Fall Roan Mountain Naturalists’ Rally September 5 to 7

Story by Kathleen McFadden

For the 46th year, naturalists and those who love nature will gather at Roan Mountain on the weekend after Labor Day—from Friday, September 5, through Sunday, September 7—for the Fall Roan Mountain Naturalists’ Rally.

The fall rally features two speakers, both life members of the Friends of Roan Mountain, who are renowned for their work on the mountain.

On Friday night Ed Schell, who has spent much of his life studying and photographing the Roan, will provide a program at 7:30 p.m. entitled The Roan Highlands. Schell is a graduate of Michigan State University. He worked as a physicist at the Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio and the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. Schell’s photographs of the Potomac region were published in the book Potomac, the Nation’s River. His photographs have also been exhibited in galleries across the country and featured in various magazines, including Natural History and Living Wilderness. Schell’s photographs have also appeared in two books published by National Geographic, and he is a contributing photographer for the book Tennessee, A Homecoming.

In 1985 he received the Nature Conservancy Award for his work on the Tennessee River Gorge Project, and in 1990, he received the prestigious Ansel Adams Award for outstanding conservation photography. In 1991 he received the Stanley Murray Award from the Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, and in 2005 received the James and Edna Potter Conservation Award from the Friends of Roan Mountain. Today he lives in Johnson City, Tenn. and is active in many naturalists’ events and conservation organizations.

On Saturday night, professional botanist Jamey Donaldson will present The Ecology of the Roan Massif at 7:30 p.m. In his presentation Donaldson will describe the 26 globally rare ecosystems found on the Roan Massif—from the balds to the cliff/outcrop communities.

Donaldson earned a BA in philosophy, with minors in biology and English, from St. Andrews Presbyterian College and an MS in biology from ESTU. He has been a professional botanist and a biological consultant since 1992 and has been adjunct curator of the John C. Warden ETSU Herbarium since 1999. Donaldson specializes in rare plants and floristic and ecological inventories in the southern Appalachians.
Donaldson has worked with the Roan Mountain Stewardship Committee and Naturalists’ Rallies since 1994. He teaches a Roan Mountain course for the Smokey Mountain Field School each year in June. Donaldson is currently working on an experimental project using goats, which love blackberry leaves, to rid Jane Bald of the invasive blackberries.

The presentations on Friday and Saturday nights follow all-you-can-eat buffet dinners provided by City Market of Elizabethton at 6:30 p.m. in the Roan Mountain State Park Convention Center. The cost of the buffets is $8.75 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under, but you must make reservations by Wednesday, September 3. Because of the difficulty in predicting the number of walk-ins, the dinners are available by reservation only.

Guided field trip hikes will take place throughout the day Saturday and Sunday, focused on topics as diverse as wildflowers, salamanders, mushrooms, ecology, owls, edible plants and birds. Participants can order a bag lunch for Saturday for $5, but reservations are required.

Admission to both evening programs—not including dinner—and all hikes is $4 for adults. Admission for children and members of the Friends of Roan Mountain is free.

For a full schedule of events and more info, click to friendsofroanmtn.org.
For more information, contact Gary Barrigar at 423-543-7576 or barrigargn@embarqmail.com. To make reservations for meals, contact Anne Whittemore at 423-477-2235 or sondew4annye@embarqmail.com.

Want To Go?

Dates: Friday to Sunday, September 5 to 7
Times: 6:30 p.m. Friday/6:15 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Saturday/6:15 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Sunday
Location: Roan Mountain State Park Convention Center
Cost: $4 for programs and hikes