In early May I made the familiar drive east across Tennessee for a week of field work in and around the large Tennessee Valley Authority powerline corridors that cross the surface of the Cumberland Plateau. This work is part of a multi-year study looking at the value of these open rights-of-way to grassland biodiversity, specifically to plants and their insect pollinators.
Project Update: SGI Field Team Finds 16 Rare Plant Species in Tennessee Valley Authority Powerline Corridors on the Cumberland Plateau
The “Plants, Pollinators, and Powerlines” study we are conducting with our partners at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the Mississippi Entomological Museum, and the Electric Power Research Institute was revived in 2021 after being on hiatus in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. I’ve been busy the last month identifying specimens and analyzing botanical data from our 2021 field season.
The Importance of Rights-of-Way to Sun-Loving Grassland Species
The flat to gently rolling surface of the Cumberland Plateau has grasslands, yet they are hard to come by today. Once common and widespread, these formerly open pine and oak savannas, prairies, glades, and acidic open wetlands have largely disappeared, and with them many of the species they supported. For this reason, the Tennessee Valley Authority is working with SGI to support an inventory and assessment of Rights-of-Way (ROWs) in the Cumberland Plateau, and field work began May 2019.