New trail opens in Murphy

The first phase in construction of a new trail system is now complete with the opening of the Piney Knob…
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The Naturalist's Corner: A long time coming

Some time around mid-September I added tic number 207 to my 2017 bird list. It was a merlin I saw…
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Keeping ash in the Smokies: Land managers, conservation groups work to protect ash from invasive pest

At some point roughly 20 years ago, a shipment from Asia arrived in the United States with a passel of…
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Hiker finishes fundraising Mountains-to-Sea hike

Record-breaking hiker Jennifer Pharr Davis completed her 1,175-mile adventure on the Mountains-to-Sea trail Saturday, Nov. 18, just in time for…
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Tremont gets $20,000
 

Tremont gets $20,000

A $20,000 donation to the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont from Brookfield Renewable will give low-income kids in the…
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Forest restoration partnership wins award
 

Forest restoration partnership wins award

A multi-year effort to restore forest landscapes in the Grandfather Ranger District of the Pisgah National Forest has won the…
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Dry-cleaning cleanup program celebrates 20 years of success
 

Dry-cleaning cleanup program celebrates 20 years of success

North Carolina’s Dry-Cleaning Solvent Cleanup Act Program has hit its 20th anniversary, and since that time the program has handled…
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Fires Creek purchase completed

After raising more than half a million dollars to protect 50 pristine acres in the Fires Creek watershed, Mainspring Conservation…
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Rehabilitation almost done at Clingmans Dome

Clingmans Dome Tower reopened from a closure for rehabilitation work on Wednesday, Nov. 15, but access will be short-lived —…
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Bryson gets fishy: Fly-fishing museum prepares for expansion

In its two years of existence, the Fly Fishing Museum of the Southern Appalachians has shown a willingness to travel.…
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The Naturalist's Corner: Missing the point

I received a few emails after the story of Brent Martin’s departure as Southern Appalachian Regional Director of the Wilderness…
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Cataloochee Ski Area opens

After 18 hours of snowmaking, Cataloochee Ski Area opened for the winter on Monday, Nov. 20.
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Mainspring will clean up polluted oil company site
 

Mainspring will clean up polluted oil company site

Ongoing efforts to revitalize the Franklin River District gained momentum this week when Mainspring Conservation Trust purchased a polluted site…
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Work begins to rebuild the roof at Wayah Tower

Reconstruction has begun to replace the wooden roof of the historic Wayah Bald Fire Tower, which burned up in the…
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Parkside conservation purchase will protect the Smokies

Conservation of 147 acres at Stevens Creek, a quiet cove on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park…
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Nature center lands grant for science outreach
 

Nature center lands grant for science outreach

A $3,000 grant from the Duke Energy Foundation will help the Highlands Nature Center support its robust school outreach program.
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Dogs must be leashed at Bent Creek
 

Dogs must be leashed at Bent Creek

Unleashed dogs have become a safety issue in the Bent Creek Area of the Pisgah National Forest, prompting the U.S.…
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A place to heal: Retreat center for combat veterans works to establish in Cullowhee

When Margo Capparelli, Ph.D., first began her career, she had little idea that it would develop such a strong focus…
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Legends of the Fly nominees named

Nominations for this year’s Southern Trout Legends of the Fly Hall of Fame include several anglers from the Smokies region,…
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Pisgah comes in first for volunteer hours
 

Pisgah comes in first for volunteer hours

The Pisgah National Forest logged the most volunteer hours of any other national forest in 2016, earning Pisgah the Volunteer…
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Trail volunteer honored

Robbinsville resident Dick Evans received the Benton MacKaye Trail Association’s highest honor at the organization’s recent 2017 Annual Meeting.
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Foothills Parkway complete

For the first time, vehicles can drive the entire 16-mile section of the Foothills Parkway from Walland to Wears Valley,…
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Land protected at Sandy Mush

A recent purchase of 149 acres by the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy has added to a contiguous block of protected…
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Earning her place: Bryson City whitewater hall of famer reflects on lifetime on the water

Bunny Johns became a paddler mostly by accident. As a college freshman in the early 1960s, she’d lined up a…
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Effort underway to save the ash tree
 

Effort underway to save the ash tree

MountainTrue and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy are partnering to ensure that the emerald ash borer doesn’t cause the majestic ash…
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Smokies emergency communications fundraiser gets help
 

Smokies emergency communications fundraiser gets help

Sunny Point Café in Asheville is joining forces with Friends of the Smokies to raise money for radio and emergency…
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Air quality improves in N.C.

