Wally Smith
@wsmith1.bsky.social
Conservation Biologist and Associate Professor at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise; herp nerd and occasional poet exploring the edges of people, ecology, and place. Current VP for Southwest Virginia’s The Clinch Coalition.
Lab member Hunter Hill and I are on Virginia NPR stations this morning to break up the depressing news cycle with some wholesome Spotted Salamander content. Big thanks to Roxy Todd for the coverage of our latest research study. www.wvtf.org/news/2025-11...
Spotted salamanders are finding their way onto former strip mines in Southwest Virginia
A former strip mine may not seem to be the most likely place to find wildlife. But a new study from biologists at UVA Wise finds salamanders are breeding on some mine sites.
www.wvtf.org
November 3, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Lab member Hunter Hill and I are on Virginia NPR stations this morning to break up the depressing news cycle with some wholesome Spotted Salamander content. Big thanks to Roxy Todd for the coverage of our latest research study. www.wvtf.org/news/2025-11...
"AI is the future & a wonderful tool. We must embrace it" -every higher ed admin I've heard in a meeting over the last year.
Meanwhile, here's Adobe's AI summarizing a plot showing trends in animal movements in response to precip in a grant report I'm prepping this morning. The future, everyone. 🙃
Meanwhile, here's Adobe's AI summarizing a plot showing trends in animal movements in response to precip in a grant report I'm prepping this morning. The future, everyone. 🙃
October 31, 2025 at 2:48 PM
"AI is the future & a wonderful tool. We must embrace it" -every higher ed admin I've heard in a meeting over the last year.
Meanwhile, here's Adobe's AI summarizing a plot showing trends in animal movements in response to precip in a grant report I'm prepping this morning. The future, everyone. 🙃
Meanwhile, here's Adobe's AI summarizing a plot showing trends in animal movements in response to precip in a grant report I'm prepping this morning. The future, everyone. 🙃
Beautiful fall day on the mountain above campus for some geoecology work as part of our USFWS-funded project on Plethodon pauleyi. Easy to forget how spoiled we are having field sites like this just a 15 min drive from the classroom door. One of many reasons why I love working in “far” SWVA.
October 15, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Beautiful fall day on the mountain above campus for some geoecology work as part of our USFWS-funded project on Plethodon pauleyi. Easy to forget how spoiled we are having field sites like this just a 15 min drive from the classroom door. One of many reasons why I love working in “far” SWVA.
The official USFS website right now is...something. Can't recall ever seeing the use of official govt resources for openly partisan objectives like I'm seeing today.
October 1, 2025 at 4:49 PM
The official USFS website right now is...something. Can't recall ever seeing the use of official govt resources for openly partisan objectives like I'm seeing today.
We've also translated our work into BMPs for mineland mgmt & reuse projects. These are critical as everyone - from conservative politicians to green groups - (inaccurately) sells old mines in #Appalachia as zero-cost sites for solar, data centers, nuke plants, & more. See: bit/ly/GrowingSm...
September 23, 2025 at 8:15 PM
We've also translated our work into BMPs for mineland mgmt & reuse projects. These are critical as everyone - from conservative politicians to green groups - (inaccurately) sells old mines in #Appalachia as zero-cost sites for solar, data centers, nuke plants, & more. See: bit/ly/GrowingSm...
Our lab's latest paper reports some good news from the Virginia coalfields: Spotted #Salamanders love colonizing incidental wetlands formed on old coal mines, & now we know a little more about how & why (& which wetlands matter most). Full-text available here: digitalcommons.odu.edu/vjs/vol76/is...
September 23, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Our lab's latest paper reports some good news from the Virginia coalfields: Spotted #Salamanders love colonizing incidental wetlands formed on old coal mines, & now we know a little more about how & why (& which wetlands matter most). Full-text available here: digitalcommons.odu.edu/vjs/vol76/is...
Reposted by Wally Smith
The @aaup.org just shared guidance for academic workers on how to protect themselves online www.aaup.org/news/advisor...
