When you own the watershed: Developing opportunity for undergraduate education and research through conservation planning at Sewanee

Located on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, the Sewanee campus is wholly dependent upon ecosystem services of its 13,000 acres.  Forested watersheds on this “rooftop” of sandstone provide drinking water, receive urban and suburban runoff, and spill over bluffs into protected old-growth stands on the University’s cove forests.   A documented history of extractive use extends to the 1860s. Chance and geomorphology have preserved unique natural resources for study, recreation, and contemplation, while current and historic limits of water atop the Plateau presents students with opportunity to incorporate sustainability and environmental stewardship goals into land use planning for climate uncertainty.