The main component of ROCA (Research Opportunities and Collaboration in the Appalachians) is a collaborative research project involving a comparison of two small, disturbed watersheds near Frostburg, Maryland. One watershed (TNEF) was selectively logged about 20 years ago and is in the process of regenerating. The other nearby watershed (TMAT) was strip-mined and reclaimed about 20 years ago. Both watersheds are outfitted with stream weirs to monitor stream flow continuously. Three soil-sampling plots have also been established in each watershed. A weather station at the TMAT site monitors temperature and precipitation.

Cooperators have been studying the effects of these 2 very different disturbances on stream discharge and chemistry, the nitrogen cycle, phosphorus availability, plant communities, litter decomposition, soil/atmosphere gas exchange, and fungal diversity. The project involves 5 ecologists from three Appalachian College Association (ACA) institutions (West Virginia Wesleyan, Ferrum and Sewanee) plus researchers from the University of Maryland's Appalachian Laboratory in Frostburg, MD.

An extension grant has allowed collaborators at several ACA schools to set up satellite watersheds near their respective campuses to facilitate teaching and research opportunities for undergraduate education. These sites include the Split Creek Watershed at the University of the South in Tennessee, Ferrum Mountain Creek Watershed at Ferrum College in Virginia, and Fox Run Watershed at West Virginia Weslyan College.