Join us for the Redbud Chapter March meeting “The where and why of North Georgia’s
old-growth forests and champion trees,” with Jess Riddle, Executive Director of Georgia ForestWatch.
The forests of today’s North Georgia may seem normal, but a visitor from the 1800s might wonder where all the big trees are. Forest giant champion trees can be found many places outside the confines of old growth forests.
While most surviving old-growth forests in north Georgia do not resemble the stereotypical cathedral groves of giant trees, the easily overlooked stands of weather-beaten trees provide exceptional wildlife habitat, record valuable scientific data, and offer management lessons.
Jess Riddle studied tree climate-growth relationships while earning a MS degree in ecology at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He earned a BS in multidisciplinary plant ecology from Furman University. Since joining Georgia Forest Watch in 2001, he has documented old-growth forests in north Georgia’s Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests and has nominated over 40 Georgia state champion trees. He is the author Georgia’s Mountain Treasures: The Unprotected Wildlands of the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests.