What the frack?

What the frack?

Governor Perdue has to be weary. This weariness was apparent months ago when she declared she would not seek re-election. Her vetoes are little more than symbolic with the current make up of the General Assembly and here she is with another bombshell on her desk –...
Check your vital signs

Check your vital signs

The Mountain Resources Commission along with the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, the USDA Forest Service and the National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center at the University of North Carolina at Asheville have created a Western North Carolina Vitality...
Bog is good

Bog is good

Mountain bogs are some of the rarest and most imperiled natural habitat in the country. They are generally small and scattered across the landscape often isolated from other wetlands. This isolation can create unique habitats, which in turn create unique flora and...
Paint Rock

Paint Rock

As one whom is often standing on the shoulder of the road peering through binoculars, I’m accustomed to people slowing down and asking, “What are you looking at?” Well last Saturday I got to turn the tables. I was zooming down River Road along the French Broad River...
Lily here and lily there

Lily here and lily there

I was in the Grandfather District of the Pisgah National Forest the other morning preparing to go to one of my Forest Service bird points when I noticed two tall white flowers at the edge of the woods. My first thought was fly poison, Amianthium muscaetoxicum, but...
A day in the life

A day in the life

Up at 4 a.m. to try and catch up on a little correspondence before I hit the road for the Nantahala Ranger District to search for cerulean warblers, I’m on the road by 5. I’ve found a neat short cut to get over to the national forest just above Nantahala School. I...