Spelunking the Highlands | Owning the Caves

By AV's Intern Team | February 13, 2013 |

Worley’s Cave: Worthy of Respect and Care By Matt Grimley With my headlight loosely strapped and my boots tightly tied, I walked into the mouth of Worley’s Cave and I realized something: 28 boy scouts. That’s how many boy scouts you shouldn’t have on a caving trip. Still, I enjoyed this pubescent expedition with River…

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On The Fringe of Life

By AV's Intern Team | February 13, 2013 |

A Tour of Appalachia’s Biodiverse Frontier By Molly Moore Crouch Knob in Randolph County, W. Va., might be home to the largest remaining cluster of running buffalo clover in the world. As its name suggests, this particular clover once flourished alongside buffalo, sending “runners” of floral clones across the bison-trodden earth of eastern North America.…

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Emory River System: Beauty and Biodiversity in Peril?

By Molly Moore | February 5, 2009 |
Above, Daddy’s Creek, one of the tributaries to the Obed River, part of the Emory River system. Top inset, the Tennessee Dace, a fish known from the Emory River system.

By Dr. Anna George, Tennessee Aquarium “There is nothing more eloquent in Nature than a mountain stream.” On September 12, 1867, John Muir crossed the Emory River on his 1,000-mile walk to the Gulf of Mexico. He had set out 12 days earlier from Louisville, Kentucky on his expedition south to the Gulf. The Emory…

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