Grandfather RD Supports The Local Community Through Fishing Event

The Grandfather Ranger District (RD) held a disabled persons fishing event at Boone Fork Pond, near Lenior, North Carolina, on May 16th to support the local community and allow disabled children and adults experience the joy of fishing in National Forests. The Grandfather RD has been organizing the event for over 20 years. The Grandfather Restoration Project, beyond restoring forest ecosystems, helps support the local community through events like these. With the pond at Boone Fork fully stocked with native trout, disabled members of the community were able to have a fun and educational day fishing with the help of Grandfather RD employees and local volunteers.

Volunteer Brian Jennings helps a participant hold up her prized catch

Wildflowers Bloom After Prescribed Fire Near Dobson Knob

Less than 2 months after the prescribed fire in the Dobson Knob unit near Linville Gorge, the under-story is greening up and the wildflowers are in bloom. For the Pink Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium acaule), as well as many other wildflowers, low-intensity fires have been found to release nutrients and killed competing shrubs, leading to strong growth and flowering in subsequent years (Primack and Stacy 1998).

Pink Lady’s Slipper blooming after a prescribed fire near Dobson Knob

New Publication Answers Restoration Questions

A newly released publication from the Southern Research Station in Asheville provides answers to questions regarding restoration in the Southern Appalachians.

The publication, “Restoration in the Southern Appalachians: A Dialogue among Scientists, Planners, and Land Managers”, addresses three key questions for restoration ecology in the Southern Appalachian Mountains:

1. What is the role of fire, especially when used as a management tool for oak-dominated ecosystems?
2. What is the relationship between early successional habitat and biodiversity?
3. How do we regenerate oak ecosystems? 

In addition to addressing current questions in restoration ecology, the publication provides an extensive list of the scientific literature for restoration and fire management in the Southern Appalachians.

 

NC State Forestry Class Visits the Grandfather

The Grandfather Restoration Project is getting recognized throughout North Carolina for leading the way in prescribed burning in mountain ecosystems. The senior forestry operations class from North Carolina State University (NC State) Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources toured the Grandfather Ranger District in April, visiting a prescribed fire unit near dobson knob and viewing wildfire effects in the Linville Gorge Wilderness.

NCSU Forestry Operations class atop Pinnacles in Linville Gorge