by don | Jun 6, 2011
Dear friend of the Ridge Law, This week North Carolina’s General Assembly will consider a bill to enable a private wind developer to construct a wind farm with massive turbines in the Highlands of Roan landscape in Mitchell County. Please see the attached...
by don | Jun 3, 2011
Soccer balls litter the yard, my wife is auditioning for NASCAR on the lawn mower and I am following the tiller through a soft, loamy sea of rich smelling earth in the garden. In the evening, fireflies are dancing in the dark outside our windows like some kind of...
by don | May 27, 2011
I have had the opportunity to make several trips along the Blue Ridge Parkway, in the vicinity of Devils Courthouse and Black Balsam this month. The first was on May 7 with Birding for the Arts. Then I had a private birding tour on May 12 and I was up Saturday and...
by don | May 24, 2011
Last Saturday morning I was racing around in the woods of the Tusquitee Ranger District on the other side of Murphy, surveying some of the outlaying bird points, trying to finish up that district. I don’t know why it is but every district I survey has a few of those...
by don | May 16, 2011
This past Saturday, May 7, was the, I believe, 12th annual “Birding for the Arts” fundraiser for the Haywood County Arts Council. I can’t remember exactly how many Saturdays we’ve done it but I do know it’s become one of my favorite Saturdays. Joe Sam and Kate Queen...
by don | May 9, 2011
I spoke with Blair Ogburn, senior naturalist at Balsam Mountain Trust, the other day and she related a perplexing incident. She said she was leading a group on a nature hike when she heard a blue-winged warbler. Now, blue-winged warblers have a really distinctive...
by don | May 9, 2011
I believe all of my feathered friends that nest and raise families in my yard and in the woods surrounding my yard are once again setting up housekeeping. That includes the year round residents like downy woodpecker, red-bellied woodpecker, pileated woodpecker,...
by don | Apr 21, 2011
Pilgrims from across the country and around the globe are on the move. They are headed to the Mecca of biodiversity – the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to join in celebrating the 61st Annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage, April 26 – May 1. The Great Smoky...
by don | Apr 16, 2011
I wrote, a few weeks back, about my girls’ and my kayak adventure to Sister Island (The Naturalist’s Corner Mar. 16, 2011) on a recent trip to Isle of Palms. Well the kayak trip was only the beginning of an even deeper more visceral immersion into the primordial ooze...
by don | Apr 7, 2011
The planets must have been in alignment when Buddy Young, director of residential services at Lake Junaluska and Candace Stimson, Low Impact Development (LID) student at Haywood Community College became acquainted. Stimson and her LID 112 class began working with Lake...
