The second event of the Zahner Conservation Lecture Series season will take place on Thursday, June 18, and will feature Lauren D. Pharr, postgraduate researcher at North Carolina State University, presenting “Story: Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, Conservation, and the Science Inside the Nest.”

The red-cockaded woodpecker once faced a severe decline as longleaf pine forests disappeared across the southeastern United States. Today, it stands as one of the most recognized examples of successful species recovery. 

Waynesville Town Council will hear public comments next week regarding its upcoming vote that would purportedly allow for conservation of rural farmland. 

Last month, Waynesville’s planning board discussed the potential zoning amendment in detail before ultimately voting 6-3 to recommend town council passes it.

When the U.S. Department of Agriculture first announced its intention to rescind the Roadless Rule in August 2025, Southern Environmental Law Center staff received around 8,000 mailed public comments opposing to the decision, which they stuffed into boxes and delivered to the Forest Service. 

In all, the agency received 625,930 public comments, despite a historically short comment window. 

With striking white-and-gray plumage, yellow beaks and talons and powerfully compact bodies, peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) are beautiful birds in any posture. But they’re downright magical in the air — aerial acrobats capable of reaching 200 mph as they dive down onto their prey. For Johnson City, Tennessee, ornithologist Rick Knight, such sightings are especially rich in meaning. 

H.R. 2768 Benton MacKaye National Scenic Trail Feasibility Study Act of 2025, as amended, has passed out of the House Committee on Natural Resources. The amendment requires the feasibility study to be completed within two years. (The Senate version required a one-year study.) 

From bears and bobcats to eagles and elk, 22,893 species have been documented so far in Great Smoky Mountains National Park — and nearly half of them are insects. Becky Nichols, the park’s long-time entomologist, has dedicated her career to learning about and protecting lifeforms like bees, wasps, moths and butterflies. 

As a child in rural Washington state, Nichols gravitated toward nature and animals of all sorts. She knew from a young age that she wanted a career related to the environment. 

The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy has transferred 1,060 acres in Haywood County to the State of North Carolina to become part of public lands managed by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission.

These tracts include land for the Cold Mountain Game Land and Pisgah Game Lands, including the 409-acre White Oak Mountain tract adjoining the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that SAHC purchased in December 2024.

Jackson County commissioners have approved a sweeping new conservation framework designed to balance growth with preservation across some of the most ecologically significant lands in Western North Carolina, located in the southern part of the county. 

Thanks to a collaboration among local conservation partners, Mainspring Conservation Trust has acquired a critical 94-acre inholding within Panthertown Valley that is now on track to be permanently protected.

One of Western North Carolina’s most cherished natural areas, Panthertown is often called the “Yosemite of the East.” 

The National Forest Service, housed under the United States Department of Agriculture, plans to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule instated by President Bill Clinton to protect national forests’ roadless acres. 

Drawing opposition from 99% of public commenters, this recission is part of a series of opaque federal actions and policies instituted in the face of significant public outcry.