientists and others can help catalog our biggest trees

Katie Donaldson is a communications specialist for the University of Tennessee School of Natural Resources.

KNOXVILLE — The National Champion Tree Program (NCTP) announced its first Register of Champion Trees since 2021. The program moved from American Forests to the University of Tennessee School of Natural Resources in 2023 and has spent the past year working with state-level Champion Tree programs across the U.S. to update outdated records and verify the newly crowned champions.

“We are thrilled beyond measure to share the list of the largest documented trees in the United States,” Jaq Payne, NCTP director, said. “These trees are more than just numbers on a website. They’re living, breathing members of our community. I hope this register encourages folks to start looking at the trees around them with fresh eyes.”

Payne announced the new register and NCTP Data Management System at the program’s Root Ball at the UT Conference Center in downtown Knoxville on Jan. 18. The register started as a short list of 77 big trees in the April 1941 edition of American Forests magazine. By 2021, it had grown to 562 Champion Trees across the country.

Anyone can access the new data management system through the program’s website. There you can find Champion Trees for different species, see the trees’ measurements and read the cultural importance of the trees, if known. “We wanted to create an experience that includes the rich history of these individuals,” Payne added. The program is still collecting the trees’ histories and would appreciate any help from community members.

Champion Trees are identified based on a point system including the trunk circumference, height and average crown spread. After members of the public nominate trees, the NCTP works with state coordinators to verify the submissions and their measurements. Verified trees are then added to the data management system. National Champion Trees are crowned once every two years and must be re-verified every 10 years. 

Published in News

Photo by Valerie PolkA child snaps a photo of a flower beetle on a wild hydrangea in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Valerie Polk

Grab your phone and get to some citizen science

Rhonda Wise writes for the public affairs office of Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Discover Life in America (DLiA), the nonprofit science research partner, is inviting the public to participate in the Smokies Most Wanted program. This initiative allows visitors to help preserve park species by recording sightings of animals, plants, and other organisms from their smartphones using the iNaturalist app. 

Published in News

Black Crappie in the Tennessee AquariumA black crappie is seen in the Tennessee Aquarium. Citizen scientists across the region can now plug their fish findings into a new database. Courtesy Tennessee Aquarium

So you want to be a citizen scientist? There’s a new app for that!

The Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute wants to assess the status of various fish populations throughout the Southeast so it released a new app to help outdoor folks and anglers identify the fish they spot, report the sighting, and enter their discoveries into a regional fish database.

The Freshwater Information Network (FIN) accepts and includes data for three major watersheds: The Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, and Mobile Bay.

Tennesseans may be familiar with the two rivers, but may think of Mobile Bay as a distant place with no connection to them, but its headwaters touch Tennessee in the Conasauga River. With its geographic isolation, the Conasauga is home to species of fish found nowhere else in the world.

Published in Water