Wally Smith
@wsmith1.bsky.social
Conservation Biologist and Associate Professor at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise; herp nerd and occasional poet exploring the edges of people, ecology, and place. Current VP for Southwest Virginia’s The Clinch Coalition.
"AI is the future & a wonderful tool. We must embrace it" -every higher ed admin I've heard in a meeting over the last year.
Meanwhile, here's Adobe's AI summarizing a plot showing trends in animal movements in response to precip in a grant report I'm prepping this morning. The future, everyone. 🙃
Meanwhile, here's Adobe's AI summarizing a plot showing trends in animal movements in response to precip in a grant report I'm prepping this morning. The future, everyone. 🙃
October 31, 2025 at 2:48 PM
"AI is the future & a wonderful tool. We must embrace it" -every higher ed admin I've heard in a meeting over the last year.
Meanwhile, here's Adobe's AI summarizing a plot showing trends in animal movements in response to precip in a grant report I'm prepping this morning. The future, everyone. 🙃
Meanwhile, here's Adobe's AI summarizing a plot showing trends in animal movements in response to precip in a grant report I'm prepping this morning. The future, everyone. 🙃
Beautiful fall day on the mountain above campus for some geoecology work as part of our USFWS-funded project on Plethodon pauleyi. Easy to forget how spoiled we are having field sites like this just a 15 min drive from the classroom door. One of many reasons why I love working in “far” SWVA.
October 15, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Beautiful fall day on the mountain above campus for some geoecology work as part of our USFWS-funded project on Plethodon pauleyi. Easy to forget how spoiled we are having field sites like this just a 15 min drive from the classroom door. One of many reasons why I love working in “far” SWVA.
The official USFS website right now is...something. Can't recall ever seeing the use of official govt resources for openly partisan objectives like I'm seeing today.
October 1, 2025 at 4:49 PM
The official USFS website right now is...something. Can't recall ever seeing the use of official govt resources for openly partisan objectives like I'm seeing today.
We've also translated our work into BMPs for mineland mgmt & reuse projects. These are critical as everyone - from conservative politicians to green groups - (inaccurately) sells old mines in #Appalachia as zero-cost sites for solar, data centers, nuke plants, & more. See: bit/ly/GrowingSm...
September 23, 2025 at 8:15 PM
We've also translated our work into BMPs for mineland mgmt & reuse projects. These are critical as everyone - from conservative politicians to green groups - (inaccurately) sells old mines in #Appalachia as zero-cost sites for solar, data centers, nuke plants, & more. See: bit/ly/GrowingSm...
Our lab's latest paper reports some good news from the Virginia coalfields: Spotted #Salamanders love colonizing incidental wetlands formed on old coal mines, & now we know a little more about how & why (& which wetlands matter most). Full-text available here: digitalcommons.odu.edu/vjs/vol76/is...
September 23, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Our lab's latest paper reports some good news from the Virginia coalfields: Spotted #Salamanders love colonizing incidental wetlands formed on old coal mines, & now we know a little more about how & why (& which wetlands matter most). Full-text available here: digitalcommons.odu.edu/vjs/vol76/is...
Found this momma ’mander & baby ’manders on land wrecked by past surface mining & logging above Dante, VA today. A reminder that the phrase ”Who cares? It’s just an old surface mine” minimizes natural treasures like these that deserve our respect (& more thoughtful planning for post-mining land use)
August 6, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Found this momma ’mander & baby ’manders on land wrecked by past surface mining & logging above Dante, VA today. A reminder that the phrase ”Who cares? It’s just an old surface mine” minimizes natural treasures like these that deserve our respect (& more thoughtful planning for post-mining land use)
This situation is precisely what a number of us warned about when TNC bought 250,000 acres of the coalfields to “protect” them, w/o purchasing the underlying mineral rights. Now a portion of that for-profit carbon offset project is getting surface-mined with minimal environmental assessment.
July 21, 2025 at 4:49 PM
This situation is precisely what a number of us warned about when TNC bought 250,000 acres of the coalfields to “protect” them, w/o purchasing the underlying mineral rights. Now a portion of that for-profit carbon offset project is getting surface-mined with minimal environmental assessment.
Because you probably need a timeline cleanse right now, here’s some good news: we surpassed 5 new Virginia populations of Plethodon pauleyi this week for our lab’s new USFWS-funded project. It’s beginning to look like this ESA-petitioned species is (thankfully) much more common than we’d assumed.
