Every July, Chris Ulrey \u201998 MS, \u201902 PHD rappels down cliffs in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee to look for the delicate yellow blooms of spreading avens. The endangered herb is known to grow in just 14 high-elevation locations worldwide\u2009\u2014\u2009three of them in the Blue Ridge Parkway. For 20 years, Ulrey, the park\u2019s plant ecologist, has been collecting data on the spreading avens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s one of an array of flowers, trees and other plants Ulrey is responsible for tending to within the Parkway\u2019s 90,000 acres. \u201cOne day, I\u2019ll be working to protect a rare, fragile plant to try to keep it alive, and then the next day, I\u2019ll be out with the same kind of vigor trying to get rid of a plant that shouldn\u2019t be there,\u201d he says. He sometimes spends hours hacking at Oriental bittersweet, an invasive vine, and applying herbicide to the stumps to keep it from spreading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ulrey grew up surrounded by plants at his parents\u2019 landscaping and nursery business in Weaverville, N.C. He followed in their footsteps, studying horticulture and working for a nursery in South Carolina. But an interest in native plants led him back to school for botany, and later a job with the U.S. Forest Service, before he joined the Parkway in 1999. \u201cI\u2019m very fortunate that I\u2019m able to still work in the mountains I love so much,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMore people come on the Parkway than any other national park, so we have an opportunity to educate a lot of people.\u201d \u00ad\u00ad\u2013 Chris Ulrey \u201998 MS, \u201902 PHD<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Today, the ecologist is raising awareness about the impacts climate change could have on the Parkway. For instance, the research Ulrey and colleagues have conducted suggests that the spreading avens could lose half of its habitat by 2050 because of climate change. It\u2019s become a key example in his conversations with visitors. \u201cMore people come on the Parkway than any other national park,\u201d he says, \u201cso we have an opportunity to educate a lot of people.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of his most rewarding moments on the job have come from mentoring interns, technicians and volunteers at the Parkway. That, and watching springtime unfold. \u201cI still get excited every spring when the spring flora come up\u2009\u2014\u2009all the trilliums and the orchids,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n
By Sarah Wade<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Every July, Chris Ulrey \u201998 MS, \u201902 PHD rappels down cliffs in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee to look for the delicate yellow blooms of spreading avens. The endangered herb is known to grow in just 14 high-elevation locations worldwide\u2009\u2014\u2009three of them in the Blue Ridge Parkway. For 20 years, Ulrey, the park\u2019s plant ecologist, has been collecting data on the spreading avens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s one of an array of flowers, trees and other plants Ulrey is responsible for tending to within the Parkway\u2019s 90,000 acres. \u201cOne day, I\u2019ll be working to protect a rare, fragile plant to try to keep it alive, and then the next day, I\u2019ll be out with the same kind of vigor trying to get rid of a plant that shouldn\u2019t be there,\u201d he says. He sometimes spends hours hacking at Oriental bittersweet, an invasive vine, and applying herbicide to the stumps to keep it from spreading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ulrey grew up surrounded by plants at his parents\u2019 landscaping and nursery business in Weaverville, N.C. He followed in their footsteps, studying horticulture and working for a nursery in South Carolina. But an interest in native plants led him back to school for botany, and later a job with the U.S. Forest Service, before he joined the Parkway in 1999. \u201cI\u2019m very fortunate that I\u2019m able to still work in the mountains I love so much,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMore people come on the Parkway than any other national park, so we have an opportunity to educate a lot of people.\u201d \u00ad\u00ad\u2013 Chris Ulrey \u201998 MS, \u201902 PHD<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Today, the ecologist is raising awareness about the impacts climate change could have on the Parkway. For instance, the research Ulrey and colleagues have conducted suggests that the spreading avens could lose half of its habitat by 2050 because of climate change. It\u2019s become a key example in his conversations with visitors. \u201cMore people come on the Parkway than any other national park,\u201d he says, \u201cso we have an opportunity to educate a lot of people.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of his most rewarding moments on the job have come from mentoring interns, technicians and volunteers at the Parkway. That, and watching springtime unfold. \u201cI still get excited every spring when the spring flora come up\u2009\u2014\u2009all the trilliums and the orchids,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the Blue Ridge Parkway as his office, Chris Ulrey \u201998 MS, \u201902 PHD helps preserve endangered plants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"subtitle\":\"With the Blue Ridge Parkway as his office, Chris Ulrey \u201998 MS, \u201902 PHD helps preserve endangered plants.\",\"displayCategoryID\":5,\"caption\":\"Photograph by Mike Belleme.\"}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,9],"tags":[153,247,1045,1094,1199],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"class_list":["post-2602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-class-act","category-stories","tag-blue-ridge-parkway","tag-chris-ulrey","tag-sarah-wade","tag-spreading-avens","tag-u-s-forest-service"],"displayCategory":{"term_id":5,"name":"Best Bets","slug":"best-bets","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":52,"filter":"raw"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2602"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5013,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602\/revisions\/5013"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2602"},{"taxonomy":"_ncst_magazine_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_ncst_magazine_issue?post=2602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}