Post by L Roebuck on Oct 17, 2006 11:04:48 GMT -5
Purchase preserves wildlife 'hot spot'
Plateau's 4,200 acres harbor rare bird, bats
By ANNE PAINE
Staff Writer
More than 4,200 mountaintop acres near Pickett State Forest have been purchased by The Nature Conservancy-Tennessee for $4.7 million and could be open for hiking within a year.
The property, on the Cumberland Plateau about two hours northeast of Nashville, is a "hot spot" of significant wildlife habitat, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Re-sources Agency.
It's home to big-toothed aspen and butternut trees, several bat species and the cerulean warbler, a rare songbird that migrates as far as Ecuador and Colombia each year.
The Cumberland Plateau itself, where timber companies and others have been selling off land in recent years, is a focal point of the conservancy's efforts to protect land and water.
"The Nature Conservancy uses a lot of scientific rigor to try to figure out where the most important places biologically are, worldwide," said Scott Davis, state director of TNC-Tennessee.
"The Cumberland Plateau ranks out globally as one of the most important temperate hardwood forests on earth."
The piece of property encompassing Skinner Mountain is one of those areas where native hardwood forests are still standing, he said, offering nesting sites to birds that need deep forest and offering recreation for the public.
Melinda Welton, an orni-thologist, said the purchase would be a boon because it's near other protected public land holdings, providing a wider expanse of forest.
"It's going to be a very important property for a lot of woodland breeding birds that require large forests," she said.
Those birds not only "make the forest musical in spring and summer," but are excellent insect predators, protecting trees, crops and humans, she said. "They're giving us billions of dollars of pest-control services for free," she said.
Among the more than 200,000 acres that the conservancy has helped protect in Tennessee are more than 5,200 in Fentress County, not including this latest buy. Generally, the properties are put into public hands through private-public partnerships.
The nonprofit group, which took out a loan, bought Skinner Mountain from Tower Investments LLC, a California company that had held the property about two years.
Hiking, birding and other recreation activities will be part of the mix after a more detailed study of the land is completed, said the conservancy's Gina Hancock.
"We want to do some more biological surveys and understand the property a little better," she said.
Touched by the East Fork of the Obey, the land includes craggy rock outcroppings, sinks and caves along with the native hardwood forests.
The caves make the land prime real estate for bats. The Eastern big-eared bat and Eastern small-footed bat are among several species that have been found there. This winter, officials say, they expect to find the endangered Indiana bat in hibernation.
One hiker said he was looking forward to having the use of newly protected plateau land. "It's a great area to go camping and hiking, just to get away from the busy part of life," said Pete Broehl of Sparta, a school bus driver and special-education assistant.
"We're losing our forests, especially the older hardwoods."
Developments and strip mining are among the forces eating up the older forests with their tall canopies, and Davis says it's time to act.
"We're lucky in Tennessee," he said. "We have a natural legacy that's still there to be saved. In so many places, it's already gone."
Article
Plateau's 4,200 acres harbor rare bird, bats
By ANNE PAINE
Staff Writer
More than 4,200 mountaintop acres near Pickett State Forest have been purchased by The Nature Conservancy-Tennessee for $4.7 million and could be open for hiking within a year.
The property, on the Cumberland Plateau about two hours northeast of Nashville, is a "hot spot" of significant wildlife habitat, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Re-sources Agency.
It's home to big-toothed aspen and butternut trees, several bat species and the cerulean warbler, a rare songbird that migrates as far as Ecuador and Colombia each year.
The Cumberland Plateau itself, where timber companies and others have been selling off land in recent years, is a focal point of the conservancy's efforts to protect land and water.
"The Nature Conservancy uses a lot of scientific rigor to try to figure out where the most important places biologically are, worldwide," said Scott Davis, state director of TNC-Tennessee.
"The Cumberland Plateau ranks out globally as one of the most important temperate hardwood forests on earth."
The piece of property encompassing Skinner Mountain is one of those areas where native hardwood forests are still standing, he said, offering nesting sites to birds that need deep forest and offering recreation for the public.
Melinda Welton, an orni-thologist, said the purchase would be a boon because it's near other protected public land holdings, providing a wider expanse of forest.
"It's going to be a very important property for a lot of woodland breeding birds that require large forests," she said.
Those birds not only "make the forest musical in spring and summer," but are excellent insect predators, protecting trees, crops and humans, she said. "They're giving us billions of dollars of pest-control services for free," she said.
Among the more than 200,000 acres that the conservancy has helped protect in Tennessee are more than 5,200 in Fentress County, not including this latest buy. Generally, the properties are put into public hands through private-public partnerships.
The nonprofit group, which took out a loan, bought Skinner Mountain from Tower Investments LLC, a California company that had held the property about two years.
Hiking, birding and other recreation activities will be part of the mix after a more detailed study of the land is completed, said the conservancy's Gina Hancock.
"We want to do some more biological surveys and understand the property a little better," she said.
Touched by the East Fork of the Obey, the land includes craggy rock outcroppings, sinks and caves along with the native hardwood forests.
The caves make the land prime real estate for bats. The Eastern big-eared bat and Eastern small-footed bat are among several species that have been found there. This winter, officials say, they expect to find the endangered Indiana bat in hibernation.
One hiker said he was looking forward to having the use of newly protected plateau land. "It's a great area to go camping and hiking, just to get away from the busy part of life," said Pete Broehl of Sparta, a school bus driver and special-education assistant.
"We're losing our forests, especially the older hardwoods."
Developments and strip mining are among the forces eating up the older forests with their tall canopies, and Davis says it's time to act.
"We're lucky in Tennessee," he said. "We have a natural legacy that's still there to be saved. In so many places, it's already gone."
Article
