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One of the goals behind a recent partnership among UTIA and state agencies is the promotion of heartier food species such as this oak. The new five-year agreement between the UTIA Tree Improvement Program, the Tennessee Division of Forestry and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency focuses on developing locally adapted and genetically improved seed for future Tennessee forests. Allison Mains/UTIA
Katie Donaldson is a communications specialist for the University of Tennessee School of Natural Resources.
KNOXVILLE — A new, five-year agreement establishes how the state of Tennessee and a program in the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture will study and produce tree seedlings to promote the protection and conservation of Tennessee forests.
The UTIA Tree Improvement Program (UT-TIP), the Tennessee Department of Agriculture Division of Forestry (TDF) and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) partnered on the agreement.
“Honoring our land-grant mission, we are excited about this partnership to responsibly research, develop, manage and conserve forest resources across the great state of Tennessee,” said Keith Carver, UTIA senior vice chancellor and senior vice president.
UT-TIP manages numerous seed orchards in East, Middle and West Tennessee with help from state and federal partners. It uses the orchards to provide the East Tennessee Nursery with locally adapted and genetically improved seed.
Upper Cataloochee Road was among the many infrastructure victims in Great Smoky Mountains National Park following Hurricane Helene. Cataloochee Valley was the hardest-hit section of the park. The park service said it intends to reopen the road April 4. National Park Service
Kendra Straub is a communications officer with the National Park Service.
CATALOOCHEE — The National Park Service (NPS) will reopen portions of Cataloochee Valley in Great Smoky Mountains National Park beginning April 4. Cataloochee Valley has been closed since September 2024 following significant damage from Hurricane Helene. Within the park, Cataloochee Valley saw the worst impacts from Hurricane Helene.
The following roads will open to vehicles in Cataloochee on April 4: Cataloochee Entrance Road up to Beech Grove School; Cataloochee Creek Road to the Old Cataloochee Entrance Road Bridge; and Old Highway 284. Visitors will be able to drive Cataloochee Valley Entrance Road up to Beech Grove School.
All great scientific solutions start with collaboration
KNOXVILLE — The challenges facing the planet and its inhabitants have long been too complex for any one individual or group to address, and that’s why the great advancements in modern science begin with conferences, symposiums and collaboration.
The first Environmental Future Symposium is an effort from the University of Tennessee Office of Sustainability to present a vision of the future for area residents and University of Tennessee students.
Planned for the Agriculture and Natural Resources Ballroom and Plaza from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. March 27, the symposium is spearheaded by the office’s Alternative Energy and Transportation Coordinator Ben Gouffon. His vision for the event is simple: at the intersection of human-accelerated climate destabilization and a revitalization of the collapsing biosphere sits every individual and their actions. His hope is that this symposium is an avenue for every attendee to discover what they can do for Knoxville, the university and the planet they call home.
Cameroon’s vast and species-rich rainforests are of great importance for global biodiversity and the climate. They are also an important source of food and income for local people. A new study on hunting patterns in the jungles of West Africa includes research gathered by a University of Tennessee professor. Thomas Imo/German Federal Government
Katie Donaldson is a communications specialist for the University of Tennessee School of Natural Resources.
KNOXVILLE — Data collected by a University of Tennessee research associate nearly 30 years ago is part of an extensive study that focuses on hunting patterns in African tropical forests.
Adam Willcox, a research associate professor in the UT Institute of Agriculture School of Natural Resources, co-authored the article, which was published recently in Nature Sustainability. “Regional patterns of wild animal hunting in African tropical forests” was also written by Daniel J. Ingram, research fellow at the University of Kent, and several other researchers. The data show how hunting management is needed to sustain wild animal populations in West and Central Africa.
The article uses data collected from 1991 to 2022 in 83 different studies to create a regional analysis of hunting patterns. Willcox contributed to the publication using research and data he gathered from 1996 to 2001 while promoting agroforestry in the U.S. Peace Corps in Cameroon. “I was in a lowland tropical forest. We did not have domestic alternatives for protein. We had to eat wild animals,” Willcox said. “My research followed 100 hunters around a wildlife sanctuary in Cameroon and their harvests.”
A student farm leader takes care of pigs at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa. Most of the college’s pigs were recovered following fatal flooding from the Swannanoa River on Sept. 28, 2024. Warren Wilson College
This story was originally published by The Revelator.
