ForestGeorgia ForestWatch Quarterly NewsletterNews Spring 2017 8 Cooper Creek Project Update Page 5 Inside This Issue Wild & Woolly Forest ForestWatch Successes and Welcome New Members! .........7 Festival 2017 ..............................2 Campaigns in 2016 ......................... 5 Around the Forest ....................8 Upcoming Outings .....................3 The Other Illegal Immigration: Invasive Species in the National 2016 Supporters ....................10 Long Mountain: A Georgia’s Forests ............................................. 6 Mountain Treasure .....................4 Wild & Woolly Forest Festival 2017 by Sue Harmon : Board Member & Wild & Woolly Committee Chair Another Wild & Woolly Forest Festival has come and To all who helped, to all who attended, and to all who contributed to gone. When I think about this event and what it means this year’s Wild & Woolly Forest Festival, a big THANKS! We could not for ForestWatch, I don’t think about the money being have done it without you. raised. I think about the ForestWatch people. For 30 years a community of concerned citizens has been willing to step up to SPONSORS THE MERCHANTS OF the plate and give time and energy to preserve these incredible ADI Marketing DAHLONEGA, HELEN forests of Georgia. Getting these folks together to celebrate this Donna Born & SAUTEE NACOOCHEE work is both a reward and an inspiration. Becky & Tom Callahan Applewood Pottery/Jami Pederson James & Debra Campbell Bernie’s Restaurant & Specific and much deserved thanks is given at the end of this Tom & Sally Colkett Nacoochee Valley Guest House article to the numerous donors, sponsors, committee members, Tom & Jeanette Crawford Cowboys & Angels and volunteers that helped make Wild & Woolly happen. But Jim & Hedy Dawson Dahlonega Tasting Room here I want to take a moment to thank every single person who Richie Deason Gustavo’s Pizzeria Ted & Lynda Doll Habersham Winery purchased a ticket and came to join us. Each participant makes Francine Dykes & Richard Delay Hansel & Gretel Candy Kitchen our community one person stronger. Melinda & Andy Edwards InsideOut Sautee Sue Harmon JumpinGoat Coffee Roasters As we reflect on the day of celebration at Wild & Woolly – Robin Hitner The Lavender Cottage & Garden moving words from a forest friend, great food, home town Bob & Jane Kibler Main Street Emporium in Helen music, the fellowship of other ForestWatchers – we re-inspire George Lee Nacoochee Village Antique Mall ourselves to continue to support this work. One of the best Phyllis Miller Nacoochee Village Tavern & Pizzeria ways to do that is by renewing your membership, learning Pete & Sally Parsonson Nora Mill Granary about the forest issues by reading our newsletters, and then Doug & Elaine Riddle Old Sautee Store Dennis & Jan Stansell Rib Country BBQ sharing that knowledge with others. Below are four specific Margaretta Taylor Shenanigans Restaurant ways you can help: Bonnie & Lloyd Unnold & Irish Pub Harry & Debbie Vander Krabben Smokin’ Gold BBQ • We need volunteers to help us table at festivals and public Melanie & Keith Vickers The Stovall House Inn & Restaurant events, where we informally talk with the public about Jim Walker Sweetwater Coffeehouse issues in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest, David & Dena Maguire Young Tim’s Wooden Toys and what ForestWatch is doing to address these issues. The Willows Pottery Two upcoming opportunities are: National Trails Day at MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS & Wolf Mountain Vineyards Vogel State Park on June 3, and Dahlonega Trail Fest on OTHER DONORS September 8-10. Ben Cash VOLUNTEERS & STAFF • Joan Maloof’s talk energized more than a few of you, and Marie Dunkle Chloe Bettis & Emma Smith we already have a committee of two that is interested in Sue Harmon Ron Bourne Mitch Jacoby Tom & Sally Colkett exploring the possibility of adding more of Georgia’s old- Jack Johnston Jeanette & Tom Crawford growth to the Old-Growth Forest Network. Do you want Len Foote Hike Inn Hildreth Davis to help? Audrey Moylan Lynda & Ted Doll • Do you have connections to any community groups (maybe Natives Plus Nursery Melinda & Andy Edwards garden clubs, hiking groups, civic groups, HOAs?) that Nearly Native Nursery David Govus would like to hear a presentation about our work? Patagonia Sue Harmon • Are you interested in serving on our Board? Or becoming a Sautee Nacoochee Center Robin Hitner District Leader? Julia Serences Lyn Hopper Brenda Smith Mary Ellen & Alan Johnson James Sullivan Sue Mattison If you want to help or if you have other ideas for how we can Cal & Sandi Tax Jeanne & Bruce O’Connor increase our outreach, shoot us an email at [email protected]. Doug & Elaine Riddle MUSICIANS Jess Riddle Again, the staff and board at Georgia ForestWatch thank you Walter Daves, Jeanie Daves & Brenda Smith for your loyal support. Jennie Ingles Mary Topa Jim Walker n Joanne Steele, Seamus Sullivan May the work continue! And with your support, it will. & Emerson Murphy Dena Maguire & David Young 2 Georgia ForestWatch Contact