Outdoors
The Joyful Botanist: World, lose strife
For the past few years, whenever I encounter the whorled loosestrife growing along a trail or roadside I have been saying its name out loud, and slowly. Like a prayer: “World, lose strife.”
Or so it sounds to my ears when said aloud. “World, lose strife.” And this world around us could use a lot less strife, that’s for sure.
Word from the Smokies: Bryson City painter reflects on a lifetime of art inspired by nature
Elizabeth Ellison was dealing almost strictly in watercolors when a logistical challenge transformed her painting career. It was 2013, and she was planning a one-person exhibition at the NC Arboretum in Asheville that would require to her to produce a plethora of new paintings in time for the 2017 show.
Up Moses Creek: Earthquakes
I was walking back into the house when Becky met me at the door, excited: “I think we just had an earthquake! Did you feel it?” She’d heard a low roar, she said, and then a closet door beside her rattled, as if something inside wanted out. “It went on for maybe 20 seconds.” This was on May 10, at 9:04 a.m., to be exact. And all I could say was “What?”
Amid Pisgah logging plans post-Helene, Forest Service shuts out public
In early April, a U.S. Forest Service office in East Tennessee’s Cherokee National Forest issued a memo inviting the public to weigh in on its recovery operations in the wake of Tropical Storm Helene. The storm had felled trees across tens of thousands of acres of the forest, the agency said, and those trees posed the risk of fueling wildfires.
Troxler: Raw milk puts human health at risk
From childhood, we have learned that milk is a foundational food, growing strong bones and a healthy body. People likely remember the slogan “Milk, It Does a Body Good” and our meals being served with a glass of milk. Milk is a staple of childhood and a product families can confidently serve their kids.
Botany, beauty and Bartram: The flower hunter's legacy
More than two centuries after William Bartram explored the Southern Appalachian foothills, his words, like his footsteps, still echo through the ridgelines and river valleys he once traversed.
Word from the Smokies: Scientific inquiry, a thriving enterprise in the Smokies
Birds, bees, bears, dragonflies, salamanders, hemlocks, fungi. Scientific research in Great Smoky Mountains National Park addresses a wide swath of subjects. From Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and states much farther away, scientists from several disciplines have found the park fertile ground for inquiry.
Wildfire season is here. Helene and DOGE could make it worse.
Limited resources and tricky topography already pose challenges. Now those problems have been exacerbated.
When Chris and Sara Evensen bought their home off Elk Mountain Scenic Highway in 2018, they felt like they’d hit the natural beauty jackpot: a nice home on two acres, ensconced in a gorgeous hardwood forest.
Haywood Waterways hosts fishing tournament
The nonprofit Haywood Waterways Association will host its second annual fishing tournament on the West Fork of the Pigeon River.
There are categories for both adults and youth 12 and under. Adults can participate in teams of one to four individuals. Registration fee is $200 per team. Fly and conventional rods are both OK.
