Tis the elk rutting season
The shorter days and cooling temperatures of September and October were an important time of the year for the elk…
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A sparrowing we will go
For a bunch of “little ole ladies in tennis shoes,” birders are a hardy lot. Gone is the green of…
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Snow time like the present
By Michael Beadle Cataloochee Ski Area, North Carolina’s oldest ski slope, can now boast the longest running ski season in…
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No compromise
When I was a full-time staff writer at the Smoky Mountain News, I spent a lot of time covering the…
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The Energy Challenge: WCU summit calls attention to problems, possibilities
By Michael Beadle North Carolina’s population is expected to rise by nearly 3 million people in the next two decades.…
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Waiting to inhale: Environmentalists herald new Democratic Congress
Environmental activists across the country are heralding the Democratic sweep of Congress as a mandate for better stewardship of natural…
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Bush continues to “Dance with the one that brung ‘ya”
“Dance with the one that brung ‘ya” is an old Texas mantra, and Texas oilman George W. Bush has filled…
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Ray or the worm – the worm or Ray?
Once again,science and scientists go head to head with the forces of nature to see who can best predict the…
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Not so backcountry
When Al Smith arrived at the backcountry campsite in the Lake Fontana area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park…
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Foundation connects youth with national Park
The non-profit Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation recently awarded a $98,000 grant for rangers to conduct educational outreach programs for students…
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Saving before endangering: Federal bill could help prevent species from becoming listed as endangered
If you’re not careful, you could miss it.
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Cowee Mound preserved for future generations, historic interpretation
Cowee Mound, a 71-acre site in Macon County and once a major Cherokee village, will be preserved thanks to a…
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Spotlight on Endangered Species in WNC
Green Salamander — Although listed by the state as endangered and recognized as a species of concern by the U.S.…
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Simple living
By Kathleen Lamont Have you heard? The recent marriage of sustainable food production and big business is on the rocks.
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How ‘bout them toad suckers? Ain’t they clods?
When my wife came home the other evening, she asked if I had heard about the toad-sucking dog on NPR.
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Winter means waterfowl at Lake Junaluska
Anyone who follows the Naturalist’s Corner knows that I have devoted much ink to the birds one might encounter at…
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Recesses in nature: Bryson City group sets up new caving club
By Michael Beadle There are still dark corners in this world yet to be explored.
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Connecting with nature
Editors note: Bill and Sharon Van Horn with the Nantahala Hiking Club in Franklin recently attended a conference in West…
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Going the distance: Elite runner Jason Bodnar sets his sights on Olympic Trials
By Michael Beadle The marathon can be such a fickle race. As much as you prepare for it, a lot…
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Tisn’t the season, but...
A couple of Sundays ago Bob Olthoff, Blair Ogburn (senior naturalist at Balsam Mountain Preserve) and I were at Balsam…
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Scientists look at ways to stop invasive species
Resource managers and plant specialists with the Blue Ridge Parkway are calling on neighboring landowners to help rein in the…
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Ivory-billed hiatus
Ornithologists Geoff Hill of Auburn University and Dan Mennill from University of Windsor presented a program at this year’s American…
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Lawsuit thrown out, paddlers pledge appeal
Hikers, fishermen and environmentalists won a small victory last week in an on-going tug-of-war with paddlers over the upper Chattooga…
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Simple living
By Kathleen Lamont Buying local produce enables you to: • Eat fresher, better tasting, and healthier foods.
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Falling for autumn
The furnace has been on a couple of nights already to take the chill off. Driving home from Asheville the…
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Fall in the garden
The onset of fall marks the end of the active gardening season for most. It also marks the beginning of…
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Seeing is bee-living
School students who visited the Haywood County Fair last week learned all about bees at a traveling bee hive exhibit…
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What threatens the salamander
Illegal poaching of hellbenders, a gigantic prehistoric-looking salamander, has become so problematic scientists like Dr. Michael Freake are omitting data…
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Local racers score high in Tsali Triathlon
More than 300 competitors converged on Tsali Recreation Area earlier this month for the 14th annual Tsali Challenge Triathlon, a…
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The hunt for hellbenders
As a passel of high school interns tugged and squirmed their way into wetsuits along the edge of the Oconaluftee…
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The life of a hellbender
Most salamanders are born in the water as tadpoles. Later they grow legs and emerge onto land, albeit with a…
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24 hours of running
By Michael Beadle At first it seemed like madness. Why else would anyone freely submit to running 15 to 25…
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Help monarchs survive: plant milkweed and toss the pesticides
Monarch butterflies will soon be passing through Western North Carolina on their long migration back to Mexico for the winter.…
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Summer doldrums over
Birders are rejuvenated. Binoculars and spotting scopes have been cleaned and readied. Field guides have usurped The Da Vinci Code’s…
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See no warming, hear no warming, speak no warming
Two ostriches with their heads buried in the sand were having a conversation. The first ostrich said, chuckling, “Man can…
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Close encounters: Wild food shortage and population increase could lead to bear run-ins
Managers at Great Smoky Mountains National Park are bracing for a higher-than-normal level of bear activity this fall and are…
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A different social butterfly: WCU professor examines insect societies in new book
Mention the phrase “insect society,” and most folks automatically think of such natural phenomena as the bee hive, the ant…
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Summing up the game: New boat formula levels playing field for Tsali triathlon
In the old days, the months leading up to the Tsali Challenge triathlon meant a great scramble was on among…
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Night-jarring, goat sucking bullbats
I was clicking Izzy into her booster seat last Saturday about 9 p.m. when she said, “Look Daddy, there’s a…
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Air time: Students help with ozone study in high elevation garden
When Aaron Patterson graduated from Tuscola High this year, little did he know a big chunk of his summer break…
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Smokies’ coneflowers get around
Several times a year, Park Ranger Susan Sachs heads up to the ozone garden at the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning…
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The unfriendly skies
I was working in the yard the other afternoon when I heard a crisp “whap!” — like the sound of…
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Two flew over the cuckoo’s nest
Nothing takes me back to that shotgun shack along the dusty road around Horseshoe Lake quicker than the call of…
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Bethel group receives grants for conservation
On-going farmland conservation efforts in the rural Haywood County community of Bethel got a boost with a $20,000 grant from…
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Monarch migration
The king of insect migration – King Billy – will soon be gliding its way to Mexico by the millions.…
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The Moonlight shines again: Maggie lights up with Moonlight Race
Checking email has gotten a lot more exciting for Wendy Johnson lately. As the organizer for the 28th Annual Maggie…
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First-Ever Tour de Tuck to challenge cyclists
Cyclists will be testing their legs and lungs on the roads of Western North Carolina later this month in the…
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Peregrine falcons make a tenuous comeback
Peregrine falcons, a recovering endangered species, once again nested successfully this spring on Whiteside Mountain in Highlands.
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Beak tweaking or evolution
One of the tenets of the theory of evolution is a phenomenon known as character displacement. Character displacement states, in…
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