Georgia ForestWatch

https://gafw.org/clean-mountain-streams-zoom-5-7-21/ Join us this Friday @ 2 pm on Zoom! The Forest Service is planning to join us this Friday and we hope you can too!... With a background as a fish biologist, Chattooga River District Ranger Ryan Foote has been supportive of taking a hard look at some of the worst roads on national forest lands. Ranger Ryan will give an update of some challenges he has encountered in maintaining system roads and how we can help efforts to prioritize Forest Service roads. We will also continue building momentum from ongoing clean mountain streams initiatives and announce our partnership with Trout Unlimited in using their Sedimentation Survey! Clean Mountain Streams: Community Science Date: Friday, May 7th, 2021 Time: 2 3 pm Leader(s): Jess Riddle and Ryan Foote Location: Zoom (register to receive link via email) https://gafw.org/clean-mountain-streams-zoom-5-7-21/

Some great films being highlighted in this film festival on the 15th which benefits the headwaters of the Chattahoochee! We are excited to see examples of how we can all be more inclusive in the environmental movement (and as human beings). Get your tickets and have a watch party with these 14 community-selected short films. (And don't forget to share this post far and wide)

Trillium vaseyi

Magnolia fraseri (Mountain Magnolia) blooming around 1300 ft

Join Jess for a stroll through our national forest as he shows the difference between mountain bunchflower, ramps, and Clinton's lily... along with orchids like ladyslipper and showy orchis

A slew of new Georgia champion trees within Chattahoochee National Forest recently added to the Georgia Forestry Commission’s Champion Tree list, 7 found by Cliff Shaw!

Hope you can get out to your national forests soon! It's beautiful. photos by Melanie from: Warwoman Dell to Big Rock with Melanie and Brent 4.5.21

Yellowroot (Xanthorhiza simplicissima) is blooming around 2600ft now. I honestly took more time taking pictures of these tiny flowers than the huge waterfall I was hiking to. Their flowers are easy to miss for some but really fun once you get up close. The plants spread by seeds and rhizome so you’ll find their woody stems poking up in nice groups along sandy stream banks in our forests... and yes, their roots are yellow. Leave a comment if you’ve used this plant for medicinal or coloring uses.

Is anyone else seeing groups of butterflies on the ground and shivering? This might be a group of males collecting sodium to pass on to their lover (crazy adaptation you should google someday) and/or shivering to warm up to crawl or fly. We saw a nice group of native eastern tiger swallowtails and blue butterflies together gathering minerals from the cold water and shivering their way into the air to find the next nectar meal. #alongwithforestmonitoring

Amelanchier arborea (common serviceberry) is a nice native tree bloom to look out for in our forests these days. It likes acidic soils and might be found around rhododendron thickets. Its delicate white petals might be found at your feet after these heavy rains and the bright blooms seem to be floating in the sky before many other trees have there leaves back. Sometimes its bark is confused with hickory when you can’t see its blooms or leaves, so now is the best time to ID them!