Displaying items by tag: discover life in america

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.

KNOXVILLE — Learn how we can make cities safer for birds during this month’s Conservation on Tap at 7 p.m. Nov. 13 at Albright Brewing Company, 2924 Sutherland Ave., Knoxville.

Across North America, bird populations have declined by 2.9 billion since 1970. Cities, however, can play a vital role in reversing this trend by creating safer, healthier environments for birds. Learn about a Nature Conservancy partner program that is reducing urban hazards and engaging the community in helping out our feathered friends.

All proceeds from the event benefit Discover Life in America.

This event was postponed on a previous date. 

GATLINBURG — Partner with Discover Life in America to find and collect mushrooms and fungi specimens for identification and DNA sequencing and learn more about the diversity of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Register here for the event, set for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.  Oct. 16 at Twin Creeks, 1316 Cherokee Orchard Road in Gatlinburg.

The fungi roundup is in conjunction with the Summer 2024 Continental Mycoblitz, a continentwide fungi data-collection project. 

Expect a 1-2 mile easy to moderate hike. Email Jaimie Matzko, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., for more information.

A recent display of synchronous fireflies (Photinus carolinus) in the Smokies.  Abbott Nature Photography

Thousands of visitors view annual firefly spectacles in Smokies area as natural light show dims elsewhere

ELKMONT — Anyone who has fallen in love knows reading a love poem is no substitute for direct experience. Similarly, no technology, no art form, nor any reportage can come close to the mesmerizing firsthand experience of witnessing hundreds of thousands of synchronous firefly beetles pulsing in the dark during the peak of their mating period in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Over the last 20 years, throngs of eager visitors have trekked by the thousands to catch this rare glimpse of collective insect behavior. The crowds posed problems: Since females and larvae of the species are on and under the ground, visitors can trample them if they stray off trail. Likewise, flashlights and other white lights, including from cell phone screens, can also disrupt courtship. 

The firefly phenomenon caught fire in 1991, when Lynn Faust read an article suggesting that no synchronous fireflies lived in the western hemisphere, yet she knew that’s what she witnessed in the 1960s at the historic Elkmont community when she vacationed there with her in-laws. After she brought Photinus carolinus to the attention of scientists, word spread and new firefly pilgrimages to Elkmont were born. 

The 4^th annual Great Smokies Eco-Adventure, based at Camp Atagahi, promises you a unique, memorable experience

The event is hosted by Discover Life in America (DLiA) and A Walk in the Woods Guide Service. This exciting fundraising event features “glamping” (glamorous camping), gourmet food and drink, as well as guided nature hikes in the Smokies — including an excursion on the Appalachian Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, during peak wildflower season.

The Eco-Adventure will be held Sunday, April 21-23 near Gatlinburg, and all proceeds support DLiA’s mission to conduct biodiversity research in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Tickets are limited.

Discover Life in America’s mission is connecting communities and scientists in discovering, understanding and conserving the natural world. DLiA’s flagship project, the ATBI (All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory), is a joint effort with the National Park Service to identify and understand every species within Great Smoky Mountains National Park. To date, DLiA has helped add 12,083 species to the inventory of life in the park, including 1,079 that are new to science. Learn more at dlia.org.

From Cataloochee to Cherohala: Officials pondering ways to spread the love

GATLINBURG — With ever more people crowding Great Smoky Mountains National Park, should the park and others encourage them to go somewhere else?

Enter “de-marketing:” A presentation at the 2024 Great Smoky Mountains Science Colloquium laid out a study examining ways to draw people away from Great Smoky Mountains National Park and toward the Cherohala Skyway. The colloquium, sponsored by Discover Life in America, can be found on YouTube along with other presentations from the day, ranging from elk to ozone’s effects on plants. Justin M. Beall gave the presentation on crowds and de-marketing and said he conducted the research while at North Carolina State University. His was the only social science presentation of the day.

“That doesn’t mean we want to stop people from getting outdoors,” Beall said. “It just involves trying to convince visitors, maybe on their next trip, to explore a less visited destination in order to reduce crowding in certain spots.” He called it “diversion de-marketing” and said it was better than other de-marketing strategies. Two such other de-marketing strategies — forcing people to make reservations or raising the prices — he said, might price out people who earn less money or could confuse and frustrate visitors.

Beall said his study involved giving brochures to people at Alum Cave and Laurel Falls trailheads and Clingmans Dome. One focused on nature opportunities at Cherohala Skyway; one focused on social media photo and video posting opportunities there; and a third was more “of a boring control” in its approach to promoting the Skyway. His team distributed 500 surveys, evenly divided by both site and type of brochure. He said he expected to be there for 10 days but the group finished it in a little more than three days.

That “is amazing from a social sciences perspective, but I think again it shows you during these peak visitation times, such as peak leaf season, how many visitors can actually be in the park at one time,” he said.

