Education and outreach, prescribed burns, publishing scientific papers, grassland restoration projects, and making the first documentation of a rare plant species in Tennessee are only a few of the many activities that SGI has been involved with in January and February 2022. Read this newsletter to hear about all our exciting news and announcements, be reminded of our recent blog articles, and find out the hot topics being discussed in our Facebook group.
News and Announcements
Our 2021 Annual Report has been completed and is available on our website.
SGI’s Executive Director, Dwayne Estes, gave a presentation to approximately 40 members of the International Clematis Society on January 11. The presentation highlighted our work to describe several new species of plants, some of which are endemic to savannas of the Southeastern U.S.
On January 21, SGI worked with the Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic for a 3-hour work day at Dunbar Cave State Park, Clarksville, as part of the Cohen Clinic’s “Giving Back” day. This event was attended by approximately 25 Cohen Clinic staff and a half-dozen SGI staff and volunteers. We worked to remove invasive species and woody plants from the prairie.
Zach Wood assisting the Georgia State Parks with a prescribed burn.
SGI and the State Botanical Garden of Georgia’s Georgia Grasslands Coordinator, Zach Wood, assisted Georgia State Parks with a prescribed fire in northwest Georgia in late January. The prescribed fire was designed to reduce mid-story vegetation and release the native groundcover.
Approximately 4,500 plants (1,800 woody shrubs and trees; 2,700 non-woody plugs) were installed in January by Williams Forestry and Associates as part of a restoration project that the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, SGI, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and Partners for Fish & Wildlife are working on. The restoration project will benefit not only terrestrial grassland species, but also the very rare trispot darter that was recently discovered in the neighboring stream. Dalton College and a local elementary school are also assisting with the implementation of this project.
SGI’s Chief Science Advisor, Reed Noss, and several of his colleagues published the paper, An Ecoregion-based Approach to Restoring the World’s Intact Large Mammal Assemblages, in the open access journal Ecography.
SGI’s Seeds of Success – Southeast team members completed data entry for the 2021 Plant It Forward seed collections. The seed collections comprised 65 collections across 3 ecoregions and will be used for ecological restoration across Tennessee to enhance biodiversity in grassland plantings and natural area remnants.
SGI’s Chief Science Advisor, Reed Noss, and several of his colleagues published the paper, Savannas Are Vital but Overlooked Carbon Sinks, in the journal Science.
SGI launched its weekly blog. The topics for the blog articles will vary, but will include “Getting to Know Us” articles about our team members and partners, stories about our projects and events, educational articles related to grassland ecosystems, photo essays, and much, much more.
SGI’s Seeds of Success – Southeast Director, Marcello DeVitis, and Assistant Director, Will Overbeck, attended a 2-day training for the Bureau of Land Management's Seeds of Success program on February 8 and 9.
SGI and Quail Forever wildlife biologist, Jeremy French, and our friend Kyle Lybarger of the Native Habitat Project were on the February 15th episode of the Gun Dog It Yourself podcast talking about grasslands and savannas.
The first ever Tennessee record of smooth sawgrass (Cladium mariscoides), a rare sedge, was collected by Michelle McInnis as part of her Austin Peay State University graduate research.
SGI and Austin Peay State University graduate student, Michelle McInnis, and Dwayne Estes, her thesis advisor, determined that she had collected a rare sedge, Cladium mariscoides (smooth sawgrass), from riverscour grasslands along Clear Creek, Morgan Co., TN during an October 2020 expedition. The find represents the first ever record of this rare species from Tennessee of what is primarily a northeastern U.S. species.
SGI’s Southern Appalachian Grasslands Coordinating Ecologist, Zach Irick, presented at a conservation symposium for the Weitzman School of Design at the Tennessee Imax Theater on February 11. The event was sponsored by the Lyndhurst Foundation.
Our partner, Jennifer Ceska from the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, gave a presentation on “Cues of Care in the Native Garden” at the Georgia Native Plant Society’s 2022 Symposium on February 19.
SGI was unanimously voted to be a Center for Plant Conservation (CPC) Participating Institution. CPC is a one-of-a-kind network of conservation partners that collaboratively work to save the imperiled plants of the United States throughout their native range. We met CPC’s qualifications as a Participating Institution because of our work in rare plant conservation and because we maintain collections of regionally rare seeds in our Conservation Seed Bank. SGI is proud to join the ranks of the almost 70 other Participating Institutions that make up the CPC.
SGI’s Executive Director, Dwayne Estes, gave a presentation about Southeastern grasslands on January 20 for New Dimensions in American Landscaping. The presentation was hosted by Larry Weaner and was attended by approximately 300 people, most of whom were landscape architects.
Jeremy French became SGI and Quail Forever’s new Interior Plateau Coordinator on February 21. As the new Interior Plateau Coordinator, Jeremy will be implementing our Regional Conservation Partnership Program grants in Tennessee and Kentucky, overseeing SGI projects within Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee, developing educational materials, conducting outreach, and working on a variety of other grassland conservation projects. Congratulations Jeremy!
New wildflower signs were installed for a native grassland recreation project that is a partnership between the Georgia Department of Transportation, SGI, the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, the University of Georgia - Athens, and Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful.
Recent Blog Articles
5 Most Popular Discussions this Month from the Southeastern Grasslands Ecology, History, and Biodiversity Facebook Group
A group member shared a picture of white-top pitcher plants (Sarracenia leucophylla).
A group member posted an announcement of the upcoming Whigham Rattlesnake Roundup, which led to a discussion about how this has turned into an educational event that promotes the ecological importance of rattlesnakes as opposed to what historically happened at this event.
A group member asked a question related to the public relations and educational efforts surrounding the TWRA's (Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency) management plans for parts of the Bridgestone/Firestone tract near Crossville TN.
A group member shared pictures and observations from his prairie farm and woodlands in Illinois.
A group member shared an article about a population of an extremely rare species of hawthorn that was discovered last summer in Tennessee.