Outdoors: Inspired by region's magnificence, UGA environmentalist writes new book

Anyone who visits Great Smoky Mountains National Park can see that the forest changes the higher one climbs toward the mountain crest.

Dan Williams, forest resources manager at the University of Georgia since 1983, can explain to visitors why the forest changes and what kinds of trees are likely to grow at specific elevations. And by employing Williams' new book, "The Forests of Great Smoky Mountains National Park," visitors can plan in advance where to best find any of a dozen forest types that make the Smokies one of the most diverse ecosystems in North America.

Williams subtitled his self-published book "A Naturalist's Guide to Understanding and Identifying Southern Appalachian Forest Types." That's because it's designed to help visitors with a general knowledge of forests to learn more about the trees of the Smokies and where best to find different tree species, he said.

"It takes one aspect of the Smokies, ... the natural history of the forest, the flora, and delves into it a little deeper," he said. "It enriches your experience."

Williams said the idea for the book developed from trips he made through the Smokies to visit family in Maryville, Tenn., when it dawned on him how magnificent the forests of the Smokies are. He's led environmental education programs and natural resources interpretation presentations, but his main job is managing the 68-acre Oconee Forest Park behind the UGA intramural fields off College Station Road and the 330-acre Thompson Mills Forest and State Arboretum near Braselton.

His book serves as a guide for identifying - and finding in the field - the various kinds of forests that cover the park and many of the highlands that stretch from northeastern Alabama into Virginia. It explains forest types in detail, down to the dominant tree species a visitor likely will find at a given elevation, from valleys to north- or south-facing slopes to mountaintops. It also includes a primer about reading topographical maps for those who plan to venture into the woods in search of different forest types - or who want to puzzle out from their armchair what they'd likely find growing near, say, the Newfound Gap overlook on U.S. Highway 441.

The key to Williams' method is what he calls the "Forest Finder," a graph he adapted from earlier research that shows at a glance the 15 forest types Williams describes in the book. The graph maps forest type

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