“An Overview of Water Quality in Macon County Mountain Streams”
with Jason Love
On Monday, September 16 at 6:30pm, the series “Where We Live: History, Nature, and Culture” will present a program on our exceptional mountain streams and rivers.
The southern Appalachian Mountains act as “water towers” for the Southeast. Our Macon County streams, arising from the mountains, provide drinking water not only for Franklin, but also major cities located 100s of miles downstream. These same streams nurture incredible biodiversity, provide outstanding recreational opportunities from canoeing to fishing, are a major feature of the natural beauty here, and a strong attraction for visitors to our region. This presentation will look at the threats to water quality in Macon County as well as ways landowners and citizens can act as stewards of their streams.
Speaker Jason Love is the Associate Director of the Highlands Biological Station, Western Carolina University. He was born in the suburbs of Roswell, Georgia (just north of Atlanta) where he witnessed first-hand the streams he fished become degraded and woods he wandered become strip malls and parking lots. This spurred him to pursue a career in conservation.
Jason received a B.S. in Forest Resources from the University of Georgia and his M.S. at West Virginia University in Fisheries and Wildlife Resources.He has worked in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as an environmental educator and as the Site Manager of the Coweeta Long-Term Ecological Research program at Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, working with dozens of scientists and graduate students on research projects, many of which dealt with water quality in Macon County. Since 2019, at Highlands Biological Station, he and his collaborators have been studying microplastics in the Little Tennessee watershed and assessing the biodiversity of degraded and intact wetlands along floodplains of the Little Tennessee River.
The program will be held at Cowee School Arts and Heritage center at 51 Cowee School Drive in Franklin at 6:30 pm. The series is designed to give people an opportunity to learn more about our local area, from many different angles, and to enjoy a pleasant, informative evening together. Come join us!