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. 

With their tough, leathery shells, unique digging habits and pattern of giving birth to identical quadruplets, nine-banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) are full of quirks. These solitary creatures are skilled burrowers and surprisingly adaptable — so much so that they’ve expanded their range to include some of the highest elevations in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission asks the public to refrain from the illegal practice of moving inland fish, specifically mountain trout, to other mountain water bodies as it can result in altering healthy habitats and negatively impact the agency’s ongoing aquatic conservation efforts.   

Over the last few months, Maconians have sounded the alarm on what they see as excessive debris removal in the county’s waterways. Now, as the cleanup effort wraps up, citizens are maintaining pressure, urging elected officials to learn from the debacle and institute safeguards for the future. 

By this point, more than six months after Hurricane Helene barreled through Western North Carolina, it’s a common sight. Heavy machinery moving in and around waterways, working to remove debris that choked rivers and streams during extreme flooding caused by the storm. 

The four-state mountain region that includes Great Smoky Mountains National Park is home to an estimated 14,500 black bears, but one particular animal had caught the attention of a watchful police chief in one of the park’s gateway communities.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a proposal to list the eastern hellbender as an endangered species throughout its range under the Endangered Species Act. Eastern hellbenders are found in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. 

I’ve been getting bogged down a lot this year. I don’t mean that I’ve been in a quagmire or morass necessarily, but I’ve been slogging through some incredibly beautiful wetland ecosystems in the mountains and throughout the southeastern US. 

I’ve been bog stomping. 

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to cut it up and use it for heat or timber, is it a waste of resources? Or, put another way, are humans the only reason that all other life on Earth was created?

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