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(Photo: Pixabay)
As an unusual and challenging year draws to a close, I'd like to express my appreciation for all my loyal readers and wish you all a prosperous and less stressful new year. Watch for potentially exciting new developments at the Nickajack Naturalist in 2021.
Bob Butters
Tennessee Wildlife Federation news release
(Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
This year’s version includes $25 million dedicated to projects to manage and prevent the spread of Asian carp in the Tennessee and Cumberland River Basins.
From National Park Partners
(Image: National Park Partners)
Learn about these topics and more in a recent National Park Partners newsletter.
From Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center
(Photo: Crabtree Farms)
Our friends at Crabtree Farms are looking for a full-time farmer! If you are interested in working for a community-based service organization that promotes sustainable agriculture, these are your people. The keystone program is the Urban Farm, a teaching, learning and working farm.
A weekly roundup of nature-related odds and ends from the region and beyond.
(Photo:TVA)
2020 is now officially the wettest year ever recorded in the Tennessee Valley. TVA has now managed three straight years of record rainfall.
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(Photo: iStock.com/Ultima_Gaina)
The climate crisis isn’t a single issue: It’s an everything issue, and to solve it, we’ll need a whole-government approach. Good policy starts with good people, and good movements that push them to make the most of the power voters have granted them. Thankfully, many of President-Elect Biden’s first few cabinet picks show that he understands the necessity of a whole-government approach.
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Over the next four years, President-elect Joe Biden will have the opportunity to tackle some of our most pressing issues. We’re taking a look at nine of biggest things he can do to address the climate crisis; conserve 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters; and ensure all people can equitably access and benefit from public lands.
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As Americans look for ways to stay healthy and connected throughout the winter to come, Trust for Public Land Community Health Director Sadiya Muqueeth talks about the critical importance of parks during the pandemic.
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In November 2011, the The Debunking Handbook was published. As the updated notice on that page already shows, more research has come in since then and the time has finally come for a complete overhaul of this very popular handbook, which gets downloaded a couple of thousand times in most months! The two authors of the original handbook, Stephan Lewandowsky and John Cook, got in touch with other researchers to find who was interested in looking into ways to best counter misinformation, and 20 of them signed up as co-authors. The result of their work can now be downloaded as The Debunking Handbook 2020.
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Compiled by Bob Butters
TVA news release
(Photo: TVA)
There are numerous ways to recycle your live Christmas tree, but don’t just chuck it in one of our reservoirs! There’s a right way and a wrong way to dispose of it.
From Friends of South Cumberland
(Image: TN State Parks)
Begin 2021 With a Hike
Please join South Cumberland in heralding in the new year with a First Day hike at Stone Door. This is a pleasant, 2-mile guided hike that will take visitors to the best overlook in the park. Visitors are still encouraged to wear hiking boots, suitable clothing for the weather, and water to drink on the hike. Please meet the ranger at the Stone Door ranger station for the start of the program. Register for the hike here.
Join volunteers for a day of trail repair and maintenance at the Savage Gulf State Natural Area. Bring work clothes, sturdy footwear, gloves, plenty of water, and food for the trail. Work implements (hand tools only) will be provided, but you may bring your own, if desired. Weather permitting. Duties will most likely consist of one or more of the following: carrying excess fuel and oil for chainsaws and/or string for weed eaters; and/or moving cut tree limbs or trunks after staff has sawed them. Volunteers will also pick up trash or work on erosion control. Please be flexible, as needs are constantly evolving. Inherent Risks: Trail maintenance and the use of hand tools, etc., carry certain inherent risks. These include, but are not necessarily limited to: accidents involving the tools; potential exposure to the elements and wildlife; and all-around, general hard work. Email: [email protected]
The Friends are ready for phase two of milepost installations in the park. Phase one included installations at Stone Door, Laurel Trail and Big Creek Rim trails. Up next is Big Creek Gulf trail, Dog Hole, and Fiery Gizzard. Volunteers may sign up at the following link: https://doodle.com/poll/b36xeagmea8z8nfb?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link
TennGreen Land Conservancy news release
(Photo: Tom Wood)
For more than a century, the Gilliam family owned and tended to nearly 500 acres of forest and farmland in Lusk Cove in Coffee County, Tennessee. Recently, Nancy Gilliam generously donated the Gilliam Forest—258 acres of heavily wooded wilderness—to TennGreen Land Conservancy. Her visionary contribution will protect this unique landscape forever.
The property lies along the edge of the Cumberland Plateau—a landscape of unrivaled ecological richness.
TVA news release
(Photo: TVA)
Nesting birds and electricity don’t mix, so TVA is taking a proactive approach to help avoid future impacts to ospreys—a federally protected bird of prey—and lower the risks to energy infrastructure that could cause service disruptions.
Ospreys will have new, safer places to nest near Watts Bar Nuclear Plant this coming spring, thanks to an ongoing project to move them away from nesting on TVA structures.
A weekly roundup of nature-related odds and ends from the region and beyond.
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Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) leaders today lauded a year of significant strides in capital projects at Tennessee State Parks in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, with even greater expectations for the parks in 2021.
“This has been an extraordinary year for our state parks,” TDEC Commissioner David Salyers said. “We have seen major projects come to fruition across the state this year, and we want to express our gratitude to the Tennessee General Assembly for making it happen. The new facilities will benefit Tennesseans for many years to come.”
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(Photo: Brian E. Kushner/Lab of Ornithology)
In humans, ground-level ozone pollution can cause lung damage and worsen respiratory diseases. A new study shows the first clear evidence that higher ozone levels are also associated with reduced bird populations across the continental U.S.—and, importantly, that regulations in place to curb pollution have prevented the loss of around 1.5 billion birds over the past four decades.
Get geared up for a midwinter tradition with this welcome video introducing the 2021 Great Backyard Bird Count. And scope out the redesigned GBBC website.
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(Photo: Laurent Gillieron/Keystone)
Climate change is increasingly damaging the U.N.’s most cherished heritage sites, a leading conservation agency has warned, reporting that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and dozens of other natural wonders are facing severe threats.
Climate change that has lead to shrinking glaciers, increasing fires, floods and droughts, and the bleaching of coral reefs are among the troubles facing 83 of the 252 World Heritage Sites listed by UNESCO, the U.N.’s cultural agency.
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(Photo: Getty Images)
SELC is at the forefront of reversing damage wrought on the environment by the Trump administration over the past four years. This includes managing the legal fight to stop the greatest loss of clean water protections in American history and defending our national forests from pressures to increase logging and cut out the public from the process of managing their public lands.
The U.S. Forest Service recently announced that it is set to finalize a rule that will cut science-based analysis, transparency, and public input from nearly every decision the agency makes, including logging, roadbuilding, and rights of way for pipelines and other utilities.
“Even after the public overwhelmingly opposed this rule and spoke up for science, transparency, and accountability, the Trump administration has shown yet again that it will cut every corner to speed up logging and extraction,” said Sam Evans, Leader of SELC’s National Forests and Parks Program.
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Compiled by Bob Butters