The Pisgah Conservancy has been awarded a 4.5-year, nearly $8 million grant from the National Forest Foundation on behalf of the USDA Forest Service.

This grant will support the repair and maintenance of trails, trail bridges and other trail infrastructure, as well as ecosystem recovery through invasive plant management, streambank stabilization, erosion control and watershed stewardship and education. 

The message at the Haywood County Farm Bureau’s April 1 legislative breakfast was unmistakable — more than 18 months after Hurricane Helene, recovery is moving, but not at the pace or scale many farmers say is necessary to stabilize their operations. 

Held annually, the breakfast serves as a touchpoint between Haywood County’s agricultural community and the policymakers charged with supporting it.

A new political ad marks a sharp escalation in the U.S. Senate race between Democrat Roy Cooper and Republican Michael Whatley, turning Hurricane Helene recovery into a central line of attack by accusing Whatley of overseeing delays of more than $100 million in disaster relief and framing the stalled aid as a failure of leadership, rather than of bureaucracy. 

A pair of ads center on the claim that Whatley was tapped to lead the recovery but failed to deliver timely assistance. 

For fiscal year 2026-2027, Haywood County Schools is requesting an additional $3 million in annual county funding. 

The ask is driven by several overlapping needs — offsetting state and federal cuts, avoiding fund balance appropriations, covering a $400,000 increase in annual operating costs, financing salary raises and supporting continued program needs — all while facing a budget shortfall between $700,000 and $740,000. 

More than 18 months after Hurricane Helene caused roughly $60 billion in damage across Western North Carolina, only about 12% of federal recovery funding has arrived — as FEMA delays persist and questions about the agency’s future mount — leaving displaced families in campers, local governments with budget gaps and Gov. Josh Stein proposing another $792 million in state spending to keep a stalled federal recovery from slipping further behind.  

Canton is preparing to turn one of its most flood-prone, long-neglected buildings into something it has rarely been in decades — useful. 

Once the project is complete, the aging structure at 225 Park St. will become a flexible, flood-adapted gathering space designed not just to survive the next storm but to anchor a broader transformation already reshaping the surrounding blocks. 

Applications are now being accepted through April 13 for the N.C. Agriculture Manufacturing and Processing Initiative, which was created to fund and promote the establishment of value-added agricultural manufacturing and food processing facilities in North Carolina. The program includes $4.3 million in available funding to support eligible projects. 

Failures in the federal response to Hurricane Helene are still rippling into Haywood County’s bottom line, forcing the county — like most of its municipalities — to build a budget around uncertainty and delay rather than recovery. 

County Manager Bryant Morehead’s March 16 presentation made clear that millions in storm-related costs remain unreimbursed, leaving the county to carry the financial burden 18 months after the disaster. 

High school seniors in Haywood County who have a degree of need coupled with a serious commitment to agriculture and community service are encouraged to apply for the Haywood County Farm Bureau’s scholarship program by April 15.

Students must have a GPA of at least 2.5, be residents of Haywood County, be currently enrolled in a Haywood County school or a two or four-year school, planning to enroll in an approved post-secondary program (technical/community, junior college, or a four-year institution.)

Crumbling promises and frozen FEMA reimbursements cast a long shadow over Waynesville’s budget retreat, where town officials confronted a stark reality — a $5.4 million deficit for the coming fiscal year, nearly $4 million of it tied up in lagging FEMA reimbursements from Hurricane Helene. 

With insurance costs climbing, mandated retirement contributions rising and capital requests topping $20 million, Waynesville Town Council will now face what one member called “the worst ever” budget picture in recent memory.