TREE FOUNDATION, a non-profit charitable organization

Great Smoky Mountains

Great Smoky Mountains
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Homelands

HEIGHT:

TBD

LENGTH:

TBD

BUILT:

TBD

ENGINEER:

TBD

▸ PLANNING STAGE

Walkway Updates

Exploring the Sacred: New Research on Ethiopian Church Forests – Honors Thesis by Brook Kelela

TREE Foundation Role in The Habitat at Penang Hill

THREAT/OPPORTUNITY

The Great Smoky Mountains are at the epicenter of the Cherokee homeland, where the Cherokee people have stewarded the diverse floral and faunal assemblages inhabiting today’s landscape for millennia. This region is home to the highest biodiversity in the US. Today, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) works to conserve natural resources in the region that continue to be tied to cultural identity and livelihood. Maintaining the health of the region’s forests is an extreme challenge considering threats such as forest conversion and fragmentation, non-native invasive species, and climate change. EBCI lands also receive millions of visitors a year, providing a tremendous educational opportunity to share the Tribe’s vision for conserving the region’s forests and Tribal relationships to biodiversity. In addition, approximately 65-75% of native species in the region have yet to be identified and/or researched by the scientific community.

Priority conservation actions for the EBCI include:

Protecting and restoring terrestrial and aquatic communities
Conducting research and management founded in both western science and traditional ecological knowledge, and
Educating Tribal members and the visiting public.

GOALS

Design, construct, and fund canopy walkway(s) to share the forests’ treasures with the Cherokee community and visiting public
Enrich local knowledge of forest ecosystems, create an associated curriculum for local schools, and maintain traditional Tribal member relationships with forest relatives
Complement ongoing ecotourism efforts that sustain economic development without compromising environmental integrity.

Great Smoky Mountains: a Biodiversity "Hot Spot"

The forests of the southern Appalachians contain the richest biodiversity in all of temperate North America. Upwards of 80,000 species are estimated to inhabit the Great Smoky Mountains with more than 140 endemic species identified to date. For example, the region contains more tree species than all of continental Europe, as well as the highest diversity of salamanders in the world. Many of the mountains’ wild inhabitants are also severely threatened, such as the Northern-long eared bat, Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel, and Rock gnome lichen who depend on intact forest ecosystems. Protecting those creatures which are threatened is crucial.

What is a "Hot Spot"?

A “Hot Spot” is a forest habitat of high biodiversity and critical environmental importance. Unfortunately, many of these ecosystems are threatened by habitat destruction, climate change, and other factors. MISSION GREEN believes that these areas could significantly benefit from a canopy walkway conservation program.