In the midst of a summer characterized by coronavirus-related disruptions on top of the closing of the public comment phase for the Pisgah-Nantahala National Forest’s much-awaited forest management plan, two new hires have taken the reins in key leadership positions overseeing management of these public lands. 

The Pisgah National Forest has begun to reopen many trails and roads and partially lift restrictions for dispersed camping.

Operations have shifted on public lands in Western North Carolina due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The atmosphere inside the Lake Logan Conference Center was more akin to a reunion of friends than to a gathering of business associates as members of the Stakeholders Forum for the Nantahala and Pisgah Plan Revision arrived Wednesday, Feb. 26 — and perhaps there’s good reason for that. 

Numerous law enforcement agencies led by the Transylvania County Sheriff's Office are engaged in a search for Phillip Michael Stroupe II, a suspect who is known to be armed and dangerous.

An infestation of destructive emerald ash borers has been confirmed in the Appalachian Ranger District of the Pisgah National Forest and on private lands along the French Broad River, extending from Marshall to the Tennessee state line.

Round tables and large, neon sticky notes characterized last week’s kickoff of a planning process to cut timber and create elk habitat in a remote corner of northeastern Haywood County.  

About 50 people representing groups including the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, MountainTrue, The Nature Conservancy, the Ruffed Grouse Society and Haywood County government — among a host of others — found their way to the room at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville, taking a seat on the large circle of chairs waiting for them.

When John Cottingham, then working as — in his words — a “stuffy, corporate lawyer,” walked into the Pisgah District Ranger Office to drop off a donation, he was surprised to learn that there actually wasn’t a way for the Pisgah National Forest to accept donations toward projects.

The timeline for a draft forest management plan has been kicked back once more, with the document now expected sometime at the very end of 2016.

A series of close bear encounters in the Pisgah National Forest have prompted a temporary ban on overnight camping in the Shining Rock Wilderness, Graveyard Fields and Black Balsam areas in Haywood County.

The restrictions took effect last Wednesday (Oct. 17), following the most recent, and possibly most frightening, bear encounter two days before when a bear made contact with a tent while campers were inside.