Our October 6 workshop with Henk Mooiweer was so intense, Beth says she almost forgot to take photographs. Edward O. Wilson kicked it off with a call to make this one of the world’s top research centers. Our workshop included more than 50 scientists, financial specialists and interested partners. And over two meetings, we’ve explored novel ways to develop a research center that can truly meet the needs of science and conservation in the next century.

The second workshop included a smaller group of some 20 people, but was just as intense, and featured Kier Klepzig, director of the Jones Ecological Research Center at Ichauway, one of the South’s premier research centers focused on the study of longleaf pine ecosystems. Kier emphasized the importance of having a first class campus to attract researchers and participants.

One of those helping us lead the charge forward in these meetings is Steve Apfelbaum with Applied Ecological Services . Bill and Steve’s lives and activities have intertwined in surprising ways since they were on the campus of Warren Wilson College together (we won’t say how many decades ago). Steve suggested bringing in Henk Mooiweer to handle the workshops, yet another piece of good advice from Steve. You can read about Henk’s work at www.innovenate.com.

All one can do after something that intense is to go wade in the river – which Steve, Beth and Bill did after the first meeting. Above you can see them exploring a river scour ecosystem, braving the ford with the northern water snakes that seem to revel in the chilly waters. Above them is that curious nameless oak that dominates Paint Rock, and has scientists across the country scratching their heads.

Viewing the Paint Rock forest through the eyes of the McGriff’s, who were both raised here, was an eye opening experience and a great day. David spotted the bees in the big yellowwood tree.

It was so good to spend time with Charley again. He has a remarkable curiosity for many things, a keen eye for observing plants and asks very very good questions.

Mitch Reid the new Nature Conservancy State Director and Keith Tassin made a visit to meet in Paint Rock. We are so pleased to have him as state director, Mitch is going to do a lot of good in Alabama and we need it. He knows this state well, especially the rivers and has wide ranging connections across the country and to every corner of Alabama. We are so glad to have him.

A hot day in August these brave folks ventured from the cool offices of Hudson Alpha to the hills of the Sharp Bingham Preserve. The conversations and ideas were intense. There are more discussions coming on the how we use genomics to understand what is happening in the forest.

It’s sort of like the Florida panther. Why protect the Florida panther when there are California panthers and Andean panthers? Because species sometimes have regional “races” or genetic distinctions that are very important regionally, and often important to the evolutionary health of the species broadly.

Gama grass is one of North America’s most famous grasses, a close relative of corn and “ice cream” for bison and cattle in the early days of our country. So we’re very interested in restoring gama grass to the Paint Rock bottoms.

But gama grass seed from the Midwest — where most sold seed comes from — isn’t adapted to our climate.  There are a number of regional genetic variations in gama grass that are important to preserve, including adaptation to heat, adaptation to length of growing season and flowering times, and resistance to disease and insects. Texas alone has at least 5 genetically distinct populations with an enormous range of attributes and adaptability.  And even the flowers and ability to cross pollinate can be very different regionally (gama grass has a very complicated reproductive strategy that has helped ensure its survival, but has been nearly lost as population diversity dwindles). To make things worse, many gama grass cultivars have been selected purely for use in grazing systems out west, emphasizing forage yield and weight gain potential, and have likely lost some of their disease and insect resistance, their desirable attributes for native systems, and their long-term evolutionary viability.  

No one has ever really tried to focus on collecting gama grass seed from the Tennessee Valley (or from Alabama for that matter), and that’s too bad, because from what we’re seeing, it was probably once a dominant member of the ecosystem, particularly around the lower reaches of Paint Rock. We’ve been running to stay ahead of the mowers and herbicides, but we’ve managed to collect seed from a number of populations around Paint Rock River. Because the populations can become too isolated as they’ve become rare, it’s better to collect seed from a larger area that once included regularly interbreeding plants, to preserve all the genetic information of this population and to avoid a kind of in-breeding depression (as as happened with the Florida panther). So we’re trying to rejoin the populations west of Huntsville with those east of Huntsville (under the fairly safe assumption that Huntsville and its agricultural fields and suburbs have become a wall of sterility over the past century or two that has largely blocked normal genetic exchange across the valley). But we want to make sure that the genetics of Paint Rock gama grass survive for many more millennia.

A mystery oak at Paint Rock has flummoxed taxonomists, so the nation’s top oak genome researchers have agreed to help out. But how to get leaves out of a tree 90 feet tall? Bill had to shoot the samples down with a pheasant load in his 20 gauge. And yes, he shoots almost straight up. He can hit the small branches, but often it takes a bit of rattling or a fortunate wind when the sample gets hung in lower limbs. They’re being packaged up for Amanda Wu, who will do the testing for us in her lab in St. Louis, MO.

Steve Apfelbaum, the founder of Applied Ecological Services, spent two days with us touring every inch of Paint Rock and discussing science, conservation and ideas with Bill. This is a remarkable man with deep knowledge that we plan to see again.

AJ Buckner and friends from the Jackson County School system, Mikey Counts and Pisgah Principal John Prestridge – toured Paint Rock looking for ways to incorporate students from Jackson County in the program. They were an awesome group of folks – makes me realize why the folks up here are so special. 5_19_20