Alum Ford Campground - Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service)

Alum Ford Campground - Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service): he Sheltowee Trace National Recreational Trail also passes through the campground. The Sheltowee Trace is a 260-mile back country trail through Daniel Boone National Forest, Big South Fork NRRA, and Natural Bridge, Cumberland Falls, & Pickett State Parks in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Knoxville Police Department: Separation of Church and State?

"God's Promises for your Every Need" presented during ROLL CALL.


I guess the KPD is operating under the assumption that there are no atheists in squad cars.


Heaven help us.


Knoxville Police Department:

Today, radio station 106.7 The Light’s Bryan Long and Jonathan Unthank visited roll call where they provided each...

Posted by Knoxville Police Department on Friday, August 14, 2015

Knoxville Police Department's Internet Court of Public Opinion

Timeline Photos - Knoxville Police Department

Suspect Wanted on Attempted Murder Charge ArrestedAfter eluding officers most of the day, Octavious Malone (DOB...

Posted by Knoxville Police Department on Friday, September 4, 2015

Roan Mountain State Park

Roan Mountain Backpacking | RootsRated

Roan Mountain Backpacking | RootsRated:

Whether they’ve donned the Flame Azalea red and rhododendron orange of spring, the 50 shades of green in summer, or their formal winter whites, the balds of the Roan mountain highlands are always impeccably dressed. However, getting a view of them wrapped in their technicolor coat in mid to late October is something every hiker should experience at least once in his/her lifetime.

A Bike Tour of Eastern Kentucky‘s Back Roads - The New York Times

A Bike Tour of Eastern Kentucky‘s Back Roads - The New York Times: ack on my bike, I headed through a route dotted with barns. Slender gaps in the boards of one older barn created a strobe effect as I rode past. Outside another, dozens of goats lounged in the shade, only to scatter as I approached, as had horses earlier in the trip.

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TVA: River Forecast Center

TVA: River Forecast Center: TVA’s River Forecast Center, located in Knoxville, Tenn., is staffed around the clock, 365 days a year. River schedulers continually monitor weather conditions and water quality data, as well as water availability and demand�— all with the goal of routing water through the river system to provide the most public value given changing weather conditions and water needs. Their duties include:
Issuing forecasts of reservoir levels and water releases at TVA dams.
Providing hourly generation schedules for TVA hydroelectric projects, eight projects operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the Cumberland River system, and four reservoirs that make up Alcoa Power’s Tapoco project.
Providing special notifications to the public during flood events.
Evaluating cooling water needs for TVA coal-fired and nuclear plants.
Monitoring water quality conditions below TVA dams so that aeration equipment can be turned on when needed to maintain adequate dissolved-oxygen concentrations.
Serving as the main point of contact in the event of a river system emergency.

Confederate States Army - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Confederate States Army - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Confederate casualty figures also are incomplete and unreliable. The best estimates of the number of deaths of Confederate soldiers are about 94,000 killed or mortally wounded in battle, 164,000 deaths from disease and between 26,000 and 31,000 deaths in Union prison camps. One estimate of Confederate wounded, which is considered incomplete, is 194,026. These numbers do not include men who died from other causes such as accident, which would add several thousand to the death toll.[6]

Infographic: What Do Your Country's Emissions Look Like? | World Resources Institute

Infographic: What Do Your Country's Emissions Look Like? | World Resources Institute

The PRISM Climate and Weather System – An Introduction

The most widely used spatial climate data sets in the United States are those developed by Oregon State
University’s PRISM Climate Group, named for the PRISM climate mapping system. PRISM products are the
official spatial climate data sets of the USDA, and are used by thousands of agencies, universities, and companies
worldwide. Now, PRISM is being put to work to improve the efficiency and integrity of the US crop insurance
program. In this article, we introduce you to the history of climate mapping, how the PRISM weather and climate
mapping system was developed, and how it works.

http://prism.oregonstate.edu/documents/PRISM_history_jun2013.pdf 

Indicator: Forested Wetlands - Index Of Forested Wetland Amphibians - ScienceBase - ScienceBase-Catalog

Indicator: Forested Wetlands - Index Of Forested Wetland Amphibians - ScienceBase - ScienceBase-Catalog

Index of Forested Wetland Amphibians 
This layer is one of the South Atlantic LCC indicators in the forested wetland ecosystem. To read more about the indicators and how they are being used, please visit the indicator page. 

Reason for selection 
Amphibians provide an indicator of the condition and arrangement of embedded isolated wetlands. 

Input Data 
South Atlantic LCC Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Areas (PARCAS).  PARCAs are a nonregulatory designation whose purpose is to raise public awareness and spark voluntary action by landowners and conservation partners to benefit amphibians and/or reptiles. Areas are nominated using scientific criteria and expert review, drawing on the concepts of species rarity, richness, regional responsibility, and landscape integrity. Modeled in part after the Important Bird Areas program developed by BirdLife International, PARCAs are intended to be coordinated nationally but implemented locally at state or regional scales.  Importantly, PARCAs are not designed to compete with existing landscape biodiversity initiatives, but to complement them – providing an additional spatially explicit layer for conservation consideration. 

