about one of the richest, most diverse places on Earth. The Southern Appalachian mountains are classified as a temperate rainforest, and the abundance of water combined with the array of tall peaks and low valleys gives rise to an incredible variety of creatures. These mountains are home to nearly 10,000 known species, with more being discovered every year. Some of these plants, animals, and fungi are only be found in our region, and nowhere else in the world.

All ten of the species depicted on this shirt live within Mainspring Conservation Trust's service area, and depend on intact natural areas and clean water to thrive. Sadly, all ten are also threatened or endangered. Your purchase supports Mainspring's work to conserve the vital natural areas of the Southern Blue Ridge, and honor our heritage by protecting unique creatures like the ones in this design. Regardless of if we are human or fish, turtle or wildflower, we are all connected by water. 

This design includes:

1. Northern Long-Eared Bat: This bat has suffered greatly from the White Nose Syndrome fungal disease, and is often found in and near wetlands due to the abundance of insect prey. Like many bats, Northern Long-Eared Bats roosts near rivers or lakes, and the first item on their nightly to-do list is finding a drink of water. 
2. Oconee Bells: Only found in the mountains of North Carolina, Georgia, and South Carolina, this rare wildflower is highly sensitive to disturbance. It typically grows on streambanks or moist rocky outcrops in deep shade, and blooms in early spring. 
3. Rivercane: One of our three native bamboo species, Rivercane has lost 98% of its habitat since European colonization. Its thick rhizomes stabilize the riverbanks it grows on, and it feeds and shelters many native animals.
4. Swamp Pink: A bog plant that requires consistent moisture, Swamp Pink is now rare due to habitat loss. No wild populations remain in Mainspring's service area, but captive populations keep this species present in our region. 
5. Sicklefin Redhorse: These sucker fish can grow over two feet long and live for up to twenty years! Sicklefin Redhorse are exclusively found in the Hiwassee and Little Tennessee Rivers in western North Carolina and northern Georgia, and are threatened by dams that prevent them from returning to their ancestral spawning grounds. 
6. Appalachian Elktoe Mussel: Only a few wild populations of this critically endangered freshwater mussel remain in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. As filter feeders, Appalachian Elktoe Mussels keep our waters clean, but they are sensitive to pollution, sedimentation, and stream channelization.
7. Junaluska Salamander: Only found in Graham County, North Carolina and a small area of eastern Tennessee, Junaluska Salamanders have always been rare. One of the three populations in North Carolina is thought to have been wiped out after upstream human development altered the creek habitat the salamanders depended on. 
8. Purple Fringed Orchid: Restricted to mountaintop wetlands, the Purple Fringed Orchid is a striking and uncommon wildflower that is beloved by pollinators. Western North Carolina and northern Georgia represent the southernmost tip of its range, and it has gone locally extinct in some other areas due to habitat loss. 
9. Spotfin Chub: This imperiled fish is found exclusively in four river systems in the Southern Appalachians, including the Little Tennessee River in western North Carolina. Spotfin Chubs have become rare or even extinct in parts of their very small range due to the impacts that poorly planned development and the loss of native plant life have on our waterways.
10. Bog Turtle: Though they are the smallest turtle in North America, Bog Turtles are also one of the longest lived, with many individuals surviving over six decades in the wild. Their preferred habitats- shallow, muddy, open wetlands- have been degraded and fragmented by development.