Collaboration Creates Better Science, Healthier Forests at Savannah River Site

AIKEN, S.C. — Research scientists and graduate students from the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL) and program managers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service - Savannah River (USFS-SR) recently gathered to explore efforts to expand collaboration between the two organizations that conduct ecological research and natural resource management on the 310-square-mile Savannah River Site (SRS).

“Our two organizations have long histories working on the SRS and are both heavily involved in the environmental stewardship of the site,” SREL Director Olin “Gene” Rhodes said. “It gives me great pleasure to be involved in working with the management and staff of the USFS-SR to identify how we can collaborate to achieve even more for the public good and find ways to leverage our resources to work together to solve complex natural resource issues on the SRS.”

The history of both groups on the SRS dates to the early 1950s. At that time, the Atomic Energy Commission, a predecessor agency to DOE, invited SREL to conduct a baseline biological inventory on the plants residing on the newly established Savannah River Plant.

The Forest Service was contracted to reforest the newly acquired land. Over the past 70 years, the missions of both teams have expanded and overlapped at times to include a wide range of ecological research and environmental stewardship. A sampling of these efforts includes watershed restoration, wildlife conservation and management, and environmental remediation.

Each organization has a unique role in continuing the legacy of the SRS being designated as the first National Environmental Research Park. Serving as an outdoor laboratory for research to achieve national environmental goals, the park can be used for ecological research, study of the environmental impacts of energy developments, and informing members of the public of environmental and land-use options open to them.

“Working closer with the staff of SREL to share knowledge and resources mutually benefits each of our missions,” said DeVela Clark, SRS forest manager. “It will allow us both to conduct critical environmental research and at the same time implement science based adaptive forest management practices.”

-Contributors: Katrina M. Ford, Joe Orosz