Wildlife Photograph

Photo exhibit at Ijams

Saturday August 30, 2008
Showcases some of Smokies many species

 

By Stephen Lyn Bales

Growing up in Gatlinburg with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park less  than a mile from my childhood home, I spent a lot of time wandering aimlessly through the woods especially in and around the foothills of Mt. LeConte, my ancestral homeland. (The home site of my great-grandfather Jim Bales is one of the cabins restored and maintained by the park service on the Cherokee Orchard Motor Nature Trail.)

As you might imagine, I got to know the lush green  environs-its flora and fauna-fairly well. But, as it turns out, there's a difference between knowing something well and knowing it WELL. In this case, I mean thoroughly. I am continually amazed by the wondrous biodiversity being discovered by the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) conducted by Discover Life in America (DLIA).

Discover Life in America (DLIA) is the non-profit organization coordinating the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI)  in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The ATBI seeks to identify every species that exists in the national park. Some scientists estimate that up to 100,000 species live in the park, and as of today a little over 12,000 species have been documented. As of June 2008, DLIA's ATBI program has discovered 877 species new to science and 5,251 species previously not known to inhabit the park.

Former Ijams staff member Todd Witcher is the new executive director of DLIA. He has arranged an exhibit at Ijams of high-resolution scans of some of the insect and plant species found in the park. The photos are large, highly detailed and stunning. We are fortunate to have the photos in the Visitor Center. The exhibit is up through September. The photos are also for sale.

Thanks, Todd.

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