The Drake Outdoor Leadership Club (DOLC) is an organization at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa whose mission is to allow students the opportunity to explore the outdoors and nature with many outings. Through hiking, rock climbing, conservation work, and more, we look to educate students on outdoor experiences, especially in the Des Moines area. Our club currently has around 400 students on the email list, many of whom participate in various events, depending on their interests. DOLCs goal is to connect people to the land around us.
Every year on spring break, DOLC travels to a different part of the country to give back and perform conservation work. Last year we visited Moab, Utah and performed invasive species removal. This year we travelled east to visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Park provided a wide range of topography that many of us were not familiar with. We also learned a great deal about the Appalachian Trail. As college students we appreciated that entry to the park was free but we enjoyed, even more, giving back and supporting an area that receives little funding.
DOLC members Landra and Lilly showing off the fun times they had removing rocks to ready the soil for planting. Photo by Gabriella LeFevre.
We participated in many activities during the course of our trip. For example, we went hiking, mountain biking, camping, and saw a variety of animals including a black bear cub, salamanders, fish, and so many bird species that even the bird experts on our trip could not identify them all. As expected, we visited the Gatlinburg area, but spent most of our time unplugged and exploring the land. Of all the amazing experiences we encountered though, our favorite was working with The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF).
On the day we drove into a town at the foothills of the Smokies to help plant chestnut seeds, it was a cool 50 degrees. The phoebes and meadowlarks alerted the pasture of our entry, and the cattle approached to size up the newcomers. Residents and year-round caretakers of the orchard, Taylor and Bill, told us the story of this community and its emphasis on ecological awareness. The more we learned about the Smokies, the more we began to grasp the dramatic changes these mountains have undergone in the last two hundred years due to logging, farming, and invasive pests and fungi, such as chestnut blight. Folks like Taylor and Bill are trying to keep the ecological heritage of the Appalachians alive. They maintain various parts of the trail to ensure hiker safety and they help with construction on the land. The American chestnut once characterized the eastern hardwood forests, so DOLC was excited for the opportunity to participate in the tree’s restoration.
DOLC members Caroline and Lindsay plant seeds and ensure their safety by adding tree tubes. Photo by Gabriella LeFevre.
Under the instruction of Ben Jarrett, TACF’s southern regional science coordinator, we prepared the orchard for planting. Attacking the ground with a fire rake, we removed rocks and weeds. We rolled out a welcome mat of weed barrier only to carve it up with holes just wide enough for a chestnut to grow. Dr. Hill Craddock, TN-TACF Chapter president, guided us as we nestled the chestnut seed into the soil with a deep hope that each would grow into a healthy tree. Following the planting map like a paint-by-number, we used labels to name the future trees. Given the fantastical storytelling and a little time to get our hands dirty, it was no surprise when DOLC members began making plans to return to the Smokies. In just a week, we forged a connection to the Great Smoky Mountains, and now share TACF’s dream to return the American chestnut to the forests it dominated for forty-million years.