Outdoors
WCU celebrates 40 years cleaning up the Tuckasegee River
For four decades, Western Carolina University has participated in a daylong effort of cleaning up a portion of Jackson County’s Tuckasegee River.
‘Bloom with a View’ returns to Arboretum
The North Carolina Arboretum is heralding spring’s arrival with the return of “Bloom with a View,” May 4-19.
Up Moses Creek: A Siphon Does Not Sip
Ready?” I shout over my shoulder up towards the pond. I am straddling the end of a long, white plastic pipe filled with water, its end taped shut with a wrap of 5-mil plastic.
Notes from a plant nerd: Hope for the Hemlocks
In springtime, all things are possible. Everything around you that is alive is imbued right now with the same hopeful energy.
Word from the Smokies: 'Gradient of spring' offers opportunity for exploration
By the third week of April, spring is in full bloom throughout the picturesque valleys of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Finding healing and acceptance at the end of a trail
Peter Conti seemed destined for a life of chronic pain.
For nearly two years after a devastating motorcycle accident left him with a shattered pelvis and nerve damage in his leg, Conti battled depression and suicidal ideation while struggling to manage his debilitating, demoralizing condition with dangerously addictive opioids.
Notes from a plant nerd: Invasive Plants Part II: Revenge of the Sterile Cultivar
All around Western North Carolina are thousands upon thousands of small to medium trees blooming white, stinky flowers along roadsides, fence lines and driveways.
Lawsuit challenges Forest Service timber targets
A lawsuit filed last month in a Washington, D.C., federal court alleges the U.S. Forest Service’s practice of setting “timber targets” puts the climate at risk, undermines the Biden administration’s climate goals and violates federal law.
Notes from a plant nerd: Invasive Plants
I’ve been writing this column for over a year and a half and every plant that I have highlighted and celebrated evolved and co-evolved in the bioregion of Southern Appalachia.