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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WCU professor leads Elwha project
Thanks to a National Science Foundation grant-funded project led by a Western Carolina University professor, 25 young people from Washington’s…
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Elk population on the rise
The elk herd in Cataloochee Valley added at least eight babies to its ranks this summer, giving the herd a…
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Land trusts launch 50,000-acre conservation campaign
The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina recently awarded $25,000 to a group of 13 land conservation organizations working collectively…
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USDA rabies vaccination targets raccoons
Tasty, fish flavored morsels will be dropped from overhead aircraft along the North Carolina-Tennessee line in Haywood and Swain counties…
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My Chattooga?
Controversy over a paddling ban on the upper Chattooga River attracted more than 125 people to a public meeting in…
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Hot summer songsters
No, it’s not another reality TV series, and there’s no need to call in and vote for your favorite. But…
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Watching for what’s in the water
By Michael Beadle It’s mid-morning at Cartoogechaye Creek just below the Macon County Recreation Park’s tennis courts in Franklin. Bill…
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The specter of litigation
A federal judge in Arkansas halted on Thursday, July 20, an ambitious Army Corps of Engineers plan to pump water…
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Franklin athlete chosen for US Team
Dave Linn, a triathlete from Franklin, has been chosen for the United States triathlon team going to the World Championships…
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Water, water... everywhere?
A rafting and tubing outfitter on the upper Tuckasegee River in Jackson County claims he is being slighted in a…
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Meet the stars
About a million years ago, through a wormhole, while I was still in college and Grumman aluminum was state of…
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Groups take stand against logging
The Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project and WNC Alliance are opposing a logging proposal in the vicinity of Looking Glass Rock,…
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Chaos is upon us!
Remember the chaos theory — how the flapping of a single butterfly’s wings could produce unknown and unpredictable atmospheric change?…
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Park expands Junior Ranger program
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is inviting kids and their families to participate in a selection of summer programs…
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A Walk In The Wild: Encounters of the wildlife kind
By Ed Kelley If you spend much time in the outdoors, you will eventually have an encounter with wildlife. I…
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Velvet Leaf Blueberry marks 5,000 species new to Smokies
The All Taxa Biological Inventory hit the 5,000 species milestone this summer in an ongoing effort to document every species…
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The race is on
By Michael Beadle You’ll have to excuse Greg Duff if he greets you out of breath. If he’s not in…
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Avian nomads
I have just finished by bird point survey for the Forest Service, which takes me to Mt. Mitchell and Roan…
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EPA sued for failing to protect citizens from other states’ pollution
The North Carolina Sierra Club and Southern Environmental Law Center have filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency for…
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Can you say inevitable?
I recently saw some previews for the documentary “Grizzly Man.” You may remember the story. Back in 2003, after 13…
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Feds may reinstate roadless areas in Carolinas, Virginia
A ban on logging and road building in roadless areas of the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests is on track…
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Bryson City conserves 750 acres bordering Smokies
The town of Bryson City finalized a conservation easement this month that will protect a 750-acre tract known as Lands…
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Let’s get buggy with it
“Daddy, Daddy come see!” called Izzy, my four-year-old daughter, running down the sidewalk to catch me as I was leaving…
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Demand leads to expansion at the Purchase Knob
The growing demand from researchers wanting access to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park prompted recent renovations to the Appalachian…
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The battle for the Chattooga rages on
The Sumter National Forest has fired back at American Whitewater, a paddling organization that is challenging a ban on paddling…
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First Tour de Tuck to challenge cyclists
A new cycling tradition begins this summer with the debut of the Tour de Tuck Bike Challenge on Saturday, Aug.…
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All together now – flash
Around 2 a.m. the other morning I was walking Maddie, my seven-month-old, around the house trying to convince her that…
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Mitigation demand holds in Supreme Court
In a 9-0 vote last week, the Supreme Court upheld the right of states to demand mitigation from hydropower companies…
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The Little River watershed
Nestled in the northern center of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Elkmont was once a thriving logging community that…
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