Working to restore one of Appalachia's signature species

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research 1:22 Working to restore one of Appalachia's signature species

By:

Luke Hayes

24 Sep 2025 364

Brenn Kurtz, a graduate student in Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, is leading a research project studying red spruce trees and the impacts of sourcing the tree's seeds from different locations across the south Appalachians and the impacts of different temperature conditions while they are growing.

So basically I'm looking at the capability of red spruce to physiologically and morphologically adapt to a warmer growing environment than it's currently experiencing right now. It's a really interesting species, not only because it's kind of a relic species or kind of a remnant of the older historical like Appalachian forests, but it also acts as a very integral refuge for a lot of different wildlife species. We're trying to see if we can conserve those populations and restore them to what they previously were. There's a few reasons that they are kind of particularly vulnerable. They have a very specific niche. They need cooler, moister environments. Those can only really be found on those high elevation peaks in the southern Appalachians, and they're also very specific in their light requirements. It's little bit of a worry that these species might have that niche taken away from them so that's kind of why we're looking into this to see if there's a certain seed source or a certain kind of treatment that this species could be grown in that would kind of restore them and conserve them in those locations that they're found in the southern Appalachians. We want to see these Sky Islands persist, and not only persist, but thrive in those areas.

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