Last updated: November 6, 2024
Article
Appalachian Highlands I&M Network Newsletter November 2024
NPS photo / Evan Raskin
NPS photos / Emma Brinley Buckley
Monitoring Activities in September and October
- The Appalachian Highlands Inventory and Monitoring Network (APHN) water-quality team serviced all five data sondes and sampled 16 discrete sites at Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area (BISO) and Obed Wild and Scenic River (OBRI) during September and October. Data from APHN sonde devices are available online in real-time via USGS gage sites (https://waterdata.usgs.gov/). Discrete water samples are collected on a rotational basis across APHN park units and provide critical data about aquatic health such as oxygen content, bacteria load or metals from mine drainage.
- APHN staff completed annual monitoring of river scour prairie community structure on cobble bars at Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area and Obed Wild and Scenic River during September. River scour prairie is a rare vegetation community that occurs on cobble bars along the rivers. The open, grassy vegetation is maintained by frequent large floods that remove most trees and shrubs. Changes in flood frequency and exotic plants threaten to eliminate this community and the rare species that are found there. Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area and Obed Wild and Scenic River are working to make sure that doesn’t happen.
- Staff from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, Center for Mollusk Conservation completed annual monitoring of freshwater mussels at Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area during October. This is a long-term effort to monitor freshwater mussel populations in streams at Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area and Obed Wild and Scenic River. Staff also released 3,000 propagated mussels into the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River to supplement and hopefully recover the several endangered species to locally sustainable numbers. (CenterforMolluskConservationBrochure2019.pdf (ky.gov))
Monitoring Activities Planned for November
- The November (all month), the APHN water quality team will be collecting discrete water samples and servicing sondes at Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area and Obed Wild and Scenic River. Blue Ridge Parkway (BLRI) water quality sampling that was scheduled for September and October is postponed while major sections of the Parkway are closed after severe impacts of Hurricane Helene.
Other Notable Activities
- APHN staff all attended the annual Strategic Planning Meeting for Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, Obed Wild and Scenic River, and Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Rugby, Tennessee on September 25.
- On September 27, Hurricane Helene made its way through Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina leaving a path of destruction that reached epic proportion in western North Carolina. Wind gusts reached 130 mph, trees were pushed over, saturated hillsides slid away, and rivers raged like never before. The landscape of western North Carolina and Blue Ridge Parkway is forever changed. Recovery for Blue Ridge Parkway, APHN staff in Asheville and their community will take significant time.
- APHN biologist, Evan Raskin, is doing a 2-week detail with BLRI Incident Command for Hurricane Helene storm response.
Publications and Presentations
- A vegetation map of Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area and all associated data and reports were published in October. This represents a significant effort by past APHN staff along with several contractors from NatureServe and University of Georgia. All products are available here: DataStore - Vegetation Mapping Inventory Project for Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area (nps.gov)
- Jordan, T., and M. Madden. 2024. Digital vegetation database and map for Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area: Final report. Science Report NPS/SR—2024/199. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.36967/2305475
Staff Updates
- We said farewell to vegetation intern, Garrett Billings, at the end of September. He left the network a couple weeks early to take a position at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville as curator of the UT Herbarium, a nationally recognized plant repository.