Chattooga Quarterly, Winter, 2002
Conservation: "Hope Springs Eternal"
Potholes on the Chattooga River above the old Iron Bridge on Bull Pen Road. photo by Cheryl Bird
Director's Page
I once heard the principle axiom of capitalism described as “If you’re not growing you’re dying.” I believe this idea spells disaster for the natural world and the associated life support systems upon which we all depend. Start with the obvious. We cannot grow indefinitely. Intellectually we know this just as surely as we understand that if human populations continue to expand, it is simply a mathematical reality that we will run out of living space. Therefore, it should not be that much of a stretch to understand that if we continue to foul the air and water we will soon suffer greatly from disease and famine until we perish. Read more.
Cerulean Warbler: To List or Not to List
The Cerulean Warbler (Dendroica cerulea) is a beautiful little migratory songbird that spends the winter in the Andes Mountains, from Venezuela and Columbia to eastern Peru and northern Bolivia, before returning in mid-April to its breeding grounds in North America in the mature, deciduous hardwood forest, usually along floodplains from southeastern Minnesota and western New England south to the northern Gulf Coast states. The Cerulean was once one of the most abundant warblers in the lower Mississippi valley where rich bottomland forest provided ideal habitat during the breading season. But heavy logging at the turn of the century in North America, and later land-clearing for coffee plantations in South America soon caused the significant decline of the species. Read more.
Sudden Oak Death: Is it Headed East?
Tens of thousands of oak trees in Northern and Central California are dead or dying, stricken by a disease discovered less than a decade ago. Scientists fear that the disease could spread to threaten oaks in the east as well. Sudden Oak Death is caused by the fungus Phytophthora ramorum, which kills tanoaks and other species of oaks native to California, and infects many other plants. While it may take years for an infected tree to die, only a few weeks separate the first visible symptom of sap bleeding from the trunk to the trees’ leaves turning brown, giving the appearance of sudden death. Read more.
American Chestnut and the Chattooga Conservancy
The Chattooga Conservancy is working to bring people together to help restore the American Chestnut (Castanea dentate) to the forest of the southern Appalachian Mountains. This beautiful giant was once a keystone species in our forest. Before its demise, the American Chestnut was, from the standpoint of food production, timber and sheer beauty, the most important tree species in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Read more.
The American Chestnut Tree, reprinted from American Forestry, October, 1915
Our native chestnut tree is one of our best known and best loved trees because of its beauty and utility. It grows from southeastern Maine west to southern Michigan and south to northern Virginia, southern Indiana and along the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. The bright foliage, attractively-shaped leaves, toothsome nuts and stately form give distinction and character to this highly valuable commercial tree of our forests. Read more.
Chestnut in the Future, reprinted from American Forestry, October, 1915
Aside from its value for all sorts of uses, chestnut was long regarded as a valuable woodlot tree, because of many of its other qualities. A tree to succeed in the average farm woodlot must be quick growing, and chestnut is easily that; there are few hardwoods in its range which grow faster. In the South chestnut sprouts frequently attain fence-post size in 10 or 15 years, and tie size in 25 years. In the North farmers used to be able to depend on obtaining ties from chestnut trees 35 or 40 years old. Read more.
Mining of the National Forest
A series of recent court actions playing out in federal courthouses across north Georgia are billed as little more than legal housecleaning—to secure clear and complete title to mining and minerals rights on Chattahoochee National Forest land. That’s how the USDA Forest Service sees it. Read more.
Biomass: A Cleaner Alternative
When people think of alternative energy, biomass is often overlooked. What is biomass? It’s something that’s been used for thousands of years to heat homes and cook food. Biomass is simply plant matter or animal waste. And its potential extends far beyond its ability to produce heat. Read more.
- Power Line Fight
- Stekoa Creek Land Swap
- Peregrine Development
- Charter Forests
- Tahoe Landowner Rights
- Sound Wormy Manuscript Published