Former CMC president honored
Former Carolina Mountain Club president George Oldham received the organization’s highest award last month when he was presented with the…
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The Naturalist's Corner: Bamboo by any other name
Bamboo is the common name applied to a wide and varied group of woody grasses from all around the world.…
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A fire-forged laboratory: Scientists look to learn from 2016 wildfires
When rain finally quelled the wildfires running rampant through the Southeastern U.S. last year, the public was breathing a collective…
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At home in the snow
Muted under a blanket of fresh snow, the forests surrounding the Blue Ridge Parkway’s Western North Carolina stretch were quiet,…
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Parkway maintenance causes closures
Boom axe operations along the Blue Ridge Parkway will result in closures at various locations along the Blue Ridge Parkway…
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Buncombe makes clean energy pledge
Buncombe County Commissioners voted to commit to complete transition to clean and renewable energy during a meeting Tuesday, Dec. 5.
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Rim Trail reopened following purchase
A portion of the Rim Trail near Hayesville that’s been closed since 2010 has now reopened to the public.
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New species found in Tennessee
A new fish species has been discovered in the South, with Tennessee Valley Authority biologists identifying the logperch, or Percina…
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Endangered fish found in new territory
A routine day of fish population monitoring turned exciting when Mainspring Conservation Trust biologists found a federally threatened fish in…
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New district ranger hired for Appalachian District
The Appalachian Ranger District of the Pisgah National Forest has a new district ranger following the hire of Richard Thornburgh,…
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Embracing the season: Cross-state trek presents challenge and reward for Asheville hiking legend
At 34, Jennifer Pharr Davis has conquered her fair share of long-distance hikes, and then some. Her 2011 hike of…
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Disc golf tournament raises money for nonprofits
A recent disc golf tournament in Waynesville earned nearly $2,000 to support Haywood Waterways Association and Haywood County Special Olympics.
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Land protected at Highlands of Roan
Land conservation in the Highlands of Roan area got a boost with the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy’s purchase of 142…
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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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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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