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.
HCLT to conserve 100 acre tract of pristine land in Cashiers
Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust (HCLT) is under contract on 100 acres of raw and pristine land in Cashiers. Fully surrounded by U.S. Forest Service land, this property is visible from Whiteside Mountain and protects streams in the Chattooga watershed.
The swamp a ghost saved
Yay! Spring break! That special time to be sequestered with adolescents and/or pre-adolescents in about 50 square feet while hurtling down the highway at 70 m.p.h.
Two Haywood graders cited for wetland violations
In two separate incidents, graders in Haywood County bulldozed over wetlands, violating state and federal regulations that protect the environmentally-sensitive areas.
Unique bog protected
Botanists are cheering the recent acquisition of a 38-acre tract that’s home to a mountain bog near Cashiers thanks to a grant from the state Natural Heritage Trust Fund.
Bog bet succeeds
When Gary Wein came on board as the executive director of the Highlands Cashiers Land Trust a year ago, he had no idea his first major conservation success could be full of so much drama.