Mallory McDuff teaches environmental education at Warren Wilson College.
SWANNANOA, N.C. — “We need 10 people on flush crew, five to clean out the fridges in the science building, and 15 to clear trees on the roads! We’re gonna do this together!”
This wasn’t a pep rally or a community service event. It was the morning meeting called at 9:30 a.m. each day by campus leaders in front of the cafeteria at the small college where I lived without power or water, after the climate disaster of Hurricane Helene devastated our community in Western North Carolina.
“We know the Swannanoa Valley has been hit especially hard,” the college president told the group of students and employees. “And we are here for this college and for the greater community. This is our work together.”
That day I joined my neighbor Tom Lam chain-sawing his way across campus with a crew of students clearing brush along the way.
“Now gather ‘round so you can see how to sharpen this chainsaw,” Tom said in his booming Jersey voice, pulling on his suspenders after we’d cleared trees that crushed a neighbor’s car.
I’ve spent 25 years teaching environmental education, raising two daughters, and living at this 1,000-acre campus where all students work in jobs in places like the farm, garden, forests, and even fiber arts. And I think this might be one model of how to live in community in a climate emergency.
This white oak (Quercus alba) in Burlington, N.J. is known as the Keeler Oak. It is an estimated 300 years old and is emblematic of the role these massive trees can play in the forest and beyond. The white oak is a highly valuable tree, both economically and ecologically. Its seedling survival rate is declining, but University of Tennessee researchers joined others to map the species’ DNA. Wikipedia Commons
Patricia McDaniels is news and information manager for the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture.
KNOXVILLE — Highly valued economically, ecologically and culturally, the white oak (Quercus alba) is a keystone forest species and is one of the most abundant trees across much of eastern North America. It also faces declining seedling recruitment in many parts of its range.
In a paper published in New Phytologist, researchers representing the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, Indiana University, the University of Kentucky, the U.S. Forest Service and several more institutions described for the first time the species’ complex genome, providing insights into fundamental questions about plant evolution, tree breeding and genetic improvement efforts that could help forest managers plan for and address future forest resources.
Lead authors of the paper Meg Staton, associate professor of bioinformatics and computational genomics in the UT Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, and Drew Larson, National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at Indiana University, coordinated with colleagues across the nation in academia, the U.S. Forest Service, state forests and industry to obtain genetic sequence data representative of the species.
Also central to the effort were Seth DeBolt, professor of horticulture and director of the James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits at the University of Kentucky, and Dana Nelson of the U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station and director of the Forest Health Research and Education Center at the University of Kentucky.
White oak barrels are lifeblood to the bourbon industry because the color and much of the whiskey’s flavor derive from the charred wood in which it is aged.
Sukakpak Mountain lies in the Brooks Range of Alaska. Mountain environments were the subject of a conservation paper that found more protections are needed for the many differing types of montaine environments. “Mountains are super-important for biodiversity, ecosystem function, and the benefits people get from nature. We ignore them at our peril,” said a Society for Conservation Biology researcher. Bob Wick/Bureau of Land Management
This story was originally published by The Revelator.
Every month scientific journals publish hundreds of new papers about endangered species and wildlife conservation. It’s a firehose of information in a world that feels increasingly in flames.
We asked researchers to send us their best or favorite papers of the past year. We received submissions that offer hope, guidance, analysis, and insight into emerging threats.
Aerin Jacob, director of science and research at Nature Conservancy of Canada, sent a coauthored paper from Conservation Biology about mountains — a habitat type that deserves more attention. “People often think that mountain ecosystems are so rugged and inaccessible that they don’t need habitat protection, but that’s not true,” she wrote. “We studied six major mountain regions around the world and found that on average half of them are as modified as the rest of the world; two-thirds of them don’t (yet) meet the 30×30 global protection target; and existing protected areas don’t include the vast majority of mountain ecosystem types. Mountains are super-important for biodiversity, ecosystem function, and the benefits people get from nature. We ignore them at our peril.”
One noteworthy study of 2024 was the role public information consumption plays in the perception of sharks, such as this endangered Caribbean Reef Shark. A researcher warns misinformation is polluting science. Brian Gratwicke via Revelator.
(The original story is below).
