Located in eastern Tennessee, near the southern terminus of the Appalachian Mountains, the Cherokee NF contains remarkable biodiversity and is an important recreation asset as well as the source of abundant, clean water for the region's towns and cities. The Nature Conservancy's Katherine Medlock worked with CNF Supervisor Tom Speaks and his staff to convene the 13-member group that came to be known as the Cherokee National Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative Steering Committee. Using a planning process developed by then-Conservancy staffer Greg Low, and Louis Provencher (Chief Scientist, TNC-Nevada Chapter) called Enhanced Conservation Action Planning (eCAP; now termed Landscape Conservation Forecasting − Provencher et al. 2013. Park Science 30: 56-67) and incorporating LANDFIRE models and data, the Committee was able to define what a restored state would look like for each of the nine ecological systems within the National Forest so as to focus efforts to bring ecosystems' current or projected future conditions more in line with pre-European settlement conditions.

Colleagues/team: The Nature Conservancy Fire Learning Network, Geoff Call, Dennis Daniel,  John Gregory, Steve Henson, Josh Kelly, Dwight King, Joe McGuiness, Katherine Medlock, Catherine Murray, Danny Osborne, Terry Porter, Mark Shelley, Parker Street, and theTNC-LANDFIRE Science Team.

Read a feature story about this unique collaboration.

See the YouTube video presentation of the process/collaboration. 

Katherine Medlock writes about Lessons Learned. 

Environmental Assessment: The Cherokee National Forest South Zone Collaborative Group finalized a set of recommendations and sideboards to be used in developing a programmatic environmental assessment for restoration activities.  In addition to drafting a set of recommendations, the group captured their lessons learned in working as a collaborative on the project. For more, contact Katherine Medlock.