Restoration of Shortleaf Pine (Pinus echinata)-Hardwood Mixtures in Low Quality Mixed Upland Hardwood Stands Using Cluster Planting and Natural Regeneration

Cluster planting of shortleaf pine, along with various site preparation and release treatments, were tested to restore mixed shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata Mill.)–hardwood stands in areas where the shortleaf pine has diminished in recent years. Shortleaf pine–hardwood mixtures were once a common forest type throughout the Cumberland Mountains and Plateau physiographic regions of the southeastern United States. Knowledge of how to restore shortleaf pine–hardwood mixtures is limited throughout shortleaf pine’s large native range. The objectives of this study were to compare planted shortleaf pine and natural hardwood regeneration survival, growth, and composition following various site preparation and early release treatments. Cluster planting and partial timber harvesting were used to reintroduce shortleaf pine and create two-aged stands in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee, USA. Results indicated that shortleaf pine survival, basal diameter, and height growth did not differ following four growing seasons among treatments. Natural regeneration stem densities and heights within shortleaf pine clusters did not differ significantly by treatment. Natural regeneration stem densities differed by species group and height class across the site, while the treatment × species interaction term was also significant. At this early stage of stand development, the brown-and-burn treatment appears poised for greater shortleaf pine growth rates than the other treatments. The herbicide treatment had the fewest regenerating hardwoods per hectare and the most desirable hardwood species composition.

Sewanee

Joe B. tells in this chapter why he transferred to Sewanee in Tennessee, and how he developed a lifelong friendship with Coach Lon Varnell. He describes the college, the student body, and the beautiful landscape in the Cumberland Mountains. He explains the code of ethics the college upheld.

Apheloria polychroma, a new species of millipede from the Cumberland Mountains (Polydesmida: Xystodesmidae)

Millipedes of the genus Apheloria Chamberlin, 1921 occur in temperate broadleaf forests throughout eastern North America and west of the Mississippi River in the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains. Chemically defended with toxins made up of cyanide and benzaldehyde, the genus is part of a community of xystodesmid millipedes that compose several Müllerian mimicry rings in the Appalachian Mountains. We describe a model species of these mimicry rings, Apheloria polychroma n. sp., one of the most variable in coloration of all species of Diplopoda with more than six color morphs, each associated with a separate mimicry ring.

Fighting Back … Again

This chapter introduces Coal River Mountain Watch (CRMW) as an organization and describes its formation, organization and growth over the first five to seven years of its existence. The outrage that greeted mountaintop removal coal mining in the late 1990s was by no means new to the Appalachian region. Time and again conditions of social relations and political and economic domination have given rise to reform movements. Author Stephen Fisher argues that for an enduring social movement to achieve substantive change in Appalachia, it must transcend single issues in ongoing, democratic, membership-driven organizations. He cited groups like Save Our Cumberland Mountains in Tennessee, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, and the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition as existing examples of the activism he described.

Combining Citizen Science with Traditional Biotic Surveys to Enhance Knowledge Regarding the Natural History of Secretive Species

The Green Salamander (Aneides aeneus) is a secretive, arboreal cliff specialist distributed discontinuously across the southern and central Appalachian Mountains, USA. While intensively studied in some parts of its range in the Appalachian Plateau and Blue Ridge Provinces, the distribution of A. aeneus is still poorly understood, particularly in the Cumberland Mountains physiographic province of the Appalachian region. This data deficiency is partly the result of a lack of formal historic surveys across this region, coupled with a high amount of privately owned land that is inaccessible to traditional biotic surveys. We used a combination of citizen science efforts and traditional field surveys to investigate the distribution and status of A. aeneus across the Cumberland Mountains of southwestern Virginia, USA. Local landowners and outdoor recreation enthusiasts reported a relatively high rate of encounters with A. aeneus, verifying the species’ persistence at four historic localities and leading to the discovery of 36 previously unknown populations. Although we are cautious about making inferences about the true conservation status of A. aeneus across this region given the scarcity of current data, these findings suggest that the distribution of A. aeneus in Virginia has been vastly underestimated and that expanded monitoring programs are needed to further ascertain this species’ status. More broadly, our results illustrate the utility of coupling public initiatives with more traditional field surveys to expand the biogeographic knowledge of secretive, difficult-to-study amphibian species.