International Biodiversity Day in the Great Smoky Mountains national parks Twin Creek Center

Tomorrow from 1 pm - 3 pm it's International Biodiversity Day in the Twin Creeks Science Center located in the Cherokee Orchard/Roaring Fork section of the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

The topic of discussion will be about invasive species and what to do about them. The biodiversity of the Great Smoky Mountains national park is amazing but also amazingly fragile when non native plants species be it plant or animal invade the park.

The talk will be given by the Great Smoky Mountains national park vegetation management specialist Kris Johnson who is a true expert in her field and a delight to hear her speak.

Margie Hunter the author of landscaping with the native plants of Tennessee will be also speaking about how to help conserve the parks biodiversity by only working with plants that do not threaten the local ecology.

To me nothing smells better in the spring that fresh honeysuckle blossoms which can perfume the air as you walk or drive by them. Unfortunately this evasive pest is a fast growing vine that chokes out other slower growing native species reducing their numbers and can eventually entirely replace an entire portion of an ecosystem driver a weaker slower growing plant into obscurity if not extinction.

Great Smoky Mountains National Parks New Twin Creeks Science and Education Center Open house

The new Twin Creek Science and educational faculty in the Roaring Fork area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Gatlinburg Tennessee will have an open house December 1st.

Last week Senator Lamar Alexander was a keynote speaker when the environmentally friendly 15,000 square foot facility was officially dedicated and now the public can tour the Twin Creeks Science and Education Center located on Cherokee Orchard Road from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm this Saturday.

Not only is the Twin Creeks Science and Education Center an attractive building featuring a beautiful architectural design that fits perfectly into the landscape of the Smoky Mountains National park, this building features energy and water saving features that should be incorporated into all new commercial and residential buildings.

Water conservation in the Twin Creeks Science and Education Center is accomplished through the use of low-flow plumbing fixtures, waterless urinals and recovering storm water runoff from the building into rock lined holding ponds.

Energy savings are accomplished through building alignment and large strategically placed windows which optimize natural daylight, high-efficiency automatic lighting and the use of both recycled and natural building materials.

It has been proven that incorporating such intelligence into building designs greatly improves the heath and well being as well as the efficiency and productivity of those working within such a facility.

Economically advanced environmentally friendly buildings generally only cost 5% more than their less efficient counterparts and the additional costs are usually recouped in less than 6 years.

The purpose of the Twin Creeks Science and Education Center is to allow the national parks resource mangers and even visiting guest scientists to have an effect place for their continuing studies into the biological inventory of the park under the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory program, a climate-control storage area for the approximately 50,000 plant and insect specimens, and work spaces in order to study the water and air quality for the national park.

The scientific data collected by the park and the subsequent research will be shared with teachers and students in a guest classroom within the Twin Creeks Science and Education Center allowing neighboring communities to share in the findings and to better understand the scientific process.

In a press release the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Dale Ditmanson stated "We are pleased to offer our neighbors a chance to see first hand this unique building and the distinctive elements that make this a showcase for the Park and surrounding communities" and he went on to say "Resource managers will be available to discuss the different office and work stations and our education staff will have hands-on activities highlighting the Parks as Classrooms program for children to participate. The public can also view a variety of exhibits that were prepared to outline the Park's different science initiatives and wildlife and vegetation management programs, as well as explore the chemical lab and natural history specimen collection. Part of the preserved collection includes the extinct passenger pigeon which will be on display,"

Time for a picnic in the Great Smoky Mountains national Park

With the warming Smokies weather, the Great Smoky Mountains national park is about to open some of its picnic areas and starting its spring schedule. While some of the picnic areas such as Cades Cove, Metcalf Bottoms, Chimney Tops, Cosby, Greenbrier, Deep Creek, and Big Creek are open year round, others will be opening on a staggered schedule.

Friday March 9th will see the opening of the Collins Creek Picnic Area and on Sunday March 11th both Heintooga and Look Rock are scheduled to open. If you are looking to use the national parks largest pavilion located in Twin Creeks, you will have to wait until May 1st.

While there are 10 first come first served picnic areas in the Great Smoky Mountains national park, some picnic pavilions can be reserved online. The picnic areas with pavilions that can be reserved are located in Twin Creeks (fee range from $35-$75 depending on the number of people in your party), Collins Creek, Cosby, Deep Creek, and Metcalf Bottoms (all at $20 per pavilion) or Greenbrier (only $10).

To reserve a picnic pavilion on line visit www.Recreation.Gov.