Hello from Sevier County, TN

[jaredownby]

I'm Jared Ownby from Sevierville, TN. I teach Environmental Education in the school system to 4th & 6th graders where I try to inspire the students to enjoy the outdoors—and especially GSMNP!

Jared

[dbhguru]

Jared,

Welcome aboard. We're happy to share information that may aid you in teaching the kids. As a native born southerner, the GSMNP was a favored haunt, and still is. If you look at the long string of posts accessible under North carolina and Tennessee, you'll find a wealth of information about superlative trees in the Park. Many sources focus on the overall biodiversity of the Smokies. You're probably familiar with the group Discover Life in America that has opened our eye to the immense diversity that exists in the Smokies in terms of species. However, few people realize that the cove forests of the Smokies have the highest canopies of all eastern forests. The Smokies have no competitors with respect to the number of height records.

It is a continuing, long term project of the Native Tree Society to measure and document special forests all across the United States. If you have information that you want to present to the children in your classes about special trees, please let us help you. Again, welcome aboard.

Bob