TVA lawsuit Q&A
North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper issued the following question and answer column on the state’s air pollution law suit…
Read More
State sues TVA for polluting mountains’ air
N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper filed a lawsuit against the Tennessee Valley Authority last week seeking to significantly reduce pollution…
Read More
Cornell – it’s more than just ivory-billeds
Cornell University and the ivory-billed woodpecker have been inextricably linked since the announcement in 2005 of the rediscovery of the…
Read More
Elk negotiations continue
Dick Hamilton, director of the North Carolina Wildlife Commission, is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Biologists with…
Read More
A lone cry of reason from the wilderness
The January 2006 edition of “The Auk,” the journal of the American Ornithologists’ Union, includes a 15-page article by Jerome…
Read More
Local BMX teen aims high
A 15-year-old from Waynesville hopes to be part of the women’s USA BMX bike team at the 2008 Olympics after…
Read More
Congress debates longevity of the Endangered Species Act
A move to rewrite the Endangered Species Act has passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is expected to come…
Read More
Time spent outdoors always validates itself
By Ed Kelley When I think of the mountains of Western North Carolina, I like to believe I know a…
Read More
Winter Fishing is more than it gets credit for
By Eugene Shuler Winter is a great time to go fishing. Don’t believe me? Just look at what you don’t…
Read More
Seeking a new chill
By Michael Beadle Freezing temperatures may keep some people bundled up indoors, but not Adam Fox. When the temperatures dip…
Read More
Trees up close and personal
Winter is a great time for studying tree identification. The mountains look steel-gray from a distance. The forest, up close,…
Read More
Two-wheel motion: Long-time mechanic opens bikeshop
A new cycling shop opened in Waynesville just in the nick of time for Bob Gatis. The notion recently struck…
Read More
Bird nerds unite
I learned, when I worked full-time for the Smoky Mountain News, that it helps if newspaper writers are thick-skinned. It…
Read More
Cherokee reels in North Carolina Casting Championships
Top fly and bass fishermen will be coming to Cherokee to show off their skills at the North Carolina Casting…
Read More
Smokies: Road to Nowhere won’t impair park
Controversy over proposed changes to the mission of the National Park Service has landed at the doorstep of the Great…
Read More
Holiday Bird Nerd Diary: Yellow-headed blackbird highlights Balsam bird count
The Carolina Field birders, friends and volunteers conducted their fourth annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count on Thursday, Dec. 29.
Read More
Striking at the heart of Parks
An attempt by the National Park Service to rewrite the guidelines governing protection of parks has prompted conservation groups to…
Read More
Debate erupts over wording of new Park Service guidelines
The National Park Service says the management guidelines governing national parks need to be clarified in the face of a…
Read More
Bear, skunk, coyote targeted in hunting regulations
Citing increased problems for humans, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission has proposed new regulations that will step up hunting of…
Read More
A wintry mix
Christmas Day brought showers interrupted by buckets full of sleet. Sometime late Christmas night or before dawn the next morning,…
Read More
Ladies first: Cataloochee Ranch hosts skiing and snowboarding classes tailored to women
By Michael Beadle Once again Cataloochee Ski Area will be hosting a series of once-a-week skiing and snowboarding classes this…
Read More
Outdoor rec
The world of outdoor recreation had several milestones this year, especially in the whitewater arena.
Read More
Parks in 2005
Nature’s lessons A $105,000 grant from North Carolina’s GlaxoSmithKline Foundation to Friends of the Smokies will connect several hundred teachers…
Read More
Environment in 2005
Outdoor recreation and the environment go hand in hand. Paddlers like clean rivers, hikers prefer old-growth forests over those that…
Read More
It’s hornets vs. swans in OLF controversy
One would think swans would probably be a sure bet in such a scenario. After all, they are bigger and…
Read More
Get your birding on a trail near you
A North Carolina Birding Trail is under way and could one day could link popular birding sites across the state…
Read More
Tobacco settlement money to help farmers
The Land Trust for the Little Tennessee was recently awarded a portion of a $200,000 grant from the North Carolina…
Read More
Tags raising money for Friends of the Smokies
Those sporting the trendy turquoise and pink Great Smoky Mountains National Park license plates on their bumpers raised $181,800 this…
Read More
Park considers more elk
The North Carolina Wildlife Commission is still weighing whether to allow the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to bring more…
Read More
One step at a time
When Lisa Ashe signed up for the newly formed Jeff Galloway running group in Jackson County last year, her dream…
Read More
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.…
Read More
Fishermen struggle with loss of stream access
Editor’s note: This article was written by Mallory Martin and Carl Kittel of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. Martin…
Read More
Kudos for Cantrell’s new book on fish in Cherokee country
When I read the notice about a new book — The Fishes Gathered in Cherokee Country — in the Nov.…
Read More
The Naturalist's Corner
The front that passed through the week before Thanksgiving brought the first waterfowl fallout of the season to Lake Junaluska.…
Read More
Two parks, two leaders, one mission: Park assistant superintendent, Phil Francis takes over at Parkway
Phil Francis, the long-time assistant superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, has been appointed superintendent of the Blue…
Read More
Ranger Rick rappels into cave to rescue dog
Rangers with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park rappelled into a 70-foot underground cave last week to rescue a hunting…
Read More
NOC founder inducted into Hall of Fame
Payson Kennedy, co-founder of Nantahala Outdoor Center, was inducted into the inaugural class of the International Whitewater Hall of Fame…
Read More
Chickadee code cracked
Chickadee #1: Chick-a-DEE!-DEE!-DEE!-DEE!-DEE!-DEE!-DEE! Translation: There’s a sharp-shinned hawk behind you!
Read More
Brothers in arms
Jacob, Luke and Ben Sutton were once considered renegade snowboarders at Cataloochee Ski Area.
Read More
Taking it outside: The Balsam Mountain Trust offers nature hikes, outdoor seminars, workshops and research studies in a richly diverse tract of 4,400 acres in Jackson County
By Michael Beadle At first it sounds like a contradiction — a land developer interested in protecting the environment. Is…
Read More
New shelter near Max Patch ready for hikers
A new Appalachian Trail shelter that can sleep 18 backpackers has been built in the Max Patch area of Haywood…
Read More
A season of our own
Here’s a riddle for you. If the leaves turn in the mountains and there are no tourists to see them,…
Read More
Dealing with the struggles of keeping the Hemlock in WNC
The clock is ticking for hemlock trees in Western North Carolina.
Read More
Park or promoter? Parkway looks for high ground in new role of peddling tourism
The Blue Ridge Parkway plans to build a visitor center outside Asheville in coming years that will provide information on…
Read More
The Naturalist's Corner
Endangered Species Act Threatened A California cowboy is trying to hobble the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Congressman Richard Pombo (R-Calif.),…
Read More
A view from above
Editor’s note: The Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project, a regional environmental group, took the Smoky Mountain News on an aerial tour…
Read More
To elk or not to elk
By the time this column hits the streets (11/2), the results from two public meetings regarding the Great Smoky Mountains…
Read More
