Congrats to Izzy and Sarah for all your hard work on this! This is the third publication associated with our long-term forest plots in the Cross Creek Experimental Watershed in Franklin State Forest.

We moved the plant up to the Woods Courtyard and it bloomed for the third time on July 2. Eros made a nice poster to go along with it and hosted lots of tours.

Congrats to JT on his outstanding work on this paper and thanks to Ashley and Skyler for al their hard work as well. This is a 20 year study on the Domain involving many students over the years! It is the first study of its kind to document the population biology and genetics of sassafras. The Domain is host to sassafras clones that are hundreds of years old! Sassafras and hill cane clones speak to the deep-time, ancient nature of the Plateau upland forest on the Domain

Press Release - Research Implications for TN State Forest Managment Tennessee's oak and hickory forests on the Cumberland Plateau are undergoing a significant shift in composition. Nearly fifty years of data from the region show that oak and hickory regeneration has declined. Their seedlings and saplings are increasingly rare, while fast-growing species like red maple are filling the forest floor. A new study by researchers at Tennessee State University and the University

Our paper presenting the results of a 30 year forest dynamics study on the Domain has just been published in the journal Forests. The publication is the third in a series of papers that I have published every 10 years from long-term forest plots in the Dick Cove area. This is the longest running forest research study on the Domain and has provided great insight into how our forests are changing. Lead author is my Post-Bac Fellow, JT Michel C'24.

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Hill cane publication featured in Sewanee news .

Jon Evans and Ashley Morris C’97 (Furman) published a paper in the American Journal of Botany documenting the existence of 1700+ year old hill cane clones on the Domain and in Franklin State Forest. These are the oldest known living organisms in Tennessee. https://www.instagram.com/p/DUQwt7fDeoB/

Jon Evans , JT Michel C’24 and George Burruss C’22 published a paper in the journal Plant Ecology that examined how hurricane disturbance facilitates the invasion of Chinese tallow trees on the Georgia coast. Paper included work from George’s Biology Honors thesis as an Ecology and Biodiversity major. George is currently in medical school at Howard University and JT Michel has been a post-baccalaureate fellow with the Sewanee Herbarium since 2024.

Long-term research at Cross Creek with Sarah Neumann featured in the most recent issue of the Tennessee Conservationist published by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

Our publication: "Hiding in Plain Sight, A New Species of Phacelia of the Southern Appalachian Mountains" featuring our discovery of Phacelia sewaneensis was included in BioOne's curated collection of top and trending research for October.