It’s no secret that Alabama is home to an abundance of natural wonders, with stunning landscapes, miles of freshwater streams and rivers, and incredible biodiversity to name just a few. You can But now researchers have uncovered a collection of ancient treasures in Alabama’s remote northeast corner that may reveal the secrets of Alabama’s ecological richness and chart its future. may be useful.
These scientists are members of an interdisciplinary research team working at the Paint Rock Forest Research Center (PRFRC). The nonprofit organization was founded in 2018 at Mount Sharpbingham Preserve in Jackson County. The preserve is a 4,500-acre property owned and protected by the Nature Conservancy.
According to PRFRC Director and Co-Founder Bill Finch, this is an ideal location for the center’s three-fold mission:
Explore how forests and other ecosystems function in the face of climate change and human use. Train and encourage a diverse new generation of scientists. Develop new conservation models that integrate human needs and the needs of healthy, resilient landscapes.
Bill Finch, director and co-founder of the Paint Rock Forest Research Center, is a naturalist, conservationist, and author whose more than 30-year career has focused on recognizing and protecting Alabama’s many natural treasures. I’ve been focusing on doing that. (Sakola Smeby)
Located on the heavily forested Cumberland Plateau at the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains, the Paint Rock River Valley is a steep slope honeycombed with caves, depressions, and underground springs that extends 1,000 feet downstream to the Paint Rock River. I’m doing it. A river that flows through the southeast. This beautiful and rugged landscape is also one of the most biologically diverse in the Appalachians, home to an astonishing number of plant and animal species, some of which are found nowhere else on Earth. There are many, many of which may not yet be identified or discovered. .
These biological treasures have long been hidden in this valley, protected over the years from climate change and other natural and man-made disturbances, including the effects of the last Ice Age. The remote location of the valley and its difficult and often inaccessible topography also limit human activities there, allowing large populations of plant and animal species and their ecosystems to remain relatively undisturbed. I am.
As a result, the Paint Rock River Valley is home to countless terrestrial, aquatic, and cave-dwelling species. This extraordinary biological diversity, combined with the region’s complex geology and hydrology, “makes it a unique laboratory for understanding how species and ecosystems assemble and survive. ” said Finch. And he and his collaborators are trying to do just that, starting with understanding one tree at a time.
Seeds collected from these shortleaf pines will not only help regenerate the forest, but also have the potential to grow new commercial businesses in the Paint Rock Valley. (Sakola Smeby)
understanding our forests
Since 2019, PRFRC researchers have painstakingly identified and tagged every single woody shrub or tree with a trunk diameter of at least 1 cm (about the width of a pencil) across 150 acres. and have been mapped. These trees will be continuously monitored for the next 50 years to measure their growth rate, viability, ability to capture carbon, and to monitor how they respond to changes in climate and carbon dioxide.
This research is part of the Smithsonian Institution’s ForestGEO program, a global network of 78 research facilities in 29 countries focused on improving our understanding of the world’s tropical, temperate, and boreal forests. These projects build on groundbreaking long-term tropical forest dynamics research that began in Panama in 1980 to understand how forests function, how species survive, and how climate change will affect forests. We are researching whether it is giving
The results of these studies can be used by policymakers and planners to develop future conservation strategies that help protect Earth’s forests, which are essential to the health and well-being of all life on Earth. . That’s because forests provide important ecosystem services, including capturing carbon, purifying air and water, and stabilizing and enriching soil. They also provide habitat for two-thirds of Earth’s terrestrial plant and animal species and provide renewable products, recreational opportunities, and other benefits to humans. And what is especially important today is that they are key to the planet’s climate resilience.
Mr. Finch is a longtime conservationist and natural historian with a deep knowledge and passion for the Southeast’s natural treasures, and in 2008 helped ForestGEO leaders search for new research sites in temperate regions. At that time, I was well aware of the importance of forests. South. After considering locations in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and other southeastern states, he quickly realized that there was no better place for his research than Alabama’s Paint Rock River Valley. But it took another decade for research to begin, thanks to the dedication and leadership of Finch and his wife, award-winning conservation photographer Beth Maynor Finch.
Researchers recently launched a bird banding project to identify and better understand the habits and needs of birds like this black-throated warbler. (Sakola Smeby)
In collaboration with Alabama A&M University and with the encouragement and support of several prominent American biologists (including the late Alabama native E.O. Wilson, a distinguished biologist and naturalist at Harvard University), the Finch family Established PRFRC in 2019 and established PRFRC for a long time. -Semester forest dynamics research was in progress.
