John and Kendra Abbott are two very talented photographers, they hold workshops all over the world. They are also entomologists, ecologists, writers, researchers and work at the University of Alabama as Curator of Collections and Research for the University of Alabama Museums. This week they were working on fireflies in Paint Rock and generously allowed use of some of their images to let you know we have lots of different kinds of synchronous fireflies, the primary species may be Photuris tremulans (Christmas Lights).
They are also doing research here including insect biodiversity surveys and an experiment using metabarcoding techniques to identify bulk insect samples.
You can find out more about them and their work here:
The Alabama Forestry Commission – Rick Oats, Jason Dockery, Dana Stone and Dan Chappell – visited Paint Rock at the invitation of Cindy Ragland, one of our board of directors. The forest humbled us all. We had lots of questions, they were patient and very informative. Wish we had some of their tools to work with.
There were hungry mouths to feed when Clemson ornithologist Drew Lanham visited Paint Rock.
Don’t mind me, the Carolina wren hissed, as she dodged Drew and students to appease the gaping beaks of young’uns, tucked in a hole on a mossy bank a few feet from where all assembled.
It was an accidental convergence, this nest of wrens and this assembly of students from many backgrounds and many ambitions, wanting to understand where one of the world’s best ornithological researchers and storytellers was coming from, and in the process, better understand where they might be going.
The students — all working on the forest dynamics census teams with Alabama A&M — explained to Drew how this forest was transforming them. Two or three noted that they weren’t even particularly interested in plants and trees until they came to see the forests of Paint Rock. Until, one said, he looked up into the canopy of a massive tree he was measuring, and it all changed. You could see the green light of the trees flickering across his face as he told the story, and you could see the light in Drew’s eyes as he recognized what was happening here.
We have all been fed in these past few weeks at Paint Rock, as we all have come to recognize that Paint Rock is beginning to fulfill our wildest ambitions. Drew schemed research programs for understanding bird activity in the forest that could be correlated with the work the students were doing on the tree census. He drew compelling parallels between struggles for social justice and the threats facing natural systems. And he made sure the students understood that what they were doing here in this forest was as important as what any doctor, any engineer, any researcher on earth was doing. And on that day, it was clear that the interaction with nature and with diversity is already changing lives.
Drew is now fully embedded in the mission of Paint Rock, in its research program, in its goal of training a new generation of scientists to see diversity through the eyes of diversity.
And in the end, the wren and her young seemed to consider it all normal, going about their business in a forest that seems made for such convergences.
Here’s how science should progress: Bring together the minds and minds-in-training of two great institutions, have them plop down on the cool wet ground of Paint Rock forest, and discuss the future of biology and conservation and how to build a life around it.
Alabama A&M’s new forest dynamics crew — many trying to understand how to further their careers in science — spent much of the morning with University of Georgia researchers as part of a visiting scholars program generously funded by Chattanooga’s Riverview Foundation. We all had high hopes, but I’m not sure any of us realized how successful this program would be.
Famed evolutionary biologist Stephen Hubbell — one of the founders of modern forest dynamics research — led the team of Georgia faculty to the research center and plot he helped create. UGa professors Dr. Shu-Mei Cheng and Dr. Megan Peterson kept us all wide-eyed with the unexpected twists and turns of plant sex and population dynamics, illuminating some of the many perplexing problems of species dynamics in Paint Rock forest. And the new field crew peppered them with questions during and for hours after their talks. This is going to be a great group. Be patient, I expect you’ll be hearing more interesting things from students and faculty soon.
Shu-Mei and Megan and UGa grad student Riley Thoen got proper introductions to Paint Rock. Not only did we get to marvel over beautiful landscapes and mysterious flowers, we also got to meet some of Paint Rock’s most arresting personalities. But as it always seems to do, Crotalus horridus allayed our fears by sitting quietly and passively as we danced around its majestic woods.
Alan Cressler is as legendary as the Nature Conservancy’s Sharp Bingham Preserve in Paint Rock. As a caver he knows the caves, underground rivers, aquatic life better than anyone. He is also a brilliant biologist, legendary explorer and incredible photographer. We spent a splendid day with Alan and Noah Yawn from Auburn. You can see some of his amazing photographs in the gallery below. We are so glad to have Alan on the Advisory Council for the Research Center.
Frost has burned the old year down at Paint Rock, and the new year is stabbing through fallen leaves, looking for light.
In what may be the richest deciduous forest in North America, nothing sits still in winter. The wildflowers have been preparing for their spring explosion, which will begin in days, as pennywort, trillium and trout lilies spread leaves.
If we seemed quiet, it’s only because we’ve been preparing, as well. As the wildflowers peak in March and April, there will be another great opening at Paint Rock: the Research Center non-profit will officially unveil its new campus, centered around the Clemmons house.
As many noted, a center can’t be much of a center without …a center. The Clemmons house, a 6,500 square foot facility with spectacular views of the valley, is only a 5-minute walk from the forest dynamics plot that is the backbone of our research. Those who’ve seen it have long recognized its potential as both a learning and residential center.
Many things had to come together to make that happen. Horace and Elizabeth Clemmons, who’ve encouraged this vision for almost a decade, bent over backwards to work with us on the purchase of their former home.
Patty Gowaty and Steve Hubbell laid the first stone of our research program, and now they’ve laid the first stone of our new campus. Without the contributions of vision, time, interest and now funding from these two great scientists, none of this would have happened.
But we’ve been fortunate to have some pretty exceptional people help us finish this foundation. Johnny Johns, who built Protective Life into one the country’s great companies, and his wife, Nancy Dunlap, who helped build the UAB School of Medicine into a world-class research institution, decided it was time to make this campus a reality. Gates Shaw is the forest-loving Episcopal priest we all need on our side, and it was an unforgettable afternoon when he and Elton Stephens, one of Alabama’s best-known entrepreneurs and philanthropists, sprawled out on the banks of Honey Hollow and promised to help us map out the funding for this project.
Their generous funding – from Johnny and Nancy, Gates and Margot Shaw, and Elton and the Stephens Foundation– helped us nail down the purchase of the property in extraordinarily difficult times, and get it ready to accommodate research, education and science communication this year. Our first big guest entourage will be arriving in May. You’ll be surprised and excited to hear who they are – and we’ll let you know more about that as our agreement allows!
Board member and architect Will McGarity has helped us put together a program to convert this beautiful family home into a residential facility for researchers and visitors. We’ve got codes to meet! Fortunately, it appears we’re going to be able to preserve most of the features that make this such an outstanding building.
We’ve made a big down payment on this effort, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do to secure full ownership and operation of the campus. We’ve got a great team working on it, and we’ll let you know more about that as it progresses.
Covid continues, of course. That limits us all, but we’re hoping to continue to forward carefully, and we look forward to the time in the not to distant future when we are all free to explore the campus, the research and the wildflowers at Paint Rock. Keep watching: It will be a busy year, and we’re all going to get something good out of it.
Here’s how we knew Paint Rock had won Elton Stephens’ approval: While Gates Shaw and Bill discussed the tortuous theological implications of chittamwood, Elton just stretched out from head to toe on the banks of Honey Hollow, taking in the dance of leaves above our heads. Gates is an Episcopal priest, but his main job seems to be pondering how to get good stuff done. Elton is a Birmingham businessman who still knows how to be a boy in the woods, and the day brought back memories of riding horses through the woods with his Dad.
Paint Rock seemed to bring out the best in both of them. They’ll be back — they’re targeting that magical window when the last of the bluebells are still in bloom, and the groves of the the mystery azaleas and mountain laurels are just starting.
