Outdoors
Word from the Smokies: Park program welcomes people with disabilities into the backcountry
Growing up, Blount County native Carly Pearson considered time outdoors a way of life. When she wasn’t exploring the stunningly diverse landscape of nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park, she was giving it her all on the soccer field.
Waynesville project seeks to elevate quality of life
The Town of Waynesville is applying for the Urban and Community Forestry Financial Assistance Program grant.
The goal is to implement the "Keeping Waynesville Beautiful Project,” which would aim to address several critical needs related to urban and community forestry.
“We have identified a pressing need for the enhancement of the town's urban tree population and the implementation of sustainable tree maintenance practices in two census tracts that include over half of the Waynesville population,” a news release states. “Furthermore, fostering community engagement and awareness about the importance of urban and community forestry is essential.”
By addressing these needs, the project seeks to elevate the overall quality of living in Waynesville while ensuring the long-term health and sustainability of urban and community forests.
The Town of Waynesville is seeking letters of support from community businesses and organizations that are interested in the beautification of Waynesville and the maintenance of local trees. Those letters can be submitted to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by July 31.
Wildlife sanctuary gives a new start to orphaned fawns
Nestled away on seven acres in a nondescript warehouse above Canton, not visible from the road, sits an animal rehab facility unlike most others in this wild and rugged region.
Notes from a plant nerd: Magnolia Sweet as Sugar
My dog Magnolia and I have been together for around 16 years. She’s a good dog. We used to wander all over the mountains searching for wildflowers, waterfalls and beautiful views.
Trail volunteers visit Japan for exchange
This July, the Carolina Mountain Club (CMC) is embarking on a landmark journey to Japan, marking a momentous step in the club’s history.
'You Are Here': U.S. poet laureate unveils Poetry in the Parks project
Anyone who has ever found themselves looking at a public map — from a trailhead to a mall directory — has seen that little arrow or star or red dot accompanied by the words “you are here.”
Up Moses Creek: 2 a.m.
A sudden, loud crack came through the open bedroom window, startling me out of sleep — “What was THAT?” Then came a cascade of pops and snaps that told me a tree was falling, a big tree, to judge by how long the noise lasted. Some tall wooden thing weighing many tons had just crashed.
Word from the Smokies: Smokies cities make strides toward ensuring bear, human safety with new trash bins
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is home to an estimated 1,900 black bears — about two per square mile — with more than 14,500 of these iconic mammals roaming the four-state mountain region.
Notes from a plant nerd: Heal all of yourself
There are a few native plants whose names I call out loud like a prayer whenever I see them. This is especially true since the crazy times of the global pandemic and resulting shutdown. One of those is the whorled loosestrife (Lysimachia quadrifolia) whose name I slowly pronounce out loud as a benediction, “world, lose strife.” And I mean it.