North Carolina set a record low for number of unhealthy ozone days with the close of the 2017 season Oct.…
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First snow

Frosty temperatures Sunday night into Monday, Oct. 30, brought the first snow of the season to high elevations in the…
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The Naturalist's Corner: S.P.E.C.M.M.D.S.G.T.

Don’t you love the way it rolls off the tongue — “spec-mm-dsgt?” As in, “what time is it spec-mm-dsgt?”
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Catalyst for adventure: Field school instructors reflect on three decades in the Smokies

The Smoky Mountain Field School was only a couple years old when Joel Zachary came on as an instructor in…
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WNC paddler enters hall of fame
 

WNC paddler enters hall of fame

Paddling legend Bunny Johns was inducted into the International Whitewater Hall of Fame this fall for her sport-changing facilitation of…
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WCU biologist wins international award

Highlands Biological Station Director James Costa recently traveled to London to receive the silver Alfred Russel Wallace medal recognizing his…
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Highlands Biological serves as living laboratory

A dozen students studying everything from mountaintop forests to river basins are currently living at the Highlands Biological Station, enrolled…
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Keeping the river clean: Adopt-a-Stream volunteers keep litter out of Haywood’s waterways

It’s a sunny, abnormally warm October afternoon, and Tom Anspach is ready to meet it with a canoe on the…
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Volunteers plant hundreds of spruce
 

Volunteers plant hundreds of spruce

More than 900 young spruce trees were planted in the Black Balsam area of the Pisgah National Forest this fall,…
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Serenity Garden complete in Waynesville

The first project of the Town of Waynesville Arboretum has celebrated its first full year of growth and blooming, with…
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Special Olympics athletes celebrate a well-played season

Haywood County Special Olympics held its first Fall Games Celebration Saturday, Oct. 14, at the Waynesville Recreation Center, honoring the…
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HCC students dominate at lumberjack meet

The Haywood Community College Lumberjack Team placed first out of 10 teams in this year’s John G. Palmer Intercollegiate Woodsmen’s…
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Waynesville native to study lemurs

Waynesville native Christopher Lile is on his way to Madagascar for three months following his graduation from Gardner-Webb University this…
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Stay calm and creep on

Two years in a row — for this Hendershot family that’s like a tradition. We pedaled the Virginia Creeper Trail…
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Growing community: Church garden project brings neighbors together to grow healthy food

Two short years ago, the backyard of Waynesville’s Grace Church in the Mountains was basically just grass, save for a…
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Western Carolina gets green cred

Western Carolina University has been listed as one of the most environmentally responsible colleges on the continent — for the…
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Haywood grant to help fund elk volunteers

A $2,650 grant from the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority will help improve the experience of visitors journeying to Cataloochee…
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Stocking the Pigeon: Trout stocking a team effort in Haywood

It’s a sunny Friday morning on the Pigeon River when the bucket brigade assembles, five-gallon containers in hand. The stock…
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Panthertown seeks input through survey
 

Panthertown seeks input through survey

Friends of Panthertown is hoping to learn more about the people who do — or may someday — serve as…
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Fires Creek conservation project still needs $25,000

A $500,000 pledge has brought Mainspring Conservation Trust within sight of the finish line to conserving 50 acres of private…
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Chimney Tops Trail reopens

For the first time in nearly a year, the Chimney Tops Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is…
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All’s well that ends with an elk

I had the pleasure of leading a birding trip for Alarka Expeditions on Friday September 29. I had been in…
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Pedaling toward Mitchell: Biking and biology go hand-in-hand for WCU professor

Darby Harris is going on a bike ride Saturday, Oct. 7, but how far he’ll pedal will be a mystery…
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Proceeds grow from Smokies plates
 

Proceeds grow from Smokies plates

Sales of Friends of the Smokies license plates brought in $230,000 over the first half of 2017, a 6 percent…
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