Pisgah comes in first for volunteer hours
The Pisgah National Forest logged the most volunteer hours of any other national forest in 2016, earning Pisgah the Volunteer…
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Trail volunteer honored
Robbinsville resident Dick Evans received the Benton MacKaye Trail Association’s highest honor at the organization’s recent 2017 Annual Meeting.
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Foothills Parkway complete
For the first time, vehicles can drive the entire 16-mile section of the Foothills Parkway from Walland to Wears Valley,…
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Land protected at Sandy Mush
A recent purchase of 149 acres by the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy has added to a contiguous block of protected…
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Earning her place: Bryson City whitewater hall of famer reflects on lifetime on the water
Bunny Johns became a paddler mostly by accident. As a college freshman in the early 1960s, she’d lined up a…
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Effort underway to save the ash tree
MountainTrue and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy are partnering to ensure that the emerald ash borer doesn’t cause the majestic ash…
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Smokies emergency communications fundraiser gets help
Sunny Point Café in Asheville is joining forces with Friends of the Smokies to raise money for radio and emergency…
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Air quality improves in N.C.
North Carolina set a record low for number of unhealthy ozone days with the close of the 2017 season Oct.…
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First snow
Frosty temperatures Sunday night into Monday, Oct. 30, brought the first snow of the season to high elevations in the…
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The Naturalist's Corner: S.P.E.C.M.M.D.S.G.T.
Don’t you love the way it rolls off the tongue — “spec-mm-dsgt?” As in, “what time is it spec-mm-dsgt?”
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Catalyst for adventure: Field school instructors reflect on three decades in the Smokies
The Smoky Mountain Field School was only a couple years old when Joel Zachary came on as an instructor in…
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WNC paddler enters hall of fame
Paddling legend Bunny Johns was inducted into the International Whitewater Hall of Fame this fall for her sport-changing facilitation of…
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WCU biologist wins international award
Highlands Biological Station Director James Costa recently traveled to London to receive the silver Alfred Russel Wallace medal recognizing his…
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Highlands Biological serves as living laboratory
A dozen students studying everything from mountaintop forests to river basins are currently living at the Highlands Biological Station, enrolled…
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Keeping the river clean: Adopt-a-Stream volunteers keep litter out of Haywood’s waterways
It’s a sunny, abnormally warm October afternoon, and Tom Anspach is ready to meet it with a canoe on the…
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Volunteers plant hundreds of spruce
More than 900 young spruce trees were planted in the Black Balsam area of the Pisgah National Forest this fall,…
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Serenity Garden complete in Waynesville
The first project of the Town of Waynesville Arboretum has celebrated its first full year of growth and blooming, with…
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Special Olympics athletes celebrate a well-played season
Haywood County Special Olympics held its first Fall Games Celebration Saturday, Oct. 14, at the Waynesville Recreation Center, honoring the…
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HCC students dominate at lumberjack meet
The Haywood Community College Lumberjack Team placed first out of 10 teams in this year’s John G. Palmer Intercollegiate Woodsmen’s…
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Waynesville native to study lemurs
Waynesville native Christopher Lile is on his way to Madagascar for three months following his graduation from Gardner-Webb University this…
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Stay calm and creep on
Two years in a row — for this Hendershot family that’s like a tradition. We pedaled the Virginia Creeper Trail…
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Growing community: Church garden project brings neighbors together to grow healthy food
Two short years ago, the backyard of Waynesville’s Grace Church in the Mountains was basically just grass, save for a…
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Western Carolina gets green cred
Western Carolina University has been listed as one of the most environmentally responsible colleges on the continent — for the…
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Haywood grant to help fund elk volunteers
A $2,650 grant from the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority will help improve the experience of visitors journeying to Cataloochee…
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Stocking the Pigeon: Trout stocking a team effort in Haywood
It’s a sunny Friday morning on the Pigeon River when the bucket brigade assembles, five-gallon containers in hand. The stock…
