Home – Mill Shoals Conserve

Late summer riparian vegetation grows denser with each passing year since cattle were taken off the streambanks.

Our Land Ethic

Living upstream in step with nature on borrowed land.

A clay brick becomes benthic habitat as it tumbles between bedrock ledges down Burnett Creek.

A Look Back to See the Future

Cedar glades, bedrock ledges.

Ninebark cuttings sprout shoots through coir matting in an approach to stabilize a hillslope after construction of our home.

Our Projects

From every-day practices to nature-based interventions, we share some experiences and tips for others with similar goals.

Some caddisflies are net spinners and obtain food by filtering it from the water that flows through it.

One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds.
Aldo Leopold (a sand county almanac)

Burnett Creek about 1,000 feet upstream of confluence with French Broad River (January 2021).

At low reservoir levels, flow falls over this natural channel-spanning bedrock ledge. At high reservoir levels, the backwater effect from the confluence with the French Broad River (about 1,000 feet downstream) raises the water level to cover most of the ledge.