The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is providing updates on measures to maximize trout stream stocking in the western part of the state after Hurricane Helene destroyed the Bobby N. Setzer State Fish Hatchery in September 2024. 

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission invites 2025 North Carolina taxpayers to donate all or part of their state tax refund to the N.C. Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Fund. Donations support research and conservation projects for the state’s most vulnerable wildlife. 

Editor’s note: This piece is the first of a two-part series exploring plans to rebuild I-40 through the Pigeon River Gorge and the project’s implication for wildlife populations. Part two will appear in next week’s the Smoky Mountain News.

When I-40 through the Pigeon River Gorge first opened in October 1968, it was hailed as a triumph of human accomplishment, the dawn of a new era for travel, tourism, and economic opportunity in newly linked Haywood County, North Carolina, and Cocke County, Tennessee.

Gardeners perhaps haven’t started planning yet, but N.C. State Extension Master Gardener volunteers are available to answer questions about lawns, vegetables, flowers, trees and ornamental plants; disease, insect, weed or wildlife problems; soils (including soil test results) and fertilizers; freeze and frost damage; and cultural and chemical solutions to pest problems. 

We love our bears here in the Smokies. It’s estimated there are around 15,000 in the four-state area surrounding the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and they’ve become an iconic symbol of the region. 

So, it’s no wonder that of the hundreds of stories we published on The Smoky Mountain News website in 2025, it was one about relocating bears that was the most popular.

What do rangers eat for lunch? How did the Great Smoky Mountains get their name? Do rangers have to feed the bears? Are there alligators in the park? What about moose? Dolphins? 

“The kids really want to know,” said Scott Young, a volunteer at Great Smoky Mountains National Park who, together with his wife Jayne, has answered every letter kids from across the country send to the national park since they first took on the task in 2021.

The Open Space Institute and Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust announced the acquisition of the 104-acre Peregrine Tract along the southern face of Whiteside Mountain. Permanent protection of the property, which had been approved for development, marks a major victory in longstanding efforts to safeguard one of Southern Appalachia’s most scenic and ecologically significant landscapes. 

The word home evokes images that go deeper than its definition “the place where one lives.” 

Home means more than a house or domicile. It speaks of a place you live, and also a place that lives within you. It can mean where you come from, a place you aspire to go or return to, and it can mean emotional connection to a living space, or land that you are connected to emotionally.

Dreaming of spring? Beat the winter blues by planting native seeds.

Late fall and early winter are the perfect times to sow many native species, which benefit pollinators, wildlife, soil and water quality — all while being low-maintenance in your garden.

While our habits and hobbies outdoors may vary, it’s a point of pride for most in Western North Carolina that nature is never far out of reach. 

Cullowhee and Sylva host a wealth of recreation opportunities suited for enthusiasts and beginners alike and occupy some of the most biologically diverse wilderness in the United States.