Information Georgia ForestWatch www.gafw.org 81 Crown Mountain Place, Building C, Suite 200 Dahlonega, GA 30533 706-867-0051 From the Wild Georgia ForestWatch is a 501(c)3 & Woolly Forest nonprofit educational corporation. Festival Forest News edited by Mary Topa and Audrey Moylan Clockwise from top: Layout by Eleanor Thompson Catching up with friends; Speaker Dr. Joan Maloof; Plant Sale STAFF volunteers; Jeanette Crawford and Mary Topa, Executive Director registration volunteers; Musicians Lyn Hopper, Bookkeeper/Office Manager Walter & Jeanie Daves Jess Riddle, Forest Ecologist BOARD MEMBERS ADVISORS Robin Hitner, President Butch Clay James Dawson, Secretary Sarah Francisco Tom Crawford, Treasurer Patrick Hunter Richie Deason Bob Kibler Ted Doll Charles Seabrook David Govus Dennis Stansell Sue Harmon James Sullivan Brenda Smith Harry Vander Krabben Photo credits: Tom Crawford GEORGIA FORESTWATCH DISTRICT LEADERS Chattooga River Ranger District Oconee National Forest UPCOMING OUTINGS Marie Dunkle 770-335-0967 JP Schmidt 706-613-8483 (Rabun, Towns and White Counties) Caleb Walker 706-248-4910 June 2nd Ben Cash 706-968-3841 (Greene, Jasper, Jones, Anne Hughes, Maureen Donohue & Sue Harmon (Habersham, Stephens & Monroe, Morgan, Summer Tree ID Hike at Sosebee Cove White counties) Oconee, Oglethorpe and Jarrard Gap area & Putnam counties) Blue Ridge Ranger District Larry Winslett 404-375-8405 June 3rd Tom & Sally Colkett 770-316-7609 (Greene, Jasper, Jones, Morgan, National Trails Day at Vogel State Park (Dawson & Lumpkin counties) Oconee, Oglethorpe & Putnam Jim Walker 706-273-3465 counties) July 1st (Fannin, Gilmer, Lumpkin Marie Dunkle & Union counties) Conasauga Ranger District Chattooga River Area Hike Robin Hitner 678-294-3256 (Chattooga, Gordon, Murray, August 5th Floyd, Walker & Whitfield US Forest Service counties) Snorkeling the Conasauga River David Govus 706-276-2512 (Fannin & Gilmer counties) Email [email protected] to reserve your spot or register online at gafw.org/outings-events/. Join our email alert program at www.gafw.org to Cover photo credit: Bryant Creek by Larry Winslett receive hike alerts and registration information. Spring 2017 3 Long Mountain: A Georgia’s Mountain Treasure by Jess Riddle : Forest Ecologist ne of the beauties inherent in having access to large areas of publicO land is the potential for discovery – uncovering places and things Google doesn’t know about. You can take your map and compass and keep finding out what’s just over the next ridge until you run out of time and energy. And just like every person is unique when you really get to know them, a close-up exploration of a landscape reveals that every crease and fold has its own flavor. On most maps, the Long Mountain Georgia’s Mountain Treasure doesn’t grab the imagination with possibilities for exploration. This mountain treasure sweeps south from the Appalachian Trail ridge and borders Army Ranger Camp Frank D. Merrill on the north side of Dahlonega. In most places, such exposed sunny slopes would support a forest of moderate-sized, drought-tolerant oaks and thickets of mountain laurel. Yet this area, more out of the way than truly remote, Riddle Jess credit: Photo may be one of the most underappreciated patches of ground in north Large piece of muscovite mica Georgia. allowing several unusual plants to emerge from the soils in this The geologic map of the area, though, shows that the ground itself area. Whorled stoneroot, with a feather duster of pinkish flowers, is reason for exploration. Rather than a single rock type underlying pokes up in the lower elevations. High up, orange-fruited horse this area, geologists mapped this area as “metagraywacke/mica schist- gentian lives up to its name, with miniature “pumpkins” sitting quartzite/amphibolite.” That alphabet soup of rocks shows up on the in its leaf axils. Nutrient-demanding trees get in on the act too. ground in a number of eye-catching ways. Bright blue blades of kyanite Hackberries and black walnut create islands of shade on some of shoot through the rocks in the backbone of Long Mountain. Books of the rock outcrops, the highest of which provide great views of the mica as big as your boot lie scattered around old mining prospect pits Dahlonega area. on the lip of the escarpment. Chunks of amphibolite, with their rusty brown rinds and sparkling black cores, poke out of the leaf litter like It’s hard to say whether extra nutrients or extra time to grow has cooked and crystallized lemons. been more important in allowing some more common trees like black oak to reach impressive sizes. Black oaks often tower along Long Mountain’s geological jumble gives rise to a diverse tapestry with chestnut oaks in the old-growth forest that covers the steep of plant communities, and the amphibolite “lemons” are clues to south-facing slopes of Long Mountain proper. Not surprisingly finding some of the most interesting ones. Unlike most rocks in though, the largest trees grow in the small fragment of old-growth northeast Georgia, amphibolite weathers into soils rich in calcium with more moisture.