Spruce-fir Habitat Restoration Continues
Science-based habitat management forms the core of SAHC’s Roan Stewardship program. Student researchers and volunteers in 2025 assisted in a new phase of red spruce habitat restoration on SAHC-protected land, continuing a project we conducted in 2021.
Spruce Habitat Restoration
Roan Stewardship Technician Travis Bordley led a group of students from Mars Hill College on a research field visit to the Highlands of Roan in April 2025. Dr. Laura Boggess and her students assisted with a follow-up work day continuing our 2021 red spruce habitat restoration project.
“SAHC has been partnering with Mars Hill environmental science students since 2017,” says Travis. “For years we have worked closely with Dr. Laura Boggess to find service projects that best match what her students are studying in the classroom, from planting red spruce trees to Golden-winged Warbler habitat management. It has been remarkable and heartwarming to witness the joy getting outside and learning outside of the classroom brings to the next generation of environmentalists. This year their service project was to collect data and plant red spruce saplings on an SAHC preserve near Grassy Ridge. This property is an ideal location to help expand the red spruce and Fraser fir forest habitat in the Highlands of Roan, which currently occupies a fraction of its historic range. Thanks to help from numerous volunteers and these students from Mars Hill, we are one step closer to restoring this endemic forest ecosystem.”
The students counted trees, measured growth, looked for predation, and cut back beech suckers that were shading seedlings. They planted 100 new red spruce seedlings provided by Dave Saville in areas that were missing trees. Following the research and work period, Travis led the students on a hike to Round Bald so they could enjoy the natural splendor of the Roan Highlands.
Thank you to all SAHC members for helping to support ongoing habitat management and future conservationists! Group research projects like this – paired with SAHC’s real-world habitat conservation efforts – create unique opportunities for students to learn while assisting with tree planting and habitat management.
“Seeing this restoration work continuing to progress on SAHC’s preserves adjoining national forest land in the Highlands of Roan is heartening, especially in light of the devastating blowdown in mature spruce-fir stands around Carvers Gap,” says Roan Stewardship Director Marquette Crockett. “Hurricane Helene brought down large mature trees, particularly around the upper elevations of the Roan Massif and the Cloudland/Roan Mountain Day Use Area. The U.S. Forest Service is in the process of removing debris and fallen trees in from these globally rare ecosystems, in order to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire.”