Advisory to Academic Workers
In a moment when it is becoming increasingly difficult to predict the consequences of our online speech and choices, the AAUP and Faculty First Responders are issuing guidance to AAUP members and othe...
www.aaup.org
September 17, 2025 at 10:57 PM
The @aaup.org just shared guidance for academic workers on how to protect themselves online www.aaup.org/news/advisor...
Reposted by Wally Smith
📣We're hiring for our radio station WMMT! 📣
We're searching for a General Manager who will help carry forward WMMT's mission and keep the station thriving as a voice and resource for mountain people.
Details and how to apply: appalshop.org/wmmtgm
We're searching for a General Manager who will help carry forward WMMT's mission and keep the station thriving as a voice and resource for mountain people.
Details and how to apply: appalshop.org/wmmtgm
September 16, 2025 at 1:05 PM
📣We're hiring for our radio station WMMT! 📣
We're searching for a General Manager who will help carry forward WMMT's mission and keep the station thriving as a voice and resource for mountain people.
Details and how to apply: appalshop.org/wmmtgm
We're searching for a General Manager who will help carry forward WMMT's mission and keep the station thriving as a voice and resource for mountain people.
Details and how to apply: appalshop.org/wmmtgm
Lost in the current hysteria over universities is that - at public schools, at least - we're not only not interested in the political views of applicants for faculty jobs but can't even ask what views those faculty hold or how they vote during the search & hiring process. It's illegal to do so.
September 13, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Lost in the current hysteria over universities is that - at public schools, at least - we're not only not interested in the political views of applicants for faculty jobs but can't even ask what views those faculty hold or how they vote during the search & hiring process. It's illegal to do so.
Reposted by Wally Smith
“But now we’re very worried, because the Forest Service is actively pursuing aggressive timber targets that are unprecedented in scale and will directly harm hellbenders,” said Will Harlan, the Center's Southeast director. ⬇️
Planned environmental rule changes threaten beloved Eastern hellbender’s possible protection as endangered species • Asheville Watchdog
The ideal habitat of the Eastern hellbender that Tracy Davids described was pretty much what she saw on Tuesday morning as she stood ankle-deep in the Davidson River. “Relatively shallow, fast-moving,...
avlwatchdog.org
September 8, 2025 at 3:09 PM
“But now we’re very worried, because the Forest Service is actively pursuing aggressive timber targets that are unprecedented in scale and will directly harm hellbenders,” said Will Harlan, the Center's Southeast director. ⬇️
Our lab appears in this piece on coalfield solar farms. In brief: VA stripped regs requiring enviro assessments for mineland solar ➡️TNC announced, w/o such assessments, plans to build solar on mines home to at-risk wildlife ➡️we've been trying to undo the damage since.
www.whro.org/virginia-cen...
www.whro.org/virginia-cen...
In Virginia’s Coalfields, Renewable Projects Hit A New Roadblock – Trump
Renewable energy developers planned dozens of projects on property owned by The Nature Conservancy. Then President Donald Trump signed H.R. 1, upending an unprecedented effort to revitalize Appalachia...
www.whro.org
September 4, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Our lab appears in this piece on coalfield solar farms. In brief: VA stripped regs requiring enviro assessments for mineland solar ➡️TNC announced, w/o such assessments, plans to build solar on mines home to at-risk wildlife ➡️we've been trying to undo the damage since.
www.whro.org/virginia-cen...
www.whro.org/virginia-cen...
Reposted by Wally Smith
AMS released a statement on climate change today that points out five foundational flaws with the Department of Energy's 2025 climate report: www.ametsoc.org/ams/about-am...
The Practice and Assessment of Science: Five Foundational Flaws in the Department of Energy's 2025 Climate Report
Adopted by the Executive Committee of the AMS Council on 27 August 2025
www.ametsoc.org
August 28, 2025 at 1:28 PM
AMS released a statement on climate change today that points out five foundational flaws with the Department of Energy's 2025 climate report: www.ametsoc.org/ams/about-am...
