The public is invited to this closing ceremony to hear what the students have discovered during their participation in the Highlands Field Site program offered by the UNC-CH Institute for the Environment. Eleven students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and one from North Carolina State University participated in the semester-in-residence program that provided hands-on research opportunities in the area. The coursework included mountain biodiversity, landscape analysis (GIS), conservation biology, southern Appalachian culture, and research.

Each student conducted an internship project with a mentor from other local conservation organizations who guided them in their research. This year’s students worked with staff from Coweeta Hydrologic Lab, the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust, Highlands Nature Center, the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee, Mississippi State University, United States Forest Service, and The Wilderness Society. As a group, the students also conducted a “Capstone” research project under the guidance of Steve Foster from Watershed Science Inc. in Franklin, studying the ecology and health of Caney Fork, a tributary to the Tuckasegee River. 

www.highlandsbiological.org or 828.526.2602