Coweeta Long-Term Ecological Research Program

01/09/2020

Nikki Cooley did her thesis work at Coweeta, interviewing Cherokee elders about traditional uses prescribe fire to manage forests and wildlife. Coweeta forest ecologist Dr. Katherine Elliott was one of her advisors. Glad to see another Coweeta alumni doing good work back in her home in Arizona!

From her home base in Flagstaff, the Diné educator and former river guide is inspiring the community to protect the landscapes she cherishes most

09/27/2019

Former faculty member Jason Love has penned a new book that draws from his childhood experiences exploring creeks and rivers, and ties in current research done in the Western North Carolina mountains by the Coweeta Long-Term Ecological Research Program.

“I tried my best to tie the story to the important research (there), especially research focused on examining the relationship of vegetated riparian buffers to stream health,” said Love, who is now associate director of the Highlands Biological Station at Western Carolina University.

The is being distributed to schoolchildren in Western North Carolina, and it's also available at online retailers.

06/07/2019

With droughts expected to become more frequent and severe, studies like the ones at Coweeta grow even more important:

Published May 29, 2019 Credit: Greg Zaussen (2013), CWT LTERA late autumn view of Pickens Nose, above the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory. The impacts of drought can be devastating and long-lasting, from the loss of valuable crops and trees to increased wildfire risk. Droughts are difficult to predict...

06/06/2019

Yesterday the Coweeta LTER field crew visited Bee Tree watershed near Swannanoa, NC. The watershed serves as one of the primary water sources for Asheville. The Bee Tree reservoir has the largest earthen dam east of the Mississippi. Because of its importance in supplying water to citizens of Buncombe County, the public is not allowed in the watershed. Coweeta LTER has soil moisture research plots in the wateshed that we are decommissioning as part of the wind-down of the Coweeta LTER program.

06/06/2019

Coweeta LTER now has a children's book! "Shady Streams, Slippery Salamanders" follows two friends as they explore their local creeks and learn the importance of trees in maintaining healthy streams for fish, salamanders, and people.

05/07/2019

From the Red and Black, the student newspaper at UGA:

The Coweeta Long Term Ecological Research program is winding down after decades of data collection. The program will officially end in December after its proposal for renewal was rejected.

04/26/2019

Join us May 3rd in Sylva to watch a screening of Hidden Rivers, a film by Freshwaters Illustrated. Ten years in the making, Hidden Rivers explorers the wonderful diversity of life found in our local rivers and creeks. More information about the film, including a short trailer, can be found here: http://hiddenrivers.org/.

04/26/2019

Coweeta Long-Term Ecological Research Program partnered with Mainspring Conservation Trust and Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition to host this event for 110 Hayesville Middle School 8th graders.

It's springtime, which means our Education Outreach is in full force! Tomorrow is Kids in the Creek in Hayesville - last year, Mainspring reached almost 3,000 people through 45 educational programs across our 7-county service area.

03/25/2019

Here are some post-fire photos. Some areas (mainly south-facing slopes) burned hot, while other areas (moist coves and north-facing slopes) burned cooler and more patchy. Included is the wildlife camera that survived the flames.

03/25/2019

We set-up a wildlife camera on the north ridge of Watershed 31, which we burned this weekend. The camera captured the intense and quickly moving fire. Likely the helicopter was overhead, which explains why it appears to be so windy and why the flames moved so quickly across this particular portion of the forest. The nylon strap that was used to fasten the camera to a tree melted and the camera itself suffered some minor melting, but miraculously the camera survived the flames and continues to function today!

03/24/2019

A helicopter was used to help ignite the fire in the interior of the area slated to be burned. Ping-pong sized spheres were injected with a measured amount of ethylene glycol, which initiated a timed exothermic reaction. These spheres were then dropped from the helicopter. A great video showing this process from an unrelated burn in Georgia can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6OLspy5TJ8

03/24/2019

Yesterday we had a successful prescribed burn in Watershed 31 (WS31)! Our long term forest inventory data show that mesophytic species such as Red Maple and Tulip Poplar are becoming more prolific, while species such as oaks and hickories are declining. Moreover, we also see an increase in Rosebay Rhododendron over time; this species has also increased as the Eastern Hemlock succumb to the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. Last winter much of the rhododendron in WS31 was cut and left to cure. We finally had a window yesterday to burn the watershed, with the goal of shifting the species composition over time to a forest dominated more by oak and hickories. Watershed 31 is 100 acres, but the entire burn area was around 300 acres. This is the first whole watershed manipulation at Coweeta since 1977 when Watershed 7 was clear-cut. Scientists will continue to monitor stream water quality and quantity, vegetation composition, changes to soil and forest floor chemistry, changes to bee/pollinator communities, salamander communities, and bird communities. Like other studies at Coweeta, this research will likely continue over the course of decades.