Barrens topminnow (Fundulus julisia) at Conservation Fisheries, a native stream fish breeding center. This species is endangered (IUCN). It is only found in the Barrens Plateau in Middle Tennessee, making it one of the rarest fish in eastern North America. © Joel Sartore 2023

KNOXVILLE — The next round of Conservation on Tap features Conservation Fisheries and its efforts to restore and conserve some of the most diverse fish populations on the planet.

It’s set for 7 p.m. Jan. 10 at Albright Grove Brewing Company, 2924 Sutherland Ave. Proceeds from the event benefit Discover Life in America, a crucial science partner with Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

“Did you know the incredibly diverse Tennessee River harbors over 225 species of fish, including more than 50 species at risk of extinction? Come join staff from Knoxville nonprofit Conservation Fisheries Inc. to learn about CFI's mission to prevent the extinction of rare fish species, and to work for their long-term recovery. We will be discussing some of our successes in fish recovery efforts over the past 37 years, including species found in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.”

Harvey Broome hiding in a buckeye tree on the way to Hughes Ridge, July 25, 1931.  Albert “Dutch” Roth

KNOXVILLE — The latest round of Conversation on Tap features members of the local Harvey Broome group of the Sierra Club discussing its efforts to address climate change.

It’s set for 7 p.m. Dec. 13 at Albright Brewing Company, 2924 Sutherland Ave. Proceeds from the event will benefit Discover Life in America, a crucial science partner with Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Join Harvey Broome group vice-chairman Jerry Thornton and others to learn more about the local chapter of the Sierra Club and its efforts to address climate change.

Named after a Smokies advocate and Wilderness Society founder, the Harvey Broome chapter of the Sierra Club has been fighting to preserve wild places; create clean, safe communities; and encourage recycling and clean energy since 1972. 

Photograph from the Albert “Dutch” Ross Photograph Collection at the University of Tennessee Libraries

Albert Gordon "Dutch" Roth, born September 20, 1890 in Knoxville, Tennessee, is recognized as one of the most prolific early photographers of the Great Smoky Mountains' Greenbrier and Mount Le Conte sections. An early member of the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club, his photographs document club hikes and activities, including the construction of the clubhouse at Greenbrier.

What began in 1913 as a diversion soon developed into a serious avocation as Roth perfected his penchant for photography while avidly hiking the unexplored regions near his home. He worked primarily with a Kodak Autographic 122 camera, and, often carrying a heavy tripod, would climb twenty to thirty feet up a tree or venture hundreds of yards off the trail to capture the landscape images for which he was later noted.

Efforts to eradicate wild hogs, which have a damaging effect on salamanders and other communities in the Great Smokies, have been ongoing with mixed success for decades. National Archives

Researchers quantify the effects of feral hogs on Smokies salamander populations

GATLINBURG — A recent study investigating the relationship between Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s beloved salamanders and its hated hogs concluded that the rooting of feral pigs decreases the abundance and diversity of Smokies salamanders.

Alexander Funk of Eastern Kentucky University said the effects of feral hogs on salamanders from the family plethodontidae were mixed and varied depending on the season.

Generally, across seasons and especially in the summer, the hogs’ foraging seemed to hurt salamander abundance and diversity. Funk is a student under Eastern Kentucky University’s Director for the Division of Natural Areas Stephen Richter but had help from Benjamin Fitzpatrick of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. The study involved Funk going out late at night on Balsam Mountain in the spring, summer and fall of 2022.

Charles Mingus, the descendant of slaves from the Smokies, is shown chomping a cigar and playing bass at the U.S. Bicentennial celebration in Lower Manhattan, July 4, 1976.  Tom Marcello 

Smokies African American studies trace a great musician with roots in Oconaluftee 

GATLINBURG ­— Black history, let alone jazz history, isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when most people think about the Smokies.

But famed jazz musician Charles Mingus Jr.’s family has roots in what is now Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

At the recent virtual Discover Life in America Colloquium, previously reported on by Hellbender Press, Appalachian Highlands Science Education Coordinator Antoine Fletcher was the sole presenter on social sciences. He went into the Mingus family history and Black history in the Southern Appalachian region.

Fletcher said the Mingus story derives from the African American Experiences in the Smokies Project, which he described as “a project that is focusing on the untold stories of African Americans in the park and the Southern Appalachian region.”

“There’s a huge story to tell,” he said of his research. “There are stories of the human vestiges that we have from 900-plus years.”

The calico pennant dragonfly (Celithemis elisa) is among 77 new species discovered in Great Smoky Mountains National Park over the last decade. Wikipedia Commons

Apps and public research help uncover new layers of life in Southern Appalachia

This article was originally published by Smoky Mountain News.

Visitors armed only with a free app and love of nature have documented more than 4,000 species in Great Smoky Mountains National Park since 2011, according to the nonprofit Discover Life in America, including 77 not previously documented in the park by anyone else. 

DLiA, which manages the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory project that aims to catalogue all species residing in the extremely diverse park, recently analyzed more than 71,000 records from the app, iNaturalist, to discover the impact these casual observations have made on the project. 

A 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.