June 10, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Because you probably need a timeline cleanse right now, here’s some good news: we surpassed 5 new Virginia populations of Plethodon pauleyi this week for our lab’s new USFWS-funded project. It’s beginning to look like this ESA-petitioned species is (thankfully) much more common than we’d assumed.
I’ve heard the same argument - that dredging is a quick fix to stop flooding in #Appalachia - from local govt officials in recent meetings here in SW Virginia, just across the border from eastern KY. In reality, stream dredging makes flooding worse (see: www.kymitigation.org/wp-content/u...).
May 31, 2025 at 11:11 PM
I’ve heard the same argument - that dredging is a quick fix to stop flooding in #Appalachia - from local govt officials in recent meetings here in SW Virginia, just across the border from eastern KY. In reality, stream dredging makes flooding worse (see: www.kymitigation.org/wp-content/u...).
“Life’s hard, man. Like, have you ever been tryin’ to get it on with your lady in a mud puddle and some guy just swims over and sits there, watching you doin’ it, and won’t leave? Some days are like that, man.”
May 21, 2025 at 11:08 PM
“Life’s hard, man. Like, have you ever been tryin’ to get it on with your lady in a mud puddle and some guy just swims over and sits there, watching you doin’ it, and won’t leave? Some days are like that, man.”
Here comes Brood XIV of Periodical Cicadas, which are emerging from the soil in huge numbers here at the house this evening after 17 yrs belowground. Ready for the squealin’ to commence.
May 12, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Here comes Brood XIV of Periodical Cicadas, which are emerging from the soil in huge numbers here at the house this evening after 17 yrs belowground. Ready for the squealin’ to commence.
Gorgeous spring hike in the Jefferson NF here in Wise County today. Visible in the background (L side of image) is Brumley Mtn, with Holston Mtn and the Iron Mtns near Damascus, VA & the NC line visible on the far horizon.
May 11, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Gorgeous spring hike in the Jefferson NF here in Wise County today. Visible in the background (L side of image) is Brumley Mtn, with Holston Mtn and the Iron Mtns near Damascus, VA & the NC line visible on the far horizon.
Excited to launch a new State Wildlife Grant on the newly-described Plethodon pauleyi. An impressive undergrad team’s habitat analysis from last fall is helping us locate new pops of this enigmatic species, w/ almost 20% of all of Virginia’s known individuals of the species recorded in the last week
May 9, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Excited to launch a new State Wildlife Grant on the newly-described Plethodon pauleyi. An impressive undergrad team’s habitat analysis from last fall is helping us locate new pops of this enigmatic species, w/ almost 20% of all of Virginia’s known individuals of the species recorded in the last week
A moment of zen as spring comes to the highcountry at one of our wetland field sites this afternoon.
April 27, 2025 at 9:37 PM
A moment of zen as spring comes to the highcountry at one of our wetland field sites this afternoon.
The last thing our streams in #Appalachia need post-Helene, esp on “conservation” lands. View last weekend from East TN’s Doe Mtn - a Nature Conservancy-linked property - of a streambed excavated & turned into an ATV trail. In the Watauga River drainage, which is struggling to recover post-Helene.
April 18, 2025 at 12:52 PM
The last thing our streams in #Appalachia need post-Helene, esp on “conservation” lands. View last weekend from East TN’s Doe Mtn - a Nature Conservancy-linked property - of a streambed excavated & turned into an ATV trail. In the Watauga River drainage, which is struggling to recover post-Helene.
The original plans for my annual Nat Hist of the Appalachians course fieldtrip got scuttled by 12 degree wind chills at Grayson Highlands this morning, so we stayed local for work on our project on climate resilience in D. ochrophaeus instead. Hiking thru a rime forest on the way out was a bonus.
April 12, 2025 at 7:06 PM
The original plans for my annual Nat Hist of the Appalachians course fieldtrip got scuttled by 12 degree wind chills at Grayson Highlands this morning, so we stayed local for work on our project on climate resilience in D. ochrophaeus instead. Hiking thru a rime forest on the way out was a bonus.
Sure, you think you’re hot stuff. But you’ll never be ravine-salamander-posing-for-a-glam-session levels of fabulous, no matter how hard you try.
March 23, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Sure, you think you’re hot stuff. But you’ll never be ravine-salamander-posing-for-a-glam-session levels of fabulous, no matter how hard you try.
