Category: Field Notes

We started eight years ago with the ambition of creating the largest and most diverse forest census in North America—an outdoor laboratory for forest studies unequalled on the continent. This week, the census is done. All

The Southern Cumberlands Plateau and Ridge and Valley systems shelter the greatest diversity of tree species and aquatic life in the Appalachians. Paint Rock Valley supports almost double the oak species found in Great Smoky Mountains

The smallest creatures at Paint Rock are getting top billing in international naturedocumentaries. Paint Rock’s exceptional display of fireflies — lighting bugs, as we like to call themdown here — are the latest creatures to headline

Bird banding is a method of tagging birds for the recording of their migratory routesand gaining insight on their tendencies, that would have otherwise been difficult toobserve. This is helpful for scientists working to develop protection

By Sakora Smeby and Bill Finch It’s hard to understand natural systems when all you can see is computer monitors and sheetrock. One of the missions of the Paint Rock Forest Research Center is to expose

Science is precise. Precision is often tedious. That’s the hard labor behind scientific discovery and advancement. At times it can beas numbing as assembly line work or slapping pepperoni on Domino’s pizzas. Thedifference is knowing that

Bryce Lafferty, head of the art and design program at Jacksonville State University,and JSU photography professor Doug Clark are giving a face and voice to the PaintRock forest and its inhabitants — from the vibrant moss

Too many people assume restoration of our forests, meadows and streams is something you can buy off-the-shelf at Walmart. Oh, you want a wildflower meadow? Surely all you need to do is buy a can of

A hidden text in an old book reminds us of why we’re here. It’s a wonder that a state with so much biodiversity isn’t also considered a leader in the study of that diversity. But oddly,

Life, fortunately, is complicated. Tim Lindblom’s life got a lot more complicated recently when he wasappointed interim dean of the new college of Arts, Humanities andSciences at Jacksonville State University. JSU had formerly siloedSciences and Math

We collected 45 bushels of shortleaf pine cones this year — triple the number of bushels collected last year— and that means we’ll have about 2 million seeds squirreled away and ready for restoring shortleaf, hundreds

The doulas of shortleaf When folks see us dangling in mid-air trying to collect shortleaf pine cones, they often look confused. Shoot, someone says, If I was going to restore the shortleaf forest, I could just

What a way and a day to start the 2023 shortleaf pine seed harvest – onthe celebrated 2400-acre Jones Farm in Huntsville, with a haul of pinecones that almost equalled the total number of cones collected

Limestone is the milk of Alabama ecosystems. It builds good bones, in animals, in forests and grasslands, in streams and rivers. It attracts does and hunters to those big racks in the Black Belt. It forms the

Take a look at this video produced by Spence Maynor on a recent fish survey in the upper part of the Paint Rock River. When a fellow on the bank asked us what we were doing

Callaway Sink. A hole in the top of the Cumberland Plateau two miles wide and 700 or so feet deep. High forests slide slowly into its depths. No water leaves the site except through the gaping

As a 6-year-old living enthusiastically in the Jurassic and Cretaceous, fascinated by images of brontosaurs bigger than my house and tyrannosaurs that could terrorize my teachers, I would have been shocked and dismayed to discover what

Be careful what you pick up on the banks of the Paint Rock River. There’s a frighteningly real risk it may be the last of its kind. Carla Atkinson, the aquatic biologist and ecologist from University

A map showing vegetation zones of eastern North America at the end of the last glaciation. Look closely, and you’ll notice that sea level has dropped, allowing forests to extend about 80 miles south into the

It’s a bit raggedy, but spring is already with us in Paint Rock. Heart and mind open to a new year when the trout lilies bloom, and we’re delighted to see them whenever they emerge. But

We’re building a research center out of living, growing trees, and we need your help The Paint Rock Forest Research Center has a backbone. It’s called the forest dynamics census. It’s what sets us apart from