Outdoors
Jackson County offers skiing at Cataloochee
Enjoy a full night of skiing or snowboarding at Cataloochee Ski Area with Jackson County Parks and Recreation on Thursdays and Fridays.
Open to ages 5 and up, skiing will be from 5-10 p.m., with everyone meeting upstairs in the main lodge at 5 p.m. to check in and receive tickets, which are purchased at a discount.
The Joyful Botanist: Soil Life
Winter has come to Southern Appalachia; the forests are mostly dormant, sleeping and saving energy for springtime and the return of growth and vitality. While it may appear that everything is slowed and in decline, just below the surface, life still flourishes. This quote from the mystic Iranian Sufi poet Rumi captures the flourish: “And don't think the garden loses its ecstasy in winter. It's quiet, but the roots are down there riotous.”
State sees widespread moderate drought
Much of North Carolina continues to experience moderate drought, according to the latest advisory from the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council.
The DMAC classified all or parts of 65 counties, including all of The Smoky Mountain News coverage area, as experiencing moderate drought, or D1 conditions.
NC AG opposes rollback of PFAS protections
Attorney General Jeff Jackson is opposing a rollback of data collection and reporting about PFAS forever chemicals. Just months away from receiving data from PFAS manufacturers about the type and amount of PFAS chemicals in their products, EPA is now trying to hide the use of PFAS from the public, Jackson claims.
Virtual plant clinic in Haywood
Gardeners perhaps haven’t started planning yet, but N.C. State Extension Master Gardener volunteers are available to answer questions about lawns, vegetables, flowers, trees and ornamental plants; disease, insect, weed or wildlife problems; soils (including soil test results) and fertilizers; freeze and frost damage; and cultural and chemical solutions to pest problems.
Word from the Smokies: Curious kids keep the letter writers busy
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.
WCU honors program matriarch with renovated suite
Three former members of the Western Carolina University women’s basketball team stepped up to the line to tip off the process of raising enough philanthropic support to name the current Catamount squad’s locker room after the founder of the program.
That opening shot has resulted in a resounding “swish,” as that locker room now bears the name of the individual who launched the program during an era when women’s intercollegiate athletics was primarily an afterthought.
‘Ranger of the Lost Art’ and the search for a vanished Smokies poster
The iconic adage “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma” coined in 1939 by Winston Churchill, the famous British statesman, has been used to describe all sorts of mysteries over the years. In fact, there’s no shortage of mysteries in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where long-standing stories of vanished persons or the locations of old cemeteries persist. One unsolved Smokies mystery involves an 80-year-old piece of government art.
$1.1M in grants for flood resilience projects awarded
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Flood Resiliency Blueprint is partnering with the North Carolina Land and Water Fund to provide $1.1 million for three flood risk reduction projects located in Dunn, Clyde and Smithfield.
In total, the projects will restore more than 1.29 miles of stream and 50 acres of floodplain as well as retrofit a pond to reduce flooding.