And a few more views here, including a shot of the head of the Buffalo Valley along I-26 in Erwin, which saw catastrophic flooding during Helene. That area sticks out like a sore thumb now, even from 2000+ feet up.
March 23, 2025 at 12:35 AM
And a few more views here, including a shot of the head of the Buffalo Valley along I-26 in Erwin, which saw catastrophic flooding during Helene. That area sticks out like a sore thumb now, even from 2000+ feet up.
Much-needed solo seven-miler on the AT today in the Unaka Mtn Wilderness. Equal parts fascinating & awful to see both the wind damage from Helene & scars of flooding along the Nolichucky in Poplar, NC from way up on the ridge.
March 23, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Much-needed solo seven-miler on the AT today in the Unaka Mtn Wilderness. Equal parts fascinating & awful to see both the wind damage from Helene & scars of flooding along the Nolichucky in Poplar, NC from way up on the ridge.
Fieldwork in the Jefferson Natl Forest took 3x as long as normal today since it involved some borderline unsafe scrambles over trails/roads still blocked by debris from Helene. So grateful the govt is mass firing USFS staff tasked w/ storm recovery (in case it’s not obvious, this is sarcasm).
March 2, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Fieldwork in the Jefferson Natl Forest took 3x as long as normal today since it involved some borderline unsafe scrambles over trails/roads still blocked by debris from Helene. So grateful the govt is mass firing USFS staff tasked w/ storm recovery (in case it’s not obvious, this is sarcasm).
Excited to publish the 1st review article covering the abundance-biomass comparison method w/ @oxunipress.bsky.social today: www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/docu...
Minor news given the dire present state of US science, but disturbance impacts will likely be a big topic here in the coming yrs…
Minor news given the dire present state of US science, but disturbance impacts will likely be a big topic here in the coming yrs…
February 20, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Excited to publish the 1st review article covering the abundance-biomass comparison method w/ @oxunipress.bsky.social today: www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/docu...
Minor news given the dire present state of US science, but disturbance impacts will likely be a big topic here in the coming yrs…
Minor news given the dire present state of US science, but disturbance impacts will likely be a big topic here in the coming yrs…
So much water coming off of the Cumberland Mountains today. A few views of Wise Co., Virginia’s Guest River as it drops nearly 500 vertical feet through the Jefferson Natl Forest in just five miles to meet the Clinch River in the Valley & Ridge Province.
February 16, 2025 at 10:54 PM
So much water coming off of the Cumberland Mountains today. A few views of Wise Co., Virginia’s Guest River as it drops nearly 500 vertical feet through the Jefferson Natl Forest in just five miles to meet the Clinch River in the Valley & Ridge Province.
Many parts of #Appalachia are seeing more extreme rainfall now, as these data from our campus wx station show. A prelim analysis from a broader project, but the trends are clear. Unofficial local totals from today’s flood are nearly 3”, which is above the current decade’s avg wettest day of the year
February 16, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Many parts of #Appalachia are seeing more extreme rainfall now, as these data from our campus wx station show. A prelim analysis from a broader project, but the trends are clear. Unofficial local totals from today’s flood are nearly 3”, which is above the current decade’s avg wettest day of the year
It’s flooding (again) today in #Appalachia. As the new admin shuts down fed-supported climate science, here’s a reminder that extreme rainfall is ⬆️ regionwide, incl on our campus, where the annual highest daily rainfall is up 25% since the ‘80s.
(Graphed: local NWS data, w/ recent floods shown.)
(Graphed: local NWS data, w/ recent floods shown.)
January 31, 2025 at 10:59 PM
It’s flooding (again) today in #Appalachia. As the new admin shuts down fed-supported climate science, here’s a reminder that extreme rainfall is ⬆️ regionwide, incl on our campus, where the annual highest daily rainfall is up 25% since the ‘80s.
(Graphed: local NWS data, w/ recent floods shown.)
(Graphed: local NWS data, w/ recent floods shown.)
Good #conservation news during a bleak week: a proposal to place SWVA’s Upper TN River Valley under less-protective stormwater pollution regs than the rest of VA died in the state senate this evening. An inexplicable bill for any year, but esp after the region got hammered by flooding from Helene.
January 29, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Good #conservation news during a bleak week: a proposal to place SWVA’s Upper TN River Valley under less-protective stormwater pollution regs than the rest of VA died in the state senate this evening. An inexplicable bill for any year, but esp after the region got hammered by flooding from Helene.