PARCAs are intended to be established in areas: 
- capable of supporting viable amphibian and reptile populations 
- occupied by rare, imperiled, or at-risk species, and 
- rich in species diversity or endemism 

There are four major steps in implementation: 
1. Regional PARC task teams or state experts can use the criteria and modify them when appropriate, to designate potential PARCAs in their area of interest. 
2. Following the identification of all potential PARCAs, the group then reduces these to a final set of exceptional sites that best represent the area of interest. 
3. Experts and stakeholders in the area of interest collaborate to produce a map that identifies these peer-reviewed PARCAs. 
4. Final PARCAs are shared with the community to encourage the implementation of voluntary habitat management and conservation efforts. PARCA boundaries can be updated as needed. 

Mapping Steps 
PARCA areas were clipped to Forested Wetlands (NLCD 2011) 

GIS Processing 
All indicators were initially computed, or in the case of existing data, were resampled to 1 ha spatial resolution using the nearest neighbor method. For computational reasons, we then used the Spatial Analyst aggregate function to rescale the resolution to 200 m. The aggregate function avoided loss of detail by taking the maximum value of each cell in the conversion (e.g., species presence). 

Literature Cited 
Sutherland and deMaynadier. 2012. Model Criteria and Implementation Guidance for a Priority Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Area (PARCA) System in the USA. Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, Technical Publication PARCA-1. 28 pp.

Management of Lonicera spp. (Exotic bush honeysuckles)

SHRUB
Helpful Hints: Long used as a landscaping plant, bush honeysuckles have escaped and now
form thickets along stream banks, in edge areas, and in open or shaded woods. Stems have
rough vertical ridges and are hollow. Leaves stay green into late fall and begin to show new
growth in very early spring. They put out large clusters of red berries from mid-summer to
early fall, depending on species.
Mechanical: Pulling seedlings or small plants can be useful for light infestations.
• In shaded woodlands, where the plants are somewhat less resilient, repeated cutting to the
ground during the growing season may result in high mortality.
• Cutting must be repeated at least once during the year to prevent regeneration of stands
that are denser than the original.
Chemical: Chemical control may be most effective with glyphosate. Initiate control prior to
seed dispersal (late summer to early fall).
Cut stem treatment
• Cut all stems to ground level and apply glyphosate @ 25% (e.g., Roundup Pro).
• Natural Resources staff members have had success with the ready-to-use triclopyr
product Pathfinder II.Foliar spray
• Since bush honeysuckles have single or clustered central stems, and can be easily treated
using the cut stem method, NRS does not recommended foliar applications.



Glyphosate w/o
surfactant



Rodeo
Dow AgroSciences
53.8% active ingredient
Aqua Neat
Riverdale
53.8% active ingredient

Obtaining stock plant material (Giant Rivercane)

Materials and Methods

To obtain the quantities of rhizome sections necessary, clumps of rivercane were excavated

from existing canebrakes in north Mississippi and Tennessee and placed in a length

of PolypipeH (Chicot Irrigation, Lake Village
Arkansas) sealed at both ends. PolypipeH is a
large diameter (40.6–61 cm dia) thick wall (20
mil), flexible white plastic tube. Its primary
use is as single-season, disposable pipe for
furrow irrigation. Embolism and transpirational
loss was prevented by placing the dug
clumps of rivercane, with soil intact, into the
PolypipeH tube with about 1 liter water and
immediately tying off the ends after digging.
By trial and error, the authors determined
that digging a clump of 3–5 culms approximately
1–2 years old (unbranched or a single
branch) gives the best success (data not
shown). The authors have achieved a 96.3%
success rate using this technique for culms of
all ages, and 100% success rate for 1–2 year
old culm groups. The clumps of rivercane in
PolypipeH tubes are placed in deep shade
(50% light reduction) and suspended from the
distal end, where they remain sealed for six
weeks. After six weeks, the clumps are
removed from the PolypipeH tube, and planted
in half sand - half native soil (v:v) in liner
pots (35 dia 3 24 cm deep). The rivercane is
then watered well and placed into socket pots
(36 dia 3 30 cm deep) that are already sunk
to ground level. This plant maintenance
technique is known to horticulturalists as
pot-in-pot (Bilderback 2008). By placing the
slightly smaller liner pot into the socket pot,
the plants are easily accessible for subsequent
rhizome harvest and are protected from
temperature extremes which can be fatal to
developing rhizomes. Daily irrigation was
provided by a battery powered solenoid timer
set to deliver water for 5 mins (6.2 liters)
through a drip line fitted with a weighted
spaghetti tube.



http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.2179/08-042R2.1

Turning Deadwood into Homes for Wildlife - National Wildlife Federation

Turning Deadwood into Homes for Wildlife - National Wildlife Federation:

 If your backyard space is measured in yards rather than acres, you can erect a stack of logs or a brush pile to attract wildlife. Woodpeckers and songbirds will alight on a pile of unsplit logs, and overwintering butterflies will also take refuge in the chinks and cracks. Brush piles can also provide homes for many small animals. As the brush piles or logs break down into rotting wood, they attract more insects as well as amphibians and reptiles.

