Building a better pine plantation

A federal forest in Mississippi was chosen to house a loblolly pine gene bank, and an Oregon forest will hold a similar collection of Douglas fir diversity. Thousands of grafts will be grown as a living genetic archive, and researchers will work with the diverse lines to identify and understand genotypes. Artificial breeding will be used to find and propogate vigorous hybrids. The U.S. Department of Agriculture(USDA) awarded six million dollars to a team headed by David Neale of the University of California-Davis, who will work through U.S. Forest Service research stations in Saucier, Miss. and Corvallis, Ore. to develop the experimental and archival stocks. The Forest Service is a USDA agency. Genetic catalogs exist for several food crops and a hardwood tree, but these will be the first conifers sequenced.

Get sustainable now

Tennessee Conservation Voters and the Tennessee Environmental Council convened the first “Summit for a Sustainable Tennessee” at Lipscomb University in Nashville. The groups aim to create a long-term agenda for the state based on sustainability principles, which blend economic prosperity with resource conservation. Business, government and citizen interests will work together to draft a “Sustainability Agenda.” Summits will be held annually. Closer to home, the City of Knoxville assembled an energy and sustainability task force. The panel of 15 representatives from community organizations and 10 city officials will develop a strategic plan for the city. Its first task is conducting an energy audit of city operations. Three working groups have formed, aimed at transportation and land use, buildings, and waste and recycling.

Give and you shall receive

The Tennessee Clean Water Network(TCWN) presented its annual River Hero award to Wilma Dykeman. Dykeman authored “The French Broad” in 1955 and was a lifelong advocate for the Appalachian people and environment. She died in December 2006. Senator Lamar Alexander presented the award to Jim Stokely, Dykeman’s son. Meanwhile, the organization was awarded the 2007 Green Paddle by the American Canoe Association for its statewide efforts protecting water quality. TCWN helped win a major victory in 2005 when the state legislature passed a bill allowing citizens to appeal pollution permits. This year the state passed a TCWN-sponsored bill requiring the Department of Environment and Conservation(TDEC) to post notices of water quality violations on its Web site. Their “Build the River Movement” program is helping unite communities across the state around water quality issues, and the network is working to pass the Water Quality Act, which includes an innovative penalty structure designed to reward good actors, discourage repeat offenders and bolster TDEC’s enforcement budget.

Don’t confuse the freddie

The U.S. Forest Service’s determined efforts to ignore management rules established in 2000 crept closer to success with the publication of an environmental impact statement. A five-year planning process started in 1995 culminated in “social, economic and ecological sustainability” being adopted as a management goal for public forests. When the agency’s leadership changed in 2001, the sustainability standard was rejected as “difficult and expensive.” The Forest Service conducted a review and “business analysis,” which revealed that “unnecessarily detailed requirements” would overwhelm their staff. The plan “did not recognize limitations on the availability of scientists” and “injects scientists directly into the planning process,” which the agency said “could lead to confusion about what role the scientists play in the decision.” They published an altered rule in 2002 that gutted ecological monitoring and scientific input and returned the agency to 1982 standards. Revisions and court challenges have prolonged adoption of a new plan, but the agency expects to finally publish its “feasible” version next year.

Knob has multiple uses

Trees are dying in a stand of aspen near High Knob in southwestern Virginia. Because aspen is rare in the eastern United States, the Forest Service is developing a plan to sustain and regenerate the grove. A citizen group called the Clinch Coalition is working to protect headwater forests of the Clinch River, winning withdrawal of a timber sale this summer after warning federal officials of flood risks downstream. In addition to the two acres of aspen, other rare plants live in the forest and rare mussels in the upper Clinch, so the coalition has pressed lawmakers to designate a national recreation area around High Knob. Much of the forest there is actively managed for timber production, with burns, thinning and plantings used to boost yield, but the new designation would bring restraints on logging activity. Meanwhile, federal officials plan to build three new parking lots and three miles of new trails and improve five miles of trail near the campground and lake on High Knob. Nearby in the North Fork of Pound Roadless Area, federal officials proposed development of 21 new gas wells because the lease predates the 1997 roadless designation. Eleven miles of road and 12 miles of pipeline would be built to service the wells, and the draft environmental impact statement will be published in December and open for public comment.

The year parches on

October rains brought brief respite from the drought, but dry weather returned, and extreme and exceptional drought conditions persist in the eastern half of Tennessee and parts of the surrounding states. Year-to-date rainfall deficits in the major river basins vary from 10 to 22 inches below normal. The rains were particularly beneficial on the Cumberland Plateau, but were insufficient to affect deep soil and water tables anywhere. Most rivers and creeks are at record low levels or low flows. The tropical storm season expired without any systems delivering a substantial impact. Atlanta’s water supply reached critical levels, triggering a battle with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over reservoir management. The Corps agreed to reduce flows out of Lake Lanier, pending approval of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which must guard the survival of downstream populations of the fat threeridge and purple bankclimber mussels. The City of Alcoa installed an emergency water diversion along the Little River in Rockford, piping water upriver so it flows past the municipal intake twice. Springs along the Appalachian Trail dried up, and other backcountry water sources vanished. Fisheries biologists said low water levels primarily impact large fish and may hurt non-native brown and rainbow trout more than native species.

