All photography provided by CRESO students & staff unless otherwise noted

Established in 1989, CRESO is supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Anderson County Schools, Oak Ridge Schools, the University of Tennessee Forest Resources Research & Education Center, and the Environmental Sciences Division of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Research focuses on inventory and long-term monitoring of the population status and activity patterns of selected species in Anderson County, TN. Examples include bird banding of breeding migrants, dynamics of canopy gaps, radiotelemetry of snakes and turtles, monitoring of terrestrial and aquatic amphibians, and using trained "turtle dogs" for determining population densities and age structure of the eastern box turtle, the TN state reptile. 

Our Mission

Students share their project findings and conservation ideas at science fairs and professional meetings, in scientific journals, on the CRESO website, and through outreach workshops including K-12 classrooms and community groups such as Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning. Several CRESO students have continued their research after entering college and subsequently published their findings as a senior thesis or in peer-reviewed journals. New research and outreach initiatives include developing and piloting a standards-based box turtle curriculum, assisting local elementary schools in wetland creation/restoration and study methods, and providing guidance about wetland curriculum design. The program is coordinated by teachers of biology, math, and science from area schools, and instruction is further augmented and enriched by volunteer scientists, conservationists, and natural resource professionals who give their time and share their experience with CRESO students. 

What We've Achieved