A field trip to view the elk rut season in Cataloochee Valley will be held by the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust…

Monarch butterflies are migrating through the mountains on their way to Mexico for the winter, and volunteers are needed to…

A tour of an off-the-grid, sustainable farm and homestead in Macon County will be held on Saturday, Oct. 2. Lara…

The Haywood County Meals on Wheels Community Garden is seeking volunteers to help harvest potatoes at the Johnson Farm Road…

Nantahala Outdoor Center’s famous end-of-season Guest Appreciation Festival is this weekend starting at 9 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 24, and…

The Outdoorsman Triathlon is coming to the Little Tennessee River in Swain County this weekend, Sept. 25 and 26. The…

A guided hike in the Waynesville watershed preserve, an 8,600-acre tract typically off-limits to the public, will be offered at…

SciGirls, a science program for girls ages 9 to 14, will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. the last…

Panther Top fire tower My family spent a wonderful sunny Sunday afternoon this week in the Tusquitee Ranger District of…

As the recession worsens, more and more animals need help, and fewer and fewer funding sources are available to animal…

The omnibus stops here Reliable, undisclosed anonymous sources tell this reporter that the Fiscal year 2010 Omnibus Bill expected to…

Tessentee birds Bob Olthoff and I took advantage of last Sunday’s (Nov. 29) Indian Summer weather for a couple of…

One less whooper Cayuga, Ind. – Wildlife Officials announce arrest. Enforcement agents for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and…

2010-to be continued Will 150-foot long fiberglass wands magically spin electricity from mountaintop zephyrs across Western North Carolina in the…

It’s 11 p.m. – do you know where your wood thrush is? “Hello, Ms. Stutchbury, this is OnStar. Your wood…

No, not the Fab Four — more like the Fab Gazillion. Swarms of thousands to perhaps hundreds of thousands of…

I wanna go home with the armadillo When you’re stuck in one place for 12 hours at a time, a…

The hunter is back Orion the hunter, one of the most noted and most recognizable constellations in the heavens is…

Just leisure time in good company So much of our time in this soured economy is spent paying homage to…

The leaves, they are a’ changing It seems like colors popped on the mountains almost overnight last Thursday or Friday.…

Slogging through the watershed It was dark, 39 degrees and a steady light drizzle when I walked from the house…

The rush to be green is making me blue Let’s see, automakers can get CAFÉ (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) credits…

So the snow is coming down in sheets Friday, and Bethany says, “Do you think it’s going to be real…

Pinnacle Park, a favorite recreational haunt in Sylva that was once home to the town’s watershed, will benefit from a…

University students conducting environmental fieldwork and research at the Highlands Biological Station have spent the past semester delving into the…

A 1,488-acre tract along the Blue Ridge Parkway in McDowell County has been protected from development thanks to a conservation…

Wanda Morris walked into uncharted territory when she started teaching Gaming Management Technology three years ago at Southwestern Community College.…

Western North Carolina has a plethora of environmental groups, making it easy to find the one that best matches up…

The Blue Ridge Parkway will kick off its 75th anniversary celebrations this month with several historical, symbolic and entertaining events,…

Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, an experimental research station for the U.S. Forest Service outside Franklin, celebrated its 75th anniversary this month.…

Two Jackson County men were sentenced to 10 months in federal prison for shooting a bear on the Blue Ridge…

The Little Tennessee Watershed Association has received a $75,000 grant to help restore migration for aquatic species. Two years ago,…

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians played an integral role in the creation of the Parkway. The Parkway was envisioned…

Franklin High students became active volunteers in a service-learning program this fall to improve the ecosystem along the Franklin Greenway.…

A 248-acre tract known as Rainbow Springs at the headwaters of the Nantahala River in Macon County has been protected…

By Julie Ball As a teenager, Josh Stephens worked summers as a rafting guide on the Nantahala River. He’d watch…

The Nantahala Outdoor Center will hold its first ever fly-fishing competition Oct. 17 and 18 on the Nantahala River in…

The Haywood Community College Woodsmen’s Team finished first in the 2009 John G. Palmer Intercollegiate Woodsmen’s Meet and Forest Festival…

Fish biologists will discuss mercury contamination in fish in mountain lakes at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31, at the…

An outdoor expedition to Bolivia that puts paddlers to work delivering medical supplies to remote villages organized by Nantahala Outdoor…

Every hiker has likely named a trailside feature or two in their day. Ferns sprouting from the banks of a…

Nobody knows their way around the gear section of an outfitter store better than the people who work in them…

A model home under construction on the Haywood Community College campus is giving construction majors hands-on training in green building…

When Candace Stimson lost her job last winter due to the recession, she seized the opportunity to go back to…

Burt Kornegay is a one-match man. As the owner of Slickrock Expeditions and the longest running independent outdoor guide in…

A man has been arrested for shooting an elk in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park last Friday. The elk…

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of the most studied national parks in the country. It consistently ranks…

Jennifer Pharr Davis says she never set out be a speed hiker. When she first hiked the entire Appalachian Trail…