GATLINBURG, Tenn. — Missing hiker Ann Houghton, age 73, was found deceased in Great Smoky Mountains National Park on February 2 at approximately 1:53 p.m. She was found roughly a quarter mile off Enloe Creek Trail.
Houghton was reported missing to the park on Feb. 1. She had planned to hike in the park Jan. 28-29. Her vehicle was located at the Smokemont Campground. Law enforcement and search and rescue staff began a search for her on Feb. 1 in the Smokemont area, focusing efforts along Bradley Fork, Chasteen Creek, Hughes Ridge and Enloe Creek trails. Several local agencies assisted the park with search operations, investigations and emergency services including Cherokee Fire and Rescue, BUSAR, Macon Volunteer Fire Department, Cowee Volunteer Fire Department, Appalachian Mountain Rescue Team and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.
Sandra Harbison is a media relations specialist with the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine.
KNOXVILLE — High Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), a very contagious and often deadly disease of poultry, can result in the deaths of entire flocks within a matter of days. Also known as bird flu, HPAI has recently been detected in wildlife and poultry in Tennessee. This virus can spread quickly between birds, including birds that do not have any signs of disease. It has been reported to impact certain mammalian species, including humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is no treatment for HPAI, and the best prevention is to avoid sources of exposure.
Out of an abundance of caution, the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine (UTCVM) has made the difficult decision to temporarily halt the acceptance and treatment of injured or abandoned wild birds including raptors, songbirds or waterfowl (including owned waterfowl). This precautionary measure will help protect patients, faculty, staff and students from potential exposure to HPAI.
(The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency on Dec. 18 warned hunters, birdwatchers and poultry owners of increased bird flu risk. The CDCP as of Jan. 24 considers bird flu “widespread” in wild bird populations and reports limited outbreaks in poultry and livestock workers.)
PIGEON FORGE — Learn about the culture and ecology of the Southern Appalachians from a warm hotel and conference center, and then get outside and keep learning during the annual knowledge-fest that is Wilderness Wildlife Week.
This year’s event is set for Jan. 28-Feb. 1 at The Ramsey Hotel and Convention Center, 3230 Parkway in Pigeon Forge.
Come celebrate the natural features, creatures and cultures of the Great Smoky Mountains. This year, we’ll be inviting some of the leading wildlife experts to lead informative discussions with you. Writers, artists, photographers, musicians, biologists and naturalist will entertain and inform. This is a great opportunity to learn and ask questions about nature.
Wilderness Wildlife Week celebrates the abundance of wildlife, variety of plants, trees and wildflowers, and the rich history of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee through a series of classes, seminars, demonstrations, guided hikes, panel discussions and workshops.
Whorled rosinweed is among the many types of native grassland plants that emerged from a clearcut. The property in Meigs County near Georgetown is now protected in part by the Foothills Land Conservancy. Shelby Lyn Sanders
Shelby Lyn Sanders is director of natural resources for the Blount County-based Foothills Land Conservancy.
GEORGETOWN — What started as a simple search for a peaceful retreat turned into an extraordinary ecological discovery.
When Mr. Owen purchased his land near Georgetown, he was looking for a place to hunt, hike and escape city life. Little did he know he’d become the guardian of one of Tennessee’s rare prairie gems.
The property’s true identity emerged when the Foothills Land Conservancy’s director of natural resources (the author of this piece) spotted something remarkable during her first visit — prairie dock, a telltale sign of native grassland heritage. This wasn’t just any piece of land; it was a lost prairie awakening from decades of forest cover, less than a half mile from the historic Gunstocker Glade along Highway 58.
The timing was perfect. A 2022 clearcut had inadvertently liberated this sleeping prairie, allowing it to breathe and bloom for the first time in generations. By its second year, the land burst into life, revealing an astonishing diversity that had laid dormant for years.
Here’s an aerial view of the Owen property in Meigs County northeast of Chattanooga on the eastern Cumberland Plateau escarpment. Native prairie plants emerged from the site of a clearcut, yielding a surprisingly vital piece of prairie. Shelby Lyn Sanders
Tennessee 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
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).
Cedar gladecress (Leavenworthia stylosa) during a prescribed burn at Couchville State Natural Area; this wildflower is only found in the Central Basin of Tennessee. TDEC
A 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
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.
