Despite being closed for months, the Evergreen Packaging paper mill in Canton continues to rack up environmental violations, with two recently issued violations for exceeding fecal coliform limits bringing its total number of violation notices since May 2021 up to 22.

The owner of Ela Dam, a 99-year-old structure that sits about half a mile above the confluence of the Tuckasegee and Oconaluftee rivers, is asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to let it surrender its license to generate power there.

Up your recycling know-how during a program at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7, at the University of North Carolina Asheville’s Reuter Center. 

Draft priority measures to reduce greenhouse gases in North Carolina are open for public comment through Sunday, Jan. 28. 

A retreat for faith leaders and people interested in inspiring their congregations and communities to care for the planet will be held Feb. 2-3 at the Montreat Conference Center in Montreat. 

Hear the case for building more housing from an environmental perspective with a webinar offered 5:30-6:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 22, from MountainTrue. 

While mountain residents were busy preparing for Christmas, the Pactiv Evergreen paper mill in Canton that until May 2023 employed more than 1,000 of them was racking up a pair of new environmental violations.

This one goes to the Pigeon River, due both to the actual metals found in a sampling site along its bank and to the very metal way its fish populations have rebounded after the Canton paper mill shut down in June. 

The U.S. Forest Service has issued a proposal that would amend all 128 forest land management plans in its jurisdiction with language aimed at better maintaining, improving and expanding old-growth forests. 

Under the gray, misty November sky covering Panthertown Valley near Cashiers, we swish through shin-deep leaves in search of hemlock trees.