Outdoor recreation leaders in the region recently had the opportunity to weigh in on a newly established North Carolina Outdoor Recreation Industry Office whose aim is to help the industry and recruit more business. 

Swain County commissioners recently approved a 10-year master plan for its parks and recreation programs and facilities, but it appears any major improvements will have to wait until more grant funding is available. 

In 2013, Western Carolina University cut the ribbon on 7-mile trail system zig-zagging an otherwise unbuildable piece of university property. Over the five years since, the trails have become an indispensible resource for mountain bikers — as well as trail runners and hikers — in the Cullowhee area, and last fall a trio of WCU employees set out to back up those observations with hard numbers. 

Eleven months ago, the Jackson County Commissioners voted unanimously to approve development of a river park on county-owned land along the Tuckasegee River in Dillsboro. 

Lake Logan is a familiar fixture of any cruise along Haywood County’s stretch of N.C. 215, an 80-acre expanse of water that creates a wide-angle view of sudden contrast to the forested tunnel forming most of the road’s winding path toward the Blue Ridge Parkway. 

But for years, it’s been a well-known fact that the inviting-looking lake is off-limits to locals looking to spend a day swimming, fishing or boating. 

That’s not true anymore. 

The sky is a flawless, cloudless blue over Cataloochee Ski Area as Mark Brogan, 37, suits up for a morning on the slopes. A U.S. Army veteran who was previously stationed in Alaska, Brogan has a longstanding love for the outdoors and for the unique thrill that comes with a snowy slide down the side of a mountain. 

All set up with rented gear and an instructor, Brogan delays his journey to the lift long enough to hold his 19-month-old son Connor in front of the ski school lodge as his wife Sunny snaps a picture. 

The results of a $14,000 study that assessed the best uses of the town-owned Whitmire property revealed to the Franklin Town Council what residents have been asking for all along.

An effort to get a no wake zone instituted on Lake Glenville will move forward following a split vote of the Jackson County Commissioners Jan. 29. 

For the second time in two months, a proposal to kick off the process toward a November referendum vote on building a pool failed to gain traction in Jackson County. 

An already-tight timeline to get a referendum question about funding an indoor pool on Jackson County’s November 2018 ballot just got tighter when county commissioners opted during a Monday, Dec. 18, meeting to table a vote on the next step in the process.