Word from the Smokies: Park embarks on cutting-edge hellbender study
With wrinkly skin that comes in various shades of brown, eastern hellbenders aren’t easy to spot. These giant salamanders, which average 20 inches in length, spend most of their lives nearly invisible under rocks on the bottom of cool, fast-flowing streams.
Conservation Fund protects WNC woodlands
The Conservation Fund announced that a critical property in the Great Balsam Mountains is protected as forest and natural land.
Rock climbing restrictions will protect young falcons
The U.S. Forest Service and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) are temporarily restricting activities on or near several cliff and rock face areas in the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests to protect nesting peregrine falcons and their fledgling.
Forest Service enhances 128 plans with old growth protections
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.
Free speech, as it turns out, needs protecting
It was an eye-opener for me, that’s for sure.
Land trusts work to protect Brushy Mountains
A pair of land trusts has worked together to permanently protect 1,125 acres spanning parts of Wilkes, Alexander and Iredell counties.