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Panthertown seeks input through survey
Friends of Panthertown is hoping to learn more about the people who do — or may someday — serve as…
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Fires Creek conservation project still needs $25,000
A $500,000 pledge has brought Mainspring Conservation Trust within sight of the finish line to conserving 50 acres of private…
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Chimney Tops Trail reopens
For the first time in nearly a year, the Chimney Tops Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is…
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All’s well that ends with an elk
I had the pleasure of leading a birding trip for Alarka Expeditions on Friday September 29. I had been in…
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Pedaling toward Mitchell: Biking and biology go hand-in-hand for WCU professor
Darby Harris is going on a bike ride Saturday, Oct. 7, but how far he’ll pedal will be a mystery…
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Proceeds grow from Smokies plates
Sales of Friends of the Smokies license plates brought in $230,000 over the first half of 2017, a 6 percent…
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Grant funds to protect farmland
Three Western North Carolina properties are among those to be protected through $3.28 million in grants recently awarded by the…
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Dam removal to boost native species
A recent dam removal on Santeetlah Creek in the Nantahala National Forest is allowing native fish to return to high-quality…
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Scouts bring in the apple harvest
More than 600 pounds of apples wound up in the pantries of people in need thanks to the efforts of…
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Wildlife through a lens: Highlands couple explores the outdoors one photograph at a time
The years since retirement have been anything but dull for Highlands residents Ed and Cindy Boos. From Ecuador to Kenya…
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A wall can’t stop these migrants
Regrettably a wall through desert and riparian lowlands along the Mexico-U.S. border will have terrible effects on terrestrial fauna whose…
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Jackson gives toward trail maintenance
The Pinnacle Park Foundation and Friends of Panthertown Valley got some help with trail maintenance this month, thanks to a…
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Learning by growing: Veggie garden a teaching tool for Swain students
A summer of hard work is paying tasty dividends for some kids in Swain County 4-H — dividends paid in…
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Colorful fall predicted for Western North Carolina
This year’s autumn display is likely to be a colorful one, according to Western Carolina University fall foliage forecaster Beverly…
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Probing for pollinators: Miniature world of pollinators comes to life in Highlands
In the lull between summer’s peak and fall’s color arrival, things are on the quiet side at the Highlands Biological…
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Deer tests positive for rabies
A rare case of rabies in a deceased deer has been confirmed in Cherokee County.
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Enrollment agreement with local schools and Job Corps reached
A new agreement will allow students from three area schools to co-enroll at the Oconaluftee Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center,…
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The Naturalist's Corner: Pardon me Roy, is that the cat that chewed your new shoes
Number one daughter had a big camping weekend planned with friends and their families at Lake Chatuge over Labor Day.…
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Team Ruebel hits the trail: Hiking is a bonding force for father-daughter duo
Once Jay Ruebel started seeing the billboard, which advertised the 28.3-mile Trailblaze Challenge hike, it seemed like he couldn’t stop…
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Forest Service offers free camping for flood victims
People displaced by flooding in Texas and neighboring states will be able to stay in U.S. Forest Service campgrounds for…
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Telethon raises $200K for the Smokies
Friends of the Smokies’ 23rd annual telethon Aug. 23 raised $208,321 in donations to support the Great Smoky Mountains National…
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Help rebuild a Smokies trail
Volunteers are needed to help with efforts to overhaul the Rainbow Falls Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park,…
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Bear canisters recommended in the Nantahala
An increase in bear encounters in Panthertown and along the Appalachian Trail through the Nantahala National Forest has resulted in…
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A total eclipse of science
Two independent natural phenomena have occurred over the past few days that will be etched in the memories, minds and…
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‘We never gave up hope’: After 11 days missing, Tennessee teen walks himself out of the Smokies
Austin Bohanan, 18, had been lost in the wilderness for 11 days when he woke up the morning of Aug.…
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