by don | Apr 26, 2012
Threatening weather forecasts likely kept many who registered for last Saturday’s (April 21) 5th Annual Spring Hike in Waynesville’s Watershed at home. But we caught a break – cloudy and overcast but the rain held off till around 11:30 a.m. or so and then it wasn’t...
by don | Apr 19, 2012
The 62nd Annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage (SWP) in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) will be April 25 – 28. I was curious if this unseasonably warm, early spring was going to have any impact on the Pilgrimage so I talked with an old friend about it....
by don | Apr 12, 2012
At Wild South’s recent “Green Tie Gala,” friend, writer, poet and publisher, Thomas Rain Crowe, with knowing wink, slipped a slim beautifully bound chapbook into my hands. I cracked it open immediately upon arriving home and read the first poem “Antidote to Narcissus”...
by don | Apr 5, 2012
A couple of weeks ago I received an email from Rachel Reid of Andon-Reid Bed and Breakfast asking if I was up to leading a birding trip on March 31. Now, I’m quite pleased to mention that Andon-Reid has a birding package for their guests that includes my services as a...
by don | Mar 30, 2012
Last year around this time I wrote about the honor of being nominated for Wild South’s Roosevelt-Ashe Society’s “Outstanding Journalist in Conservation” for 2010. I did not win but I did not expect to. I remember thinking and writing upon seeing my fellow nominees,...
by don | Mar 22, 2012
I was encouraged by a recent press release from the North Carolina Wildlife Federation. The release stated, “In a show of force and unity, over 100 North Carolina sporting groups are calling on the General Assembly to restore critical funding for conservation. The...
by don | Mar 16, 2012
In 1987 the USDA Forest Service issued a “final” forest management plan – a plan so vague and so lacking in ecosystem and environmental protections that conservationists and environmental organizations across the country denounced it. The Wilderness Society...
by don | Mar 11, 2012
The Smokies are renown for their biological diversity and scenic beauty. But a short drive along either of two scenic byways – The Blue Ridge Parkway or the Cherohala Skyway – provides a window on forests under attack from invasive exotics. There are many places near...
by don | Mar 9, 2012
The recent NNW winds appear to have knocked a few north bound migrants from the sky. A quick turn around Lake Junaluska last Saturday (Mar. 3) revealed 10 species of ducks. That’s not counting any of the mallard/mallard-hybrids. I sometimes encounter what I believe to...
by don | Mar 3, 2012
Due to a lack of foresight and copious amounts of poor planning I found myself last Sunday evening (Feb. 26) on the side of U.S. 19 across the highway from Kituwah with not one but two flat tires (yeah, the spare was flat). With logistics that would rival a Marx...
