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Comparing Mussels: Staff from the Asheville Field Office have spent the summer of 2018 working with University of North Carolina-Asheville student Brittany Barker-Jones on efforts to advance conservation of the French Broad River. Brittany is one of this year’s five McCullough Fellows, a UNCA program that connects undergraduate researchers with area organizations, people, and places to work on a project in one or more of these areas: land use and conservation; urban planning; sustainable agriculture; resilience and environmental sustainability.This year’s class of McCullough fellows recently joined Service biologist Jason Mays at the Little River in North Carolina’s Transylvania County to snorkel for mussels. The students were able to see all four native mussel species found in the river – the federally-endangered Appalachian elktoe (Alasmidonta raveneliana), longsolid (Fusconaia subrotunda), creeper (Strophitus undulatus), and slippershell mussel (Alasmidonta viridis).Credit: G. Peeples/USFWS

Baby Turtle Season: Baby turtle season is on in the Southern US, drive slowly! Most turtles dig nests, lay eggs, and then cover them back up to let them incubate on their own. When babies hatch, they instinctively look for the nearest body of water. Sometimes, that means they have to cross roads. As spring progresses, turtle hatchings will occur further and further north, so no matter where you live, it's important to keep an eye out for wildlife.Photo: David Ortega

LP Members: A role of the Appalachian LCC community -- representing scientists and natural and cultural resource managers from federal and state agencies, non-profit organizations, and tribal government representatives -- is to help coordinate and plan conservation actions at a landscape level. Based on guidance from this conservation community, the LCC staff and partners are identifying and concentrating their efforts in working with interested partners in "focal areas." These initial areas of collaborative planning and coordinated action represent conservation zones -- identified through our Landscape Conservation Design modeling effort -- that offer conservation opportunities for long-term protection of immense and unique biodiversity by maintaining connectivity among natural lands and functioning ecosystems. Such strategic planning and collaboration will help address environmental threats that are beyond the ability of any one organization to tackle and lead to the protection of valued natural and cultural resources and continued delivery of environmental benefits to surrounding human communities across the Appalachians and its western river basin.

Community Foundational Maps: This collection contains maps which have been produced to support partners using foundational data.

Community GIS Mapping Activity: These include collaborators, partners, and other LCCs

NUOnet (Nutrient Use and Outcome Network) database: NUOnet Vision: Efficient use of nutrients to optimize production and product quality of food for animals and humans, fuel and fiber in a sustainable manner that contributes to ecosystem services.

GRACEnet (Greenhouse gas Reduction through Agricultural Carbon Enhancement network): GRACEnet (Greenhouse gas Reduction through Agricultural Carbon Enhancement network) is a research program initiated in the early 2000s . Goals are to better quantify greenhouse gas GHG emissions from cropped and grazed soils under current management practices and to identify and further develop improved management practices that will enhance carbon (C) sequestration in soils, decrease GHG emissions, promote sustainability and provide a sound scientific basis for carbon credits and GHG trading programs.

STEWARDS - A data delivery application for the USDA/ARS Conservation Effects Assessment Project: A data delivery application that provides web-based access to of soil, water, climate, land management, and geospatial data produced by Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) watershed research sites across the United States.

AgAR (Agricultural Antibiotic Resistance): An Environmental Component of a "One Health" approach, the mission of the Agricultural Antibiotic Resistance (AgAR) project is to: develop practical tools and protocols to measure antibiotic drugs, resistant bacteria and resistance genes in agriculturally-impacted soil, water, air, and food; design and evaluate agricultural best management practices to limit the persistence and spread of antibiotic resistance from agroecosystems; and facilitate sharing of ideas and resources among ARS scientists by establishing an agency-wide network of researchers with the common goal of conducting science-based research on AgAR topics.

USDA Long-Term Agroecosystem Research Network: The Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) Network is a new network developing national strategies for the sustainable intensification of agricultural production.

USDA Regional Biomass Research Centers (RBRC): This USDA-led effort (RBRC), which is coordinated by ARS and the U.S. Forest Service, is tasked with ensuring that dependable feedstock supplies use agricultural and forestry feedstocks to produce advanced biofuels that meet legislated goals and market demand, and maximizing participation of U.S. rural areas in an emerging and profitable biofuels and biobased products economy.

USDA Agricultural Research Service National Programs: ARS research is organized into National Programs. These programs serve to bring coordination, communication, and empowerment to approximately 690 research projects carried out by ARS. The National Programs focus on the relevance, impact, and quality of ARS research.