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April 1-30
Support Our Wildlife Ambassadors
ROAN MOUNTAIN STATE PARK

All Month
Price:

* $10.00 / Feeds one bird a day
* $20.00 / Feeds two birds a day
* $30.00 / Feeds three birds a day
* $40.00 / Feeds four birds a day
* $50.00 / Feeds five birds a day
At Roan Mountain we house, care for, and educate the public on a variety of native animals. We work under an educational permit from TWRA. Currently, we care for three birds of prey and several snakes! As you can imagine, caring for these animals is costly, as their food and health care is a specialty!
All of our animals are non-releasable for a variety of reasons. We frequently program with these animals and never charge for educational programs when using them. Here is your opportunity to support our educational wildlife program and help us care for these animals!
All donations will go to purchase food, pay vet bills, purchase gloves, tethers, falconry equipment, aquarium bedding, and to improve and build more housing facilities for our non-releasable birds of prey.
To donate click the green “Register for Event” button at the right. Your donation is a one-time payment. If you wish to cover more than one day, update the “quantity” you wish to donate, or simply come back to this page in future months.
Thank you for supporting our Wildlife Ambassadors at Roan Mountain State Park!

April 28
Roan Mountain Garlic Mustard Pull – 9:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. – Meet at Park Headquarters (next to owl exhibits). Register for event.
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy is partnering with the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy (SAHC), Roan Mountain State Park, and the Cherokee National Forest to remove invasive garlic mustard from the park and heavily trafficked highways around Carver’s Gap and SAHC conservation properties in the Highlands of Roan. Plucking out the pesky invaders when they are young and tender is relatively less labor intensive and very rewarding work, but it does take a lot of hands! We would like to invite you to enjoy a day outside on the A.T. while lending a hand and helping fellow volunteers to protect the natural habitats and biodiversity found along the A.T. landscape.
Schedule:
9:30 a.m. to 9:45 p.m. – Introduction, safety talk, etc. Volunteers will be briefed, divided into groups, and dispersed across the Park and along public roadsides to pull garlic mustard. There will need to be some shuttling and driving of personal vehicles to make this happen.
9:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Pulling and bagging up garlic mustard!
1 p.m. to 2 p.m. – Lunch at the Conference Center and our official “weigh in”
Training, work gloves and trash bags will be provided. Please bring your own snacks, lunch and bottled water. Lunch is not provided. Water and light snacks are available from the Conference Center vending machines. Feel free to bring personal gloves or a trowel. Pulling garlic mustard is usually easy, but a trowel can be helpful for compacted roadside soil and stubborn roots. You will need a hat and/or sunscreen, long pants, sturdy shoes, lunch, water, a warm layer for high elevation hiking, and rain gear. It may be difficult to return to your car while we are working, so you may want a bag to keep your items with you throughout the day.
If you are allergic to poison ivy, consider wearing long sleeves and pants as a precaution. Some work sites are very steep. Please inform your trip leader before the workday if you prefer to work on flatter terrain or have medical conditions. First aid kits will be on site.
What is Garlic Mustard?
Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is an invasive, non-native plant, which has infested many parts of the Southern Appalachian region. Because it has few natural enemies in North America, it is capable of out-competing native plants by depriving them of sunlight, moisture and space. Garlic mustard is a biennial plant, meaning it has a two-year life cycle. In its first year, it develops kidney-shaped leaves that grow close to the ground in what is called a basal rosette; the leaves smell like garlic when crushed. In their second year, the plants rapidly grow upward and develop small white flowers. The flowers are soon replaced by slender seed pods, which are capable of spreading hundreds of seeds once mature. Garlic mustard is a hardy plant. If you pull the plant and leave it on the ground, it may re-root or have enough energy stored in its taproot to produce viable seed after being pulled. Most compost piles aren’t maintained in a way that gets hot enough to kill the seed, which means you could end up spreading garlic mustard with your compost (The Stewardship Network). Removing garlic mustard from thoroughfares such as Roan Mountain State Park and public roadsides is crucial to controlling the establishment and spread of this invasive species in our area.

April 29
Spring Cleaning at the Miller Homestead – 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Meet at the Miller Farmstead House. Register for the event. Keeping up a historic farmstead is a lot of work! If you’d like to spend a few hours helping out with farmstead chores – weeding, painting, sweeping, native plants gardening, turning the compost heap, cleaning facilities, organizing tools & equipment – we’d love to have your help. These Saturday clean-ups will run through May 20 from 9 a.m.-11 a.m. and 1 p.m.-3 p.m. Volunteers are appreciated during any of these times and are not required to work the entire posted time frames.
Bring work gloves and dress for the weather with sturdy footwear (no sandals of any kind).
Advance registration is required by clicking the registration link on this page. If you have questions about the day’s specific activities, or are interested in volunteering at another date or time, please reach out to Park Ranger Marcianne O’Day at (423) 547-3900 or at Marcianne.Oday@tn.gov.

