Gary Kauffman
The Environmental and Plant Biology Colloquium Series presents Gary Kauffman on “Botany and Ecology work across four diverse National Forests in North Carolina” on Friday, Oct. 18, at 11:50 a.m. in Porter 104.
Kauffman, a botanist with the USDA Forest Service, will speak about the botany and ecology work across four diverse National Forests in North Carolina. The National Forests in North Carolina spans 1.3 million acres across four national forests from the East Coast on the Croatan National Forest near sea level west to more than 6,000 feet on the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forest.
Over 3000 vascular plants, 500 mosses, 250 liverworts, and 900 lichens have been documented across these areas. Various endemic and critically rare habitats occur within these forests. I will discuss the role of a botanist or ecologist working in these diverse ecosystems both for project-level review and forest level analysis for stresses and threats. There will be a discussion of forest botanical products and developing models for important tools such as common plant communities, their natural range of variation, fire prioritization, and impacted species. I will discuss the continual critical need for botany and plant ecology expertise for all national forests and skills for successful candidates.
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