Finding Bird Nests

Our ongoing exploration of the Tennessee River corridor reveals new wonders each season. The diverse habitats along the river — from bottomland hardwood forests to limestone bluffs — support an extraordinary array of plant and animal species found nowhere else.

The restoration of native warm-season grasses on reclaimed mine lands has created valuable early-successional habitat for grassland birds and pollinators. These restored areas, while different from the original forest, serve important ecological functions and demonstrate that damaged landscapes can be returned to productive natural communities.