Paddling for Gold: NRC’s world-class whitewater stars are paddling hard this winter to secure a place on the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team
By Michael Beadle It’s 26 degrees on a November morning, and Jamie Tidmore has just finished another whitewater kayaking run…
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Eureka! Dilemma dissolved
I can’t understand how imminent ornithologists, in particular, and biologists, scientists and researchers in general have overlooked the obvious truth…
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Blazing a trail: Work starts on first Bartram Trail addition since the 1990s
It’s been nearly 20 years since Burt Kornegay first started looking into land along Hickory Knoll Road in Macon County,…
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Brevard company recognized in international competition
Brevard-based SylvanSport has been named a finalist in the internationally renowned Edison Awards for its product GO, a lightweight pull-behind…
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Celebrate the diversity of the Smokies
The public is invited to mingle with researchers from around the world March 19-21 during the annual conference of Discover…
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Jump on the solar train with Solarize WNC
A campaign to introduce homeowners and businesses to the option of solar energy is underway in Jackson, Haywood, Macon and…
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Renowned nature photographer to talk in Sylva
Les Saucier, a professional nature photographer, will speak at the Sylva Photo Club at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 14, at…
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AT lay-over, Fontana Dam knighted as official trail town
Hiker Haze Weekend will welcome the season’s first Appalachian Trail thru-hikers at Fontana Village Resort March 25-26, along with a…
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Bring on the bikes: Mountains to coast bike ride to kick off from Waynesville
The plans are set: Waynesville’s getting invaded this fall, and the army will be 1,000 strong. Semi trucks will haul…
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Volunteers sought to adopt tree plot
Smokies rangers are looking for tree-lovers who want to try their hand at science to adopt a tree monitoring plot…
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Buy Haywood guide seeks new listings
An agritourism guide for Haywood County is looking for new listings to help visitors and locals alike explore everything from…
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Weigh in on Cold Mountain Game Land management plans
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is working on a plan to guide management at the Cold Mountain Game Land in…
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WNC farmers expand business through grants
Farmers in Western North Carolina will branch out with new crops and alternative growing methods, thanks to 31 grants totaling…
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Life on LeConte: Winter on the top demonstrates the harshness and beauty of nature
Sipping hot tea while swaddled beside a propane heater, warmth beaming as wind whips snowflakes around the mountaintop outside. A…
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Database to showcase purveyors wood and forestry products
A “buy local” directory for wood-related products from Western North Carolina is looking for more businesses, artisans and organizations to…
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Celebrate winter Smoky style
Maggie Valley’s inaugural WinterFest Smoky Style will celebrate the best of the cold-weather season 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday,…
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Game on (the table) at fundraising dinner
An annual Wild Game Dinner hosted by the Wildlife Club at Haywood Community College will serve up a meal of…
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New Satulah trail in the works
Learn about the Highland Plateau Greenway’s vision to build a public trail to the top of Satulah Mountain at a…
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State bill seeks to strike down fracking rules
Bills to get rid of the oil and gas extraction rules developed by the N.C. Mining and Energy Commission have…
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Hike explores Smokemont
The season’s first hike in Friends of the Smokies’ “Classic Hikes of the Smokies” series will explore Smokemont Loop Trail…
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WCU launches outdoor speaker series
A speaker series featuring outdoor adventurers at Western Carolina University will kick off at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 3, with…
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A Golden secret
There is one winter visitor to our North Carolina Mountains that is probably happy the Blue Ridge Parkway is closed…
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WNC conservationists honored
Several Western North Carolina conservationists earned a spot in Wild South’s annual list of nominees for the Roosevelt-Ashe Conservation Awards,…
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Smokies visitation sets records
January was a record-setting month for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with 351,670 visitors, achieving a lifetime visitation of…
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Waynesville continues Tree City USA tradition
Waynesville was named a 2014 Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation, keeping running a streak that began in…
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Changing attitudes: Carlson reshaped ideas about conservation
History will no doubt remember Paul Carlson as one of the great visionaries of our time in Western North Carolina.…
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Behind the wheel with Paul Carlson: a two-hour tour of the Little Tennessee
As Paul Carlson tooled out of downtown Franklin, houses faded into rolling hayfields, and the Little Tennessee River soon took…
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Countin’ in the cold
I had originally intended to spend today (Monday, Feb. 16) doing a couple of short surveys for the annual Great…
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N.C. Wildlife Federation wins $30K grant
A $30,000 grant from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation will help the N.C. Wildlife Federation further its mission of conserving…
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Mountain thunder: Maggie musher takes up snowless dog sledding
Stepping into Kirk Wall’s custom-carpentered, immaculately decorated mountaintop home, I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d knocked on the wrong…
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HCC nabs accreditation from Society of American Foresters
Haywood Community College just became the only two-year community college in North Carolina to offer a forest management technology program…
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Polar Plunge lands cash for waterway education
Lake Junaluska was only 39 degrees on Jan. 31, but 120 people still braved the cold to participate in Haywood…
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Smokies invites you to meet new superintendent
Two open houses this month will offer the chance to meet and greet the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent,…
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One foot in front of the other: Haywood runner seeks to push her limits, share the joy of running
Pushing through 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 of biking and 26.2 of running, it was all Jennifer Jacobson could do…
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The bizarro world of plan revision
The Haywood County Board of Commissioners decided that today (Feb. 2) was the day they would boldly venture into the…
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Up close with the Smokies
The Experience Your Smokies program is looking for applicants who want to get an insider’s look at park operations while…
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Two areas added to potential wilderness inventory
Two potential candidates for wilderness designation in the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests were accidentally left off a master list…
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Wildlife Commission says no more red wolves
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission has publicly denounced the red wolf reintroduction in coastal counties, calling for the red wolves…
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Little Sandy Mush Bald slopes purchased for nature preserve
The northern slopes of Little Sandy Mush Bald, an iconic view for those who live in the coves and farms…
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Arboretum to memorialize landscaping great
The father of American landscape architecture will soon be memorialized at the North Carolina Arboretum.
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Learn from Leopold
Aldo Leopold and his writings are cornerstones of modern environmental ethic, and a program teaching how to use his work…
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Winter on the ridge: Wintry conditions cause Parkway closures despite warm temps at low elevations
Though a mixture of rain and ice pelted the windshield as I headed toward the Balsam Gap access of the…
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New museum to celebrate Fontana Dam’s 70th
A community museum and learning center at Fontana Village along Fontana Lake will commemorate the 70th anniversary of power production…
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More land conserved around Waterrock Knob
A 10-acre tract along the Blue Ridge Parkway and a new section of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail in Jackson County will…
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Grant allows kids hiking trails to expand
Trail adventures for kids will expand in North Carolina over the coming years, thanks to a $921,000 grant from the…
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National park wraps up three years of stream mapping
A three-year stream-mapping project in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is now complete, revealing new information about the park’s…
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The open water: Improved access, mapping set to spur water recreation in WNC
It’s shaping up to be an exciting year for water-lovers in Western North Carolina. After more than a decade of…
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Sylva man reflects on televised Alaskan survival experience, the adventure lifestyle
Scott McCleskey didn’t really know what he was saying yes to when he boarded the plane to Alaska, pack of…
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The uncommon common goldeneye
The best way I know of to get a rare bird to fly the coop is to write about it.…
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Hike the Dirty Dozen
Looking for a new way to explore the wilderness? Check out the Dirty Dozen Wilderness Hike Challenge.
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