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.

While some originally hoped — and continue to hope — that a series of amendments to the Fontana Regional Library System proposed by Jackson County commissioners might ameliorate enough of their concerns to allow them to remain in the decades-long partnership with the FRL system, a questionable pamphlet and an academically dubious “list of inappropriate books” being circulated by FRL opponents suggests otherwise, even as FRL supporters report troubling visions of Christmas future if commissioners don’t turn back soon. 

The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy has transferred 1,060 acres in Haywood County to the State of North Carolina to become part of public lands managed by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission.

These tracts include land for the Cold Mountain Game Land and Pisgah Game Lands, including the 409-acre White Oak Mountain tract adjoining the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that SAHC purchased in December 2024.

Waynesville’s newest co-working space is not a corner suite or a cubicle farm — Root & Rise, located on South Main Street, is designed to be welcoming, affordable and collaborative, with a purpose that extends beyond laptops and lattes. 

Amid the ongoing federal government shutdown, the nonprofit Friends of the Smokies will continue to provide funding to ensure Great Smoky Mountains National Park remains open with basic visitor services and limited staffing from Nov. 3, through Jan. 4, 2026. 

Trees already line many of Waynesville’s streets and ring the town’s parks, but after Town Council’s Oct. 28 meeting, their future care will no longer be left to chance. Council members voted unanimously to adopt a new municipal tree ordinance designed to protect public trees, reduce energy use, improve aesthetics and promote long-term environmental sustainability. 

Jackson County’s parks and recreation system is in solid condition overall but faces notable shortfalls in land, staffing and key recreational offerings, according to a recent report by McGill Associates. 

Framing local park systems on a spectrum between “expense” and “investment,” the report shows that communities treating recreation as an investment tend to enjoy economic dividends through higher property values, visitor spending and improved quality of life. 

After Brevard-based Domokur + Associates outlined a plan to complete design and construction management services for rebuilding and renovating several cabins at Camp Hope, which was heavily damaged during flooding from Tropical Storm Fred in 2021. The Town of Canton is poised to take another step toward restoring one of its most cherished public spaces. 

A Jackson County commissioner brought up the issue of library security during the commission’s March 4 meeting, citing safety concerns for staff at the Jackson County Library in Sylva.