Dead fish in the Stones River

Today I went driving around Rutherford County, Tennessee, to take pictures of the effects of the drought. I stopped by the Stones River National Battlefield and spoke to Terri Hogan, an ecologist for the national park service. Terri told me droughts are certainly bad for farmers and nurseries, but there are good things about the drought as well.

The Stones River National Battlefield has cedar glades:

[...]an endangered ecosystem with the majority having been destroyed or
severely impacted by humans. Globally unique, they are extremely
fragile habitats found primarily in Middle Tennessee and a few other
localities in southeastern United States. They have been viewed
historically as wastelands and yet they support a plant community of
highly specialized species, many of which are found nowhere else in the
world.

Terri told me the drought is actually good for the fragile cedar glades because it thins the cedar saplings, giving the other plants which have adapted to the rocky, no-soil environment a better shot at life.

Cedar glades in the Stones River National Battlefield

Another thing that is doing well during this drought is grasses that are native to Tennessee. The Tennessee Wildlife Association says hay is doing very well this year- small comfort to the farmers, but a good thing nonetheless. Native grasses have been thriving. Unfortunately, invasives like Johnson grass and sericea lespedeza are also thriving in this drought.

Native grasses thriving along side the cut fescue.

There are serious bad effects to the drought, as well, especially for farmers and nursery owners. Tomorrow, a post about the farmers and how the drought has affected them.