A 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
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.
This story will be updated.
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.
Join intrepid student explorer Teek from planet Queloz and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) climate scientist Tom Di Liberto as they explore planet Earth’s weather and climate. This five-part science series covers a range of scientific topics, including how the ocean influences weather and climate on Earth, and the technologies scientists use to gather information about our planet and its changing climate.
Each episode is supplemented by two lesson plans designed for students in the fourth through sixth grades — all of which are compiled in a single Educator’s Guide. Each lesson allows students to explore and investigate NOAA data, visualizations and content, allowing them to build knowledge of and skills associated with important Earth science concepts.
An understanding of how the Earth works as a system and how humans interact with the Earth is important for all inhabitants of our planet. Teek and Tom are a fun and engaging way to grow that understanding!
The Teek and Tom Educator’s Guide includes 10 lesson plans — two supplementing each episode. The lessons allow students to build knowledge of and skills associated with important Earth science concepts. Through the exploration and investigation of NOAA data, visualizations, and content, the lessons support the videos in telling a cohesive story of key Earth systems, and how those systems impact each other.
Each lesson is aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), national standards for math, national standards for English and language arts, and the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards. These standards reinforce the interdisciplinary nature of ocean, weather and climate studies, and support the teaching of these topics. The lessons engage students in content that is locally relevant; and use the 5E model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate) to provide a structure for students to connect science ideas with their own experiences, and apply their learning to new contexts.
To access this high-caliber, free science lesson, download the educator’s guide.
Water rose an estimated 15-18 feet on this side channel of North Fork of the Catawba River near Marion, N.C. Photos by Mark Barrett
Mark Barrett is an Asheville-based journalist. He reported for the New York Times at the height of Tropical Storm Helene.
MARION — I had a lot of chores to do Saturday but went hiking instead. I had read that the Mountains-to-Sea Trail was open from Woodlawn, N.C., a few miles north of Marion, east to the North Fork of the Catawba River so I decided to see what was left of the pedestrian bridge across the river after Helene.
I took a logging road part of the way there and before I reached the river I managed to make a wrong turn. Once I realized my mistake I decided to go cross country instead of retracing my steps since that would be shorter.
I walked into one of the scenes folks living in Western North Carolina are familiar with: Helene blew down two out of every three trees. Places like this make hiking a contact sport, and a slow and laborious one at that. Still, it was interesting to see.
After maybe half a mile of walking on, under and over downed trees, I made it into open woods and not far after that, to the spot where the bridge once stood. The only things visible were the abutments on either end and the pier, which had washed 50 to 100 yards downstream. Photos of the pier taken before Helene show it sitting on dry ground with an area behind it where it looks like water washed through during a flood. On my way back toward my car, I saw the main part of the bridge on the opposite side of the river a third of a mile or so downstream.
A trail crew takes a breather after laboring on the Ramsey Cascades Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Crew members and park officials formally opened the rehabilitated trail this week after three years of work. National Park Service
Dave Barak is a public affairs specialist with the National Park Service.
GATLINBURG — In collaboration with Friends of the Smokies, the National Park Service (NPS) completed a three-year restoration of the Ramsey Cascades Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Located in the Greenbrier area, this popular trail ascends through beautiful hardwood forests to the 105-foot Ramsey Cascades, the tallest waterfall in the park. The trail is now open seven days a week following an extensive reconstruction and rehabilitation.
The NPS and Friends of the Smokies celebrated the milestone at the Ramsey Cascades trailhead. Following remarks and a ribbon-cutting, several participants hiked the newly restored trail together.
Throughout this rehabilitation, the NPS restored Ramsey Cascades — with the original trail design in mind — in a way that blends in with the natural landscape. Trail crew members used natural materials and hand tools and transported most tools and equipment by hand or pack mule. A helicopter delivered several loads to five drop sites that the mule team could not access. The trail crew used 1,200 black locust logs and 760,000 pounds of rock crush for fill for this rehabilitation.
Crews had to carry many materials and tools to the site by hand or mule. National Park Service
“Trails Forever is an excellent example of the collaborative partnership between Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Friends of the Smokies,” said Boone Vandzura, Acting Deputy Superintendent. “Together we’ve preserved and rehabilitated trails that enhance the recreational experience of millions of visitors.”
