The Nickajack Naturalist

Collaborative Efforts Being Made to Control Asian Carp

TWRA news release

A silver carp.                                                                              (Photo: TWRA)

The State of Tennessee is collaborating with multiple states and federal agencies to control Asian carp. The recently reported photo of a silver carp from Chickamauga Lake suggests that a few silver carp have migrated upstream through navigation locks. The most upstream observation of silver carp prior was Wheeler Lake near Decatur, Ala in March 2017. TWRA fish monitoring through 2019 has not yielded a single carp, suggesting that silver carp are rare in Chickamauga Lake.

Read more.

A Silent Plague is Reshaping Chattanooga’s Wilderness

By Juliet Johnson                                                                             at NoogaToday

A hemlock branch.                                                                  (Photo: Pixabay)

The eastern hemlock is known as the ‘redwood of the East.’ But today this giant is in mortal danger from a tiny but ruthless invader. Even though many people don’t even know that this battle is being fought, a dedicated group of environmentalists and scientists are scrambling to find a solution before Tennessee’s most important forests are lost forever.

Read more.

A Call to Action for Land Conservation in America

By Andrew J. Bowman, president & CEO of the Land Trust Alliance

                                                                                    (Map: The Nature Conservancy)

Examining the role that land conservation can play in mitigating climate change, both by preventing the conversion of intact natural lands and through land management practices, such as reforestation and active soil management on working lands, the following is an excerpt of the speech delivered by Andrew J. Bowman, president and CEO of the Land Trust Alliance, on October 17, 2019 at Rally: The National Land Conservation Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Read article.

Climbers Permanently Protect Hell’s Kitchen

Access Fund news release

Access Fund is thrilled to announce that the Hell’s Kitchen bouldering area outside Chattanooga, Tennessee is now permanently protected as part of Cumberland Trail State Park. Access Fund bought the undeveloped bouldering area in 2018 to secure the property for climbing after the private land went up for sale, and just finished a two-year effort to protect this outstanding climbing resource by transferring it to the state of Tennessee for long-term climber-friendly management. 

Read more.

Things That Might Interest You 1-26-2020

A weekly roundup of nature related odds and ends.

                                     (Image: Day Fire Podcast)

Day Fire Podcast recently spoke with Jennifer Pharr Davis. In 2011, Jennifer covered the 2,185-mile Appalachian Trail in forty-six days, eleven hours, and twenty minutes, maintaining a remarkable average of forty-seven miles per day.
By doing this, she claimed the overall (male or female) fastest known time on the “A.T.” and became the first woman to set the mark.

Listen in here.

The January Newsletter of Outdoor Alliance asks "Can we please pass permanent funding for LWCF so we can move on now?"

Read 11 Public Lands Issues We Hope Will Die in 2020.

Another article featured in the newsletter states "Few issues bring Americans together like preservation of parks and wilderness."

Read Public Lands Can Unite a House Divided in 2020.

An article by Outdoor Alliance's Tania Lown-Hecht explains how the Trump administration is rewriting the rules on a key conservation law.
NEPA is a law that ensures environmental reviews and public comment periods. The administration is moving quickly to rewrite the rules by the end of the year. 

Read Administration Says Climate Change Will Not Be Considered in Environmental Reviews.

McMinn County, Tennessee's Eureka Trail.                      (Photo: Bob Butters)

According to American Trails' January newsletter, Trail Tracks, "One major benefit of trail tourism is that it is money spent in rural towns and in more economically disadvantaged areas. Many of the people traveling to a trail and spending a night or more in the area are economically well off and have significant discretionary income."

Read Ten Examples That Show Trail Tourism Works.

Compiled by Bob Butters

Franklin Forest - Off the Beaten Path

By Bob Butters                                           at Thrive Regional Partnership

A view of Sweden Cove from an overlook on the North Rim Trail.  (Photo: Bob Butters)

One of the South Cumberland region’s lesser-known outdoor recreation opportunities is Franklin State Forest, which straddles the border of Marion and Franklin Counties about 45 miles west of Chattanooga. Franklin Forest contains close to 20 miles of hiking trails, which are also used by horseback riders and mountain bikers, and following a couple of additions in recent years, now covers around 8,800 acres. 

Read more.

Developed Land Increase in Tri-state Region (2001-2017)

By Charlie Mix, UTC IGTLab                                  at Thrive Regional Partnership

                                               (Infographic designed by Charlie Mix of UTC’s IGTLab)

Since 2001, the Chattanooga region gained nearly 50 square miles of new developed area. That’s an area twice the size of Cleveland, Tennessee and approximately the same as Prentice Cooper State Forest. Thrive's data partners at UTC’s IGTLab gain these and other insights from the National Land Cover Dataset which is a land cover map of all of the United States updated every 5 years.

Learn more.

 

Access Fund Grant Helps Track Climbers at South Cumberland State Park

Friends of South Cumberland news release

Ranger Ryan Harris installs infrared sensors at Denny Cove.  (Photo: Friends of South Cumberland)

Rangers and park volunteers have embarked on a project to track the number of visitors to sections of the park most popular with rock climbers. An Access Fund grant awarded to the Friends of South Cumberland (FSC) will use infrared trail counters to collect data on the number of rock climbers at the Denny Cove and Foster Falls sections of the park. The FSC worked with park rangers to install the counters at these two locations, which are popular with both hikers and climbers. The data collected from the counters will give the park a better idea of the number of climbers accessing these two locations and will allow the park and the FSC to better advocate for climber resources in the park. Over 150 world-class climbing routes have already been identified on the bluffs at Denny Cove, To learn more about the Access Fund, visit www.accessfund.org.

Read more South Cumberland State Park news at www.friendsofsouthcumberland.org/. 

Silver Carp Confirmed in Chickamauga Lake

TWRA news release

A silver carp caught in Chickamauga Lake.                               (Photo: TWRA)

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources received a report on Jan. 10 that a silver carp was captured on Chickamauga Lake in October. The angler, Dustin Hinkle, said the invasive fish “jumped into the boat as I deployed my trolling motor.” Hinkle encountered the fish near the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, and stated he “saw 15-20 more fish near the surface” exhibiting a feeding behavior.

Read more.

Read earlier post, Budget Agreement Includes Funding for Efforts to Stop Asian Carp.

Things That Might Interest You 1-19-2020

A weekly roundup of nature related odds and ends.

Winner of the 2011 Federal Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest.  (Image: Abraham Hunter/USFWS)

The Cornell Lab Bird Academy tells the Duck Stamp success story in How Hunters and Artists Helped Save North America’s Waterfowl. 

Also, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology offers their predictions for Birding With Technology in 2025. In the last decade, high-tech gadgets have flooded into everyday lives, giving people the ability to carry whole libraries in their pockets, instantly play (and record) natural sounds and video, and connect with others more quickly and more easily than ever before. As the pace increases, how will technology affect bird watching? The writers took a road trip through Silicon Valley, talking to birders and tech entrepreneurs, to bring you these predictions.

Long distance thru-hikes are transformative experiences. Backpacker Basecamp features 5 Thru-Hikers on What the Trail Taught Them.

Compiled by Bob Butters