One of the oldest continuous environmental studies in North America, Coweeta is based in the eastern deciduous forest of the southern Appalachian Mountains, and the centerpiece of a long-term cooperation between the University of Georgia and the USDA Forest Service.

Funded by the National Science Foundation, Coweeta LTER has evolved from a site-based to a site- and region-based project centering on the effects of disturbance and environmental gradients on biogeochemical cycling, and the underlying watershed ecosystem processes that regulate and respond to those ecological cycles. Our current research program, entitled "Southern Appalachia on the Edge" focuses on the impacts that exurbanization and climate change are having on water quality, water quantity, and other ecosytem services.