Partnership provides plateau protection

The “Connecting the Cumberlands” conservation initiative reached completion as the State of Tennessee and The Nature Conservancy acquired timber rights or easements on acreage connecting Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area and Sundquist Wildlife Management Area with Frozen Head State Park. The effort brings 127,854 acres under protection. In combination with the 66,000 acres already in public ownership, almost 200,000 contiguous acres of the plateau are now under sustainable management. Two forestry companies, Lyme Timber and Conservation Forestry, contributed a total of $40 million to the project. In return, they will be allowed to harvest timber from portions of the land using low-impact techniques and sustainable management principles. The Nature Conservancy contributed $13 million, and the state spent $82 million.

Maryville College students promote renewable energy

by Ashley McBee

Where does your electricity come from? When you flip on a light switch, turn on the washing machine or lie in bed listening to the refrigerator run, where does the tangible electric current originate? Who and what is being sacrificed to produce electricity?
As my friends and I learned the answers to these questions, we began to worry that not enough is being done to conserve resources and reduce pollution. In early fall, we called our local utility board and learned that only 92 of more than 15,000 Maryville Utility Board’s residential customers purchase Green Power from TVA. Two of my fellow Maryville College seniors and I decided to help our neighbors understand how to lower electricity bills, reduce pollution, and why they might want to buy Green Power blocks with the savings. Our hope is that providing people with information will help them act responsibly and take a new perspective on our needs as consumers in a modern society.
We received a grant from our college to run a community awareness campaign. Laura DeBusk, Tom Hankinson, and I will give a presentation at the Blount County Public Library at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14. Through our combined efforts and those of Steve McMinn, a TVA representative, attendees will learn about the processes and impacts surrounding conventional sources of electricity, how TVA’s Green Power Switch works, and how they can improve the energy efficiency of their homes.
They will learn that coal is the main source of energy for TVA, and we will explain the impacts of extracting coal and converting it to electrical energy. To put our consumption in perspective, we will consider what must conspire for one household to meet its energy demands for one year.
The average house in the Southeast uses 36 killowatt-hours(kWh) of electricity per day. One kilowatt-hour will operate an air conditioner for 30 minutes, 10 light bulbs for an hour or a water heater for 15 minutes. One pound of coal is burned for each kilowatt-hour, so the average home in the Southeast indirectly consumes about 13,000 pounds of coal in a year. In order to meet the needs of their customers, TVA must burn 8 trillion pounds of coal per year.
Our neighbors, children and the ecosystems of our beloved and majestic Appalachian mountains suffer daily from coal production and consumption. Extraction by mountaintop removal uses five million pounds of explosives daily in the Cumberland Mountains to literally blow the tops off mountains in order to access seams of coal beneath. Stone blasted from where it stood for millions of years is dumped into surrounding streams and valleys. As a result, over 1,500 miles of streams have been buried under rubble. This results in farms, homes, and towns falling victim to a lack of clean water, severe floods and erosion.
Mountaintop removal devastates the culture and health of people who live nearby. From asthma to cancer, particulates in the air and toxins in the water affect man and animal alike. By burning coal, we are condemning 33 million people in the Southeast to live in areas whose air quality has been deemed bad. Children are developing asthma and other lung disorders at increasing rates. While coal burning negatively impacts everyone’s lungs, its effects are more profound in children because their lungs are still developing. Studies have shown children who grow up breathing bad air average 10 percent less lung capacity. Coal combustion exposes us to mercury and other toxins that find their way into our food, water and air. Environmental effects of burning coal range from accelerating climate change to reducing visibility in Great Smoky Mountain National Park 60 percent in the last 60 years.
Contributing to the solution rather than the problem is actually pretty simple. You can demand that TVA use more renewable power and less conventional power by participating in the Green Power Switch, a program that funds development of wind, solar and methane power. Their progress shows they are willing to make a shift in production, but it requires a shift in consumer consciousness. When we create the demand, they will generate more electricity from green sources.
You can also reduce the amount of electricity TVA generates by reducing your own consumption. Efficient light bulbs and appliances pay for themselves quickly, and there are several simple, low-cost tips that can be implemented to save additional energy. When combined, these efficiency techniques can add up to quite a bit of displaced coal combustion and save you money on your electricity bill, which you can then invest in Green Power.
With a little awareness and some research, you can reduce electricity consumption and still have your needs met. My needs are a healthy and promising future for my children, a humbling view from a mountaintop, and a life that does not jeopardize anything or anyone around me. These are my demands. What are yours?

McBee is a senior at Maryville College majoring in psychology.

Spirit of the law

Appalachian State University astronomer Dan Caton is moving closer to installing a remote camera in Linville Gorge in hopes of documenting the legendary Brown Mountain Lights. Since the gorge is a federal wilderness area, mechanical devices are not allowed; however, the Forest Service has published notice that it intends to perform an environmental assessment of the proposal. The camera would require a power source, with solar panels or a small wind turbine possible, a vandalproof mount and a wireless Internet link. Sightings of strange lights in the area date back centuries, but the lights have never been captured on film. Caton believes the lights may be a natural electrical phenomenon called ball lightning. Legend says they are the spirits of Cherokee warriors or their mourning lovers.