Roan Mountain Mohair

65% mohair, 35% fine wool

DK/Sport weight

Approximately 2 ounce/180 yard skeins

Natural color, no dyes

“Green Spun” / Organic Processing by Green Mountain Spinnery (http://www.spinnery.com/)

Our first batch of yarn is in route from the spinnery. Goat adopters and project volunteers get the biggest discount; ATC, SAHC,and Friends of Roan Mountain members also get discounts. Other folks probably

Herding Off Sept. 15th

Shepherds needed! The family vacation is ending, and we are in need of volunteers to assist for the journey home. If you are up for the herding of the goats off the mountain, join Todd Eastin and company at Carvers Gap at 9:00am. The hike out will only take about an hour, to meet up with the goats and lead them back to the trailhead. Helpers are also needed to help carry gear and equipment off the mountain.
questions? jjudkins@appalachiantrail.org

Guided Goat Hike

Guided Goat Hike - Roan Mountain Saturday, August 14 at 10:00 am

Free and open to the public!

Hike Leader: David Hall, Recipient of the 2009 Stan Murray Volunteer Award August 14 (Saturday) - Moderate 5 miles RT

If you missed the last Goat Hike, here is your chance to join SAHC for another grassy balds management/goat-viewing hike on beautiful Roan Mountain! Once again this summer, Jamey Donaldson, leader of the “Baa-tany Goat Project,” is rotating goats through test plots of vegetation on the high-elevation grassy balds of Roan Mountain. We will visit the goats and learn about their role in preserving the grassy balds. The hike will be around five miles of moderately steep terrain. Starts at 10:00am.

To learn more about the “Baa-tany Goat Project” visit:
http://friendsofroanmtn.org/goat%20project/goat%20project.html

Please bring sturdy hiking shoes, rain gear, backpack lunch, water, sunscreen and a camera.
RSVP by Friday, August 13th (5:00pm) to cheryl@appalachian.org or call (828) 253-0095, ext 209.Directions will be sent upon RSVP.

Information provided by:
Cheryl Fowler
Membership Director
The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy
Land Trust Accreditation Commission Accredited
828-253-0095, ext. 209
34 Wall Street, Ste. 502
Asheville, NC 28801

Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy is a volunteer-based nonprofit organization that works with individuals and local communities to conserve the clean water, unique plant and animal habitat, working farms and recreational treasures of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. In the last 36 years, the Conservancy and its 1,500 members have protected almost 50,000 acres, including key sites adjacent to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, along the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Highlands of Roan, and more than 3,000-acres of farmland in Sandy Mush near Asheville, NC.

A Very Busy First Month

It has been a hectic 1st month getting the goats settled in and keeping up with the paddock rotation and toting water while monitoring the assorted vegetation study plots. Our 1st surprise came when #211 gave birth to twins (a boy and a girl) the day before we herded the goats across the balds. Ansel and Audrey carried the twins across the balds while the mama goat followed, with occasional stops so the twins could nurse. Mama goat and her babies are doing fine. The little boy has been named (but not yet formally adopted) Gambol in memory of Hank Gamble who volunteered on Roan and elsewhere for many years. Hank was among the best of volunteers, he simply showed up, quietly helped with what was needed, and then often just as quietly slipped away when the work was done. I found out more about Hank’s life away from Roan from his obituary than from him directly.

Our 2nd surprise was during the herding across the balds. #902 veered off to the left while the herd veered to the right. She was last seen in the Rhododendron thicket on Round Bald.
Our 3rd surprise: Yet, being more like the Roadrunner than the Coyote, she showed up at the goat paddock 20 days later and about 1 mile from where she was last seen, apparently fine but obviously relieved to be back with the herd. She slept a lot the first couple of days after coming back.

We have help monitoring the rare Gray’s Lily this year. Joe, an undergraduate honor student at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) is doing his senior thesis on Gray’s Lily. Joe has done the bulk of re-monitoring our 12 macro-plots (5 meter radius circular plots) as well as started the very first demography study (tracking the same individuals through time) on Roan Mountain. He plans to track the reproductive plants through this growing season. After the summer is over he will be analyzing the 3 year macro-plot data set as well as the demography study, with hopes of doing a meta-population analysis by including other researchers’ data sets. Sun hats off to Joe for helping get data on a rare plant that may well belong on the federal Endangered Species List.

#230 and her twins from this year are doing fine. #210 is the young billy (his horns are much stouter than his sister’s), and #310 is the young doe. They started out a bit shy, like all the other kids, but soon became more outgoing just like their mother and her twins from last year. The twins spend most of their time together yet never very far from their mother.
G-man, my buddy, is one of #230’s twins from 2009. He survived last year’s hypothermia adventure (read about it elsewhere on the blog) and is the most outgoing ambassador goat of the 2009 kids. He has a rakish twist to his right horn that stands out from the other goats.

Here is an Eastern Photo Point 55mm shot from July 20 (from Harriet Bald viewing west at Jane Bald with Round Bald in the background).

The Return

Walkabout Goat, #902, last seen June 23 on Round Bald in the Rhododendron thicket during the 3rd Annual Herding of the Goats Across the Balds, showed up yesterday afternoon, July 12, at the goat paddock and allowed herself to be let back in. She appears fine and rather relieved to be back with the herd. There had been no reported sightings of her during her ca. 1 trail-mile 20-day walkabout. Nice to have her back.

- The Shepherd

3rd Annual Herding of the Goats!

This will be the 3rd Annual Herding of the Goats onto the Balds! Join us on Wednesday, June 23: with alternate bad weather days on the 22nd and 24th. Meet at Carvers Gap at 8:00am so the goats can beat the heat. Contact Jamey (tnplanthunter@yahoo.com) if you are willing to volunteer and help our baa-tany friends make it up to their summer home. If you are coming, please confirm with Jamey so he can prepare paperwork, and give him your phone number so he can contact you in case of change in plans.

If you would like to be a volunteer shepherd for a weekend, please contact Julie (jjudkins@appalachiantrail.org).

Weekend goatherds needed (Friday afternoon – Sunday afternoon):

July 2-4: Not Available
July 9-11: Not Available
July 16-18: Not Available
July 23-25: Not Available
July 30-August 1: Not Available
August 6-8: Not Available
August 13-15: Not Available
August 20-22: Not Available
August 27-29: Not Available
September 3-5: Not Available
September 10-12: Not Available

3rd Annual Herding of the Goats OFF the Balds (Wednesdays):
September 15: probable date
September 22: may stay an extra week if the weather is favorable…