Cherokee National Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative case study. Located in eastern Tennessee, near the southern terminus of the Appalachian Mountains, the Cherokee NF contains remarkable biodiversity and is an important recreation asset as well as the source of abundant, clean water for the region's towns and cities. The Nature Conservancy's Katherine Medlock worked with CNF Supervisor Tom Speaks and his staff to convene the 13-member group that came to be known as the Cherokee National Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative Steering Committee. Using a planning process developed by then-Conservancy staffer Greg Low, and Louis Provencher (Chief Scientist, TNC-Nevada Chapter) called Enhanced Conservation Action Planning (eCAP) and incorporating LANDFIRE models and data, the Committee was able to define what a restored state would look like for each of the nine ecological systems within the National Forest so as to focus efforts to bring ecosystems' current or projected future conditions more in line with pre-European settlement conditions.