Now, five years after the study began, the research team has surveyed about 80 acres of the study site and cataloged more than 50,000 individual stems (researchers expect to grow 100,000 by the time the study is complete). I expect there to be). In the process, they identified about 100 woody plants, including maple, hickory, horse chestnut, dogwood, azalea, horse chestnut, oak, and elm, at least 10 of which were previously unknown species.
“It looks like we will be contributing to the redefinition of the sugar maple group, and it is very likely that we will all need to learn a new name for the very large and prominent Cumberland oak,” Finch said. say. And they are probably just the first of many discoveries yet to be made.
“The truth is, so many trees defy current species definitions that we don’t know exactly how many species there actually are here,” he continued, adding that Alabama various educational and research institutions, including Samford University and the University of West Alabama, and across the country to help identify these newly discovered treasures.
PRFRC is taking conservation to new heights in its efforts to restore shortleaf pine savanna, one of the most endangered forests in the Southeast. (Sakola Smeby)
“I never expected to find so many surprises in one place,” Finch says. And if you explore the valley’s caves, depressions, springs, rivers, and other habitats, you’re sure to find many more.
In addition to these studies, staff at the center are collecting seeds from shortleaf pines and native wildflowers and grasses for the first time in a century. These can be used to support the recovery of shortleaf pine savannahs, one of the most endangered ecosystems in the southern Cumberland Plateau, and in some cases introduce new restoration-based You can also create industries.
“We want to be a comprehensive research center,” Finch said, which includes “a new and diverse generation of scientists” as part of the overall mission. To achieve this, the center frequently hosts students and young people from different backgrounds and from all over the world. A research internship program has also been established, allowing aspiring scientists to live and work at the center for several months at a time.
To support interns, scientists, volunteers, and the many students, film crews, artists, and others who frequent the center, Finches has established a 10-acre campus just downstream from the forest research site, with 7,000 We offer square footage housing, lectures, and classes. They hope to expand their research space soon.
In June, filmmakers from Connecticut-based Coneflower Studios spent nearly a week at the center documenting the Paint Rock Valley fireflies for the PBS special “Bugs Who Rule the World.” I spent . (Sakola Smeby)
The importance of partnership
Much has been achieved at the center in a short period of time, and Mr Finch credits this achievement to a network of local and international partnerships.
Mitch Reed, the Nature Conservancy’s state director, says partnerships are key to any conservation effort. It is collaborations like this that help The Nature Conservancy, which works to protect land and water globally, protect more than 30,000 acres in Jackson County and support more than 40 river projects in the region. Through. Our partnership with Paint Rock Forest Research Center is a great example of how these collaborations can be mutually beneficial.
The center is located within a nature reserve, ensuring that it is permanently protected and that long-term forest research can continue for 50 years, unaffected by external pressures or changes such as logging or development. In turn, the center’s work will help advance The Nature Conservancy’s conservation efforts and promote resilience and connectivity, an approach that balances the needs of nature and people to create a climate-resilient planet. We can support the concept of “A Certain Landscape.”
Cataloging every tree on the center’s 150-acre forest dynamics research site is a time-consuming, meticulous, and arduous task, but it allows us to conduct a census and inform the next generation of science. This did not deter the dedicated students training to become masters. (Sakola Smeby)
“At TNC, we place great emphasis on projects that combine thoughtful human use and landscape enjoyment with important conservation goals,” Reid says. The Paint Rock River Valley’s proximity to Atlanta and Chattanooga from Huntsville/Madison County, one of the fastest growing regions in the state and region, creates a plan to find balance and create a model for other conservations. provides a great opportunity to effort.
“At the heart of this rapidly growing region, we still have the emerald jewel that is Jackson County,” he says. “This can and should be a playground for everyone, and it is important that we do our job to protect these areas while providing access for people to see and use them. If we do it right, Jackson County has something for everyone.”
PRFRC’s partnerships with The Nature Conservancy, Alabama A&M and many other universities, organizations and people around the state, country and world are key to its success, Finch said.
“We were able to do it because of our partners,” he says. “We’ve been able to get through because every time we’ve gotten into a quagmire, our board members have rolled up their sleeves, and the support of our local community and our Congressional delegation has grown. is.”
Through the invaluable support of current and future partners and the hard work of dedicated staff and volunteers, Paint Rock Forest Research Center will discover more of Alabama’s natural treasures and preserve them for future generations. Contribute to keeping it safe.
This story originally appeared in Alabama Living magazine.