Found this momma ’mander & baby ’manders on land wrecked by past surface mining & logging above Dante, VA today. A reminder that the phrase ”Who cares? It’s just an old surface mine” minimizes natural treasures like these that deserve our respect (& more thoughtful planning for post-mining land use)
August 6, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Found this momma ’mander & baby ’manders on land wrecked by past surface mining & logging above Dante, VA today. A reminder that the phrase ”Who cares? It’s just an old surface mine” minimizes natural treasures like these that deserve our respect (& more thoughtful planning for post-mining land use)
Really enjoyed this excellent feature from back in April on our lab’s hellbender habitat restoration work…& what we learned when Helene dropped a generational flood on top of it. Check it out at the link, and look for a white paper on the project later this year.
How climate disasters, human sprawl—and now Trump—are coming for the Eastern hellbender, America’s largest salamander
Legend has it this salamander came from hell. We’re about to send it back.
Climate disasters, human sprawl, and now Trump: This is how extinctions happen.
www.motherjones.com
August 1, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Really enjoyed this excellent feature from back in April on our lab’s hellbender habitat restoration work…& what we learned when Helene dropped a generational flood on top of it. Check it out at the link, and look for a white paper on the project later this year.
Depressing but informative piece on the “we need to clean out the streams” craze gripping #Appalachia in the wake of recent floods. Similar story to what we’ve seen with state-run ATV trail development digging out streams here in VA: regulatory agencies will turn tail & run when politics are at play
Debris removal after Hurricane Helene did more damage to the environment than the storm itself in some parts of the state, scientists claim. www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
The government stepped in to clean up a disaster in North Carolina. Then they created another one.
Debris removal after Hurricane Helene did more damage to the environment than the storm itself in some parts of the state, scientists claim.
www.vox.com
July 23, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Depressing but informative piece on the “we need to clean out the streams” craze gripping #Appalachia in the wake of recent floods. Similar story to what we’ve seen with state-run ATV trail development digging out streams here in VA: regulatory agencies will turn tail & run when politics are at play
Seeing this w/ a (highly-politicized) push to develop nuclear facilities in rural coalfield towns here in #Appalachia. Feasibility studies so far have omitted any analysis or consideration of waste storage/risks, & officials punt to “don’t worry; they’ll just recycle it” when Qs come up from locals.
One weird thing about nuclear power is that it's easy to model narrowly its economic and emission impacts, but very hard to model low-odds, high-impact risks associated with waste, spent fuel, weapons proliferation, military strikes on plants, etc. As most objective analyses omit huge factors, ..
July 23, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Seeing this w/ a (highly-politicized) push to develop nuclear facilities in rural coalfield towns here in #Appalachia. Feasibility studies so far have omitted any analysis or consideration of waste storage/risks, & officials punt to “don’t worry; they’ll just recycle it” when Qs come up from locals.
This situation is precisely what a number of us warned about when TNC bought 250,000 acres of the coalfields to “protect” them, w/o purchasing the underlying mineral rights. Now a portion of that for-profit carbon offset project is getting surface-mined with minimal environmental assessment.
July 21, 2025 at 4:49 PM
This situation is precisely what a number of us warned about when TNC bought 250,000 acres of the coalfields to “protect” them, w/o purchasing the underlying mineral rights. Now a portion of that for-profit carbon offset project is getting surface-mined with minimal environmental assessment.
Reposted by Wally Smith
1977: why would the bartender in star wars even care if some robots with artificial intelligence came into his bar
2025: ohhh ok
2025: ohhh ok
July 9, 2025 at 2:12 AM
1977: why would the bartender in star wars even care if some robots with artificial intelligence came into his bar
2025: ohhh ok
2025: ohhh ok
Reposted by Wally Smith
"This would nuke this creek," a Yale biologist said of a proposed data center in Alabama. The data center is projected to use more water than every home in the state and 90x the electricity of homes in Bessemer, where it's to be located. Full story: insideclimatenews.org/news/1606202...
