Collaboration

Enabling professors, researchers, land managers, biologists, and contractors to work together to conserve bogs.

Instilling confidence, furthering knowledge, creating, innovating, and improving outcomes

Providing land managers the support they need to think big and take chances and using our collective knowledge to protect our wetlands.

Preserving biodiversity by stewarding rare & unique wetlands

Bogs contribute to the southern Appalachians tremendous biodiversity.  Where we find ecologically intact wetlands, we prioritize protection.  Where sites are compromised, we work to restore conditions where possible and foster site resilience to future threats.

Applied Conservation

The challenge of protecting southern Appalachian ecosystems and the services they provide – clean water, nutrient sequestration, habitat and biodiversity – can best be addressed by combining the knowledge, skills, and expertise of academia with the real world challenges of land managers for the benefit of this diverse landscape.

Adaptive Management

Integrating design, management, and monitoring to test assumptions in order to adapt and learn; hypothesizing “how bogs work,” monitoring results from management decisions, comparing with expectations and modifying management to achieve objectives through improved understanding of ecological processes.

The Bog Learning Network (BLN) helps conserve the natural heritage of our montane wetlands; we envision ecologically-intact wetlands across the southern Appalachians.

BLN is a consortium of scientists and land managers working to advance the restoration and management of Southern Appalachian Bogs.

BLN provides a forum for sharing information and experiences about bog management and conservation. It also helps bog managers find important information, determine resource needs, and helps find ways to meet those needs.

BLN is led by a steering committee, currently:

• Carrie Radcliffe, Southeastern Center for Conservation at Atlanta Botanical Garden (Chair)
• Sheryl Bryan, US Forest Service
• Bob Gale, MountainTrue
• Gabrielle Graeter, NC Wildlife Resources Commission
• Jennifer Lamb, The Nature Conservancy NC
• Claiborne Woodall, Virginia Natural Heritage Program
• Adam Warwick, The Nature Conservancy NC
• Jeff Wilcox, University of North Carolina- Asheville

(as of June 2021)