To create brush piles, crisscross tree thinnings or build them over a tree stump or discarded Christmas evergreen. If possible, stack them loosely about 6 feet high and 10 feet wide, so that birds can take cover within the pile. Birds inside or on top of the pile will leave droppings containing berry, grass and wildflower seeds. These little packages of moist fertilizer and seeds readily sprout and eventually produce a thicket of woody shrubs and vines. As the brush pile rots, the thicket will remain a refuge for wildlife.

Biodiversity and national parks: What’s relevance got to do with it?

One needs only see the light of dis
covery in a child’s eyes at a park bioblitz
to become a believer in the value of living
nature. Such transformative experiences of discovery can be tightly coupled with
the diversity of life that has been entrusted
to the National Park Service.

We suggest that public education and
involvement in biodiversity discovery at
our national parks are vital to conserving
our national biodiversity for the future.
Biodiversity discovery in national parks, for
example via a public bioblitz, has proven to
generate transformative visitor experiences
that both educate and inspire through
direct public involvement in the discov
ery of living organisms in the parks, of
which it is estimated that 80–90% remain
unknown.



Because biodiversity discovery
activities often require only excited minds
and willing hands, they appeal to children
and nonscientists as much as they do to
experts in the subject matter.



http://www.nature.nps.gov/ParkScience/Archive/PDF/Article_PDFs/ParkScience31(1)SpecialIssue2014_14-16_Plumb_et_al_3776.pdf



Also see:

http://www.nature.nps.gov/ParkScience/Archive/PDF/Article_PDFs/ParkScience31(1)SpecialIssue2014_50-57_Interviews_3790.pdf

Eastern Gartersnake

Eastern Gartersnake: REPRODUCTION: This snake will mate on the 1st warm day after their emergence in spring. The young are born alive in late July or early August *1008,1101*. They have 7-101 young/litter *1104*, which are 5-9 inches long at birth *882*. A single female may be courted by many males at the same time, forming a "mating ball". The estimated age at maturity for females in Kansas is 2 years. Mitchell reports litter size to be between 9-57 (avg. = 26.2 /-16.8, n=22).*10760*

BEHAVIOR: This species is diurnal, becoming nocturnal in hot weather *2065*. It hibernates in November *2068,1008*, through March *2068*, in rocky outcrops with deep crevices or rotting stumps *2068*. The activity range is 2-3 acres, estimated. 482 garter snakes are estimated to inhabit a 48-acre study area *2070*. This species has a preference for damp habitat *2064,1008,883*, although it occurs in a wide variety of habitats *883,2064,1013* including the edges of waterways *882,1101*, meadows, marshes, woodlands, hillsides *882*, weedy or brushy areas and old fields *1013*. They are also in waste places in cities *1013*, and in city lots and dumps where there is moisture, or at least dampness *882*. A Kansas population experienced 36% first-year survival rate, a 50% adult annual survival rate, and an estimated natural longevity of 8 years.*10760* Thamnophis sirtalis will often flatten its head and anterior body and strike if molested. Juveniles especially will perform this behavior and will strike so forcefully that they may completely leave the ground. Adults will also spray musk from glands located at the base of the tail, and sometimes emit feces in attempts to discourage predators.*10760* Thorp has found this species in its natural habitats as well as on roads and under coverboards *11523*.

Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Amphibia

Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Amphibia: AMPHIBIAN CWCS SPECIES (25 SPECIES)
Common Name Scientific name
Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamander Desmognathus ochrophaeus
Barking Treefrog Hyla gratiosa
Bird-voiced Treefrog Hyla avivoca
Black Mountain Salamander Desmognathus welteri
Cumberland Plateau Salamander Plethodon kentucki
Eastern Hellbender Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis
Eastern Spadefoot Scaphiopus holbrookii
Four-toed Salamander Hemidactylium scutatum
Gray Treefrog Hyla versicolor
Green Salamander Aneides aeneus
Green Treefrog Hyla cinerea
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Mole Salamander Ambystoma talpoideum
Northern Crawfish Frog Rana areolata circulosa
Northern Dusky Salamander Desmognathus fuscus
Northern Leopard Frog Rana pipiens
Redback Salamander Plethodon cinereus
Southern Leopard Frog Rana sphenocephala
Southern Zigzag Salamander Plethodon ventralis
Spotted Dusky Salamander Desmognathus conanti
Streamside Salamander Ambystoma barbouri
Three-lined Salamander Eurycea guttolineata
Three-toed Amphiuma Amphiuma tridactylum
Wehrle's Salamander Plethodon wehrlei
Western Lesser Siren Siren intermedia nettingi
Wood Frog Rana sylvatica

Southern Zigzag Salamander

Southern Zigzag Salamander: REPRODUCTION: Females deposit eggs shortly after moving to underground retreats in late spring or early summer. Eggs are attached within cave formations by sticky membranes. Incubation is about 3 months. Average clutch size is approximately 5 ova.*11305* Habitat: Talus slopes are very important to this species as well as rock crevices that provide access to deep underground passages. This may be important for overwintering.*11305*