June 17, 2025 at 4:57 PM
"This would nuke this creek," a Yale biologist said of a proposed data center in Alabama. The data center is projected to use more water than every home in the state and 90x the electricity of homes in Bessemer, where it's to be located. Full story: insideclimatenews.org/news/1606202...
Because you probably need a timeline cleanse right now, here’s some good news: we surpassed 5 new Virginia populations of Plethodon pauleyi this week for our lab’s new USFWS-funded project. It’s beginning to look like this ESA-petitioned species is (thankfully) much more common than we’d assumed.
June 10, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Because you probably need a timeline cleanse right now, here’s some good news: we surpassed 5 new Virginia populations of Plethodon pauleyi this week for our lab’s new USFWS-funded project. It’s beginning to look like this ESA-petitioned species is (thankfully) much more common than we’d assumed.
I’ve heard the same argument - that dredging is a quick fix to stop flooding in #Appalachia - from local govt officials in recent meetings here in SW Virginia, just across the border from eastern KY. In reality, stream dredging makes flooding worse (see: www.kymitigation.org/wp-content/u...).
May 31, 2025 at 11:11 PM
I’ve heard the same argument - that dredging is a quick fix to stop flooding in #Appalachia - from local govt officials in recent meetings here in SW Virginia, just across the border from eastern KY. In reality, stream dredging makes flooding worse (see: www.kymitigation.org/wp-content/u...).
Duffield, VA - a town of 73 people covering 0.6 sq mi in the decidedly deep-red part of rural Virginia that I live in - was named to this list. Getting strong “we used AI to populate this list for us” vibes from this.
May 30, 2025 at 12:57 AM
Duffield, VA - a town of 73 people covering 0.6 sq mi in the decidedly deep-red part of rural Virginia that I live in - was named to this list. Getting strong “we used AI to populate this list for us” vibes from this.
Goes without saying, but if I or someone in my position did this in a research report, I would (rightfully) end up without a job, despite having tenure. But in our current political moment, it’s just a typical Thursday evening.
The Trump administration released a report last week that it billed as a “clear, evidence-based foundation” for action on a range of children’s health issues. But the report, from the Make America Healthy Again Commission, cited studies that did not exist. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/29/w...
May 29, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Goes without saying, but if I or someone in my position did this in a research report, I would (rightfully) end up without a job, despite having tenure. But in our current political moment, it’s just a typical Thursday evening.
Setting aside the obvious ethical & 1st Amendment issues with this, one of the ongoing federally-funded research projects in my lab has now spanned 3 different presidential administrations. Our work, which is apolitical, happens on vastly different timescales from partisan politics.
Linda McMahon: "Universities should continue to be able to do research as long as they're abiding by the laws and in sync, I think, with the administration and what the administration is trying to accomplish."
May 28, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Setting aside the obvious ethical & 1st Amendment issues with this, one of the ongoing federally-funded research projects in my lab has now spanned 3 different presidential administrations. Our work, which is apolitical, happens on vastly different timescales from partisan politics.
It is beyond annoying to hear the refrain that inland flooding from Helene was some wildly unpredictable event. Catastrophic flooding across the southern Apps from those setups is such a well-documented phenomenon that we have covered it in my *ecology* class for the past 15 yrs here in SW Virginia
Accuweather is pushing a study that claims (without describing the data/methods with any reproducibility) that they are superior hurricane forecasters. Among their ridiculous claims is that they were the "only" one to predict disastrous flooding from Helene. Gory details here: x.com/accuweather/...
May 22, 2025 at 2:12 AM
It is beyond annoying to hear the refrain that inland flooding from Helene was some wildly unpredictable event. Catastrophic flooding across the southern Apps from those setups is such a well-documented phenomenon that we have covered it in my *ecology* class for the past 15 yrs here in SW Virginia