Fly-tying for Beginners – 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. Meet at Visitor Center Porch. Price is $10 and register for the event. Have you ever wanted to learn to make your own flies for fishing the streams of the Appalachian Mountains? Join Park Ranger Phil Hylen for our Fly-tying for Beginners class. In this 2-hour class, participants will learn the basics of the art of fly-tying and make their very first fly they can immediately go fish with. This class will also introduce you to some of our more common aquatic critters that flies model by turning over a few rocks and leaves in the Doe River and getting a close-up look at the dinner menu our local trout enjoy. This 101 class is limited to 10 fly-tyers at a fee of $10.00/person with registration available on this page or at a park office. If you are registering a youth, parents are asked to stay and assist the minor during the class (assisting adults are not required to register unless you are making your own fly as well). This class will take place at the Roan Mountain State Park Visitor Center – meet your host on the porch.

April 30
Snakes of Roan Mountain – 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. Meet at Visitor Center Porch. As the weather becomes warmer and the days longer, many people yearn for the great ourdoors, but many come to us with a familiar question – what snakes are out here? Learn about our more secretive reptiles of Roan Mountain during a free class with Park Ranger Phil Hylen and our snake ambassadors. This fun class for all ages will be held at the Visitor Center porch from 2-4 p.m. No registration is required, but we ask that you do not bring any pets to this program (unless you are being accompanied by a service animal). Be sure to bring any photos of a snake you would like identified as well!

May 5
Spring Céilí at Roan Mountain State Park – 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. Meet at the Conference Center. Price is $2 ages 17 and under, $5 adults. Register for the event. An Irish céilí (or cèilidh if you’re Scottish!) is a traditional social gathering that often includes traditional dance, music, storytelling and all kinds of good fun. In honor of our region’s Scots-Irish heritage we’ll be hosting a Spring Céilí in the Roan Mountain State Park Conference Center.
Highlights include:

* Ceili Dances: No previous dance experience is required! These dances are meant for regular people and anyone who can walk comfortable can enjoy learning them.
* Traditional Music: The Roan Mountain Céilí Band will play a variety of dance tunes to accompany the dances, and a few other tunes in between (traditional Scottish and Irish musicians are welcome to join us, contact Ranger O’Day for details).
* Light Refreshments: Coffee & light refreshments will be provided.
Dress comfortably, in festive attire, with good shoes and come well-hydrated!
This is a ticketed event! Adults 18 and older $5 each, kids 17 and younger $2. Volunteers attend free (contact Ranger O’Day for volunteer opportunities).

May 6
Culture & Coffee: Tech N Nature w/Cory Franklin — 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Meet at the Conference Center. Price is free, $5/attendee + donation. Register for the event.
Today, most people are inseparable from their smart phones and other mobile devices. Opinions are divided on whether these technological advances enhance or detract from the enjoyment of outdoor experiences. Embrace this cultural change and learn how to use technology on a day-to-day basis in nature. We’ll examine easily-accessible resources and apps to explore geolocaion, plant identification, and more.
Culture & Coffee is a new speaker series at Roan Mountain State Park in 2023. Each engagement features a presentation from a subject matter expert on a different topic, and takes place at the Roan Mountain State Park Conference Center. Coffee and light refreshments are provided. The series is free, although donations are appreciated and will be used to fund refreshments.

Spring Cleaning at the Miller Homestead – 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Meet at the Miller Farmstead House. Register for the event. Keeping up a historic farmstead is a lot of work! If you’d like to spend a few hours helping out with farmstead chores– weeding, painting, sweeping, native plants gardening, turning the compost heap, cleaning facilities, organizing tools & equipment– we’d love to have your help. These Saturday clean-ups will run through May 20th from 9am-11am and 1pm-3pm. Volunteers are appreciated during any of these times and are not required to work the entire posted time frames.
Bring work gloves & dress for the weather with sturdy footwear (no sandals of any kind)
Advance registration is required by clicking the registration link on this page. If you have questions about the day’s specific activities, or are interested in volunteering at another date or time, please reach out to Park Ranger Marcianne O’Day at (423)547-3900 or at Marcianne.Oday@tn.gov.