The annual Asheville Wordfest, which takes place April 12-14, promises to bring three days of Appalachia-focused workshops and readings by area writers, readers and thinkers.
Buncombe County looks for ways to extend life of landfill
Buncombe County has used about a third of the total 12.5 million cubic yards of space available to receive municipal solid waste, which the department tracks separately from waste produced by construction projects. At its construction and demolition landfill, which sits on the same property but is sorted separately, the county still has about 1.3 million cubic yards of fillable space out of a maximum capacity of about 2.4 million.
Shane Benedict leads Green River trash pickup
Started in 2011, the Green River Spring Cleaning has grown every year, with ever more participants paddling in to cover the Lower Green and the Upper Green. “Our goal is to work the entire Green River, from Lake Summit to Lake Adger, about 30 miles,” Benedict says. “That’s a lot, but I believe we can do it.”
WNC residents demand more from state Clean Energy Plan
During a March 14 listening session at The Collider in downtown Asheville about the DEQ’s Clean Energy Plan, a key provision of Gov. Roy Cooper’s Executive Order 80 on clean energy and climate change, many of the roughly 70 Western North Carolina residents in attendance expressed frustration that the state wasn’t doing enough.
N.C. Arboretum receives $1 million grant for statewide outreach
The N.C. GlaxoSmithKline Foundation donated $1 million to The North Carolina Arboretum with the intent to expand Project ecoEXPLORE from 23 WNC counties to all 100 counties across the state. The grant will also fund the arboretum’s Project EXPLORE teacher education program and Project OWL, a teacher certification program.
Asheville students join in global Youth Climate Strike
“If you take one thing away from this rally, let it be this: You are not as small as you think you are,” said Asheville High School freshman Clay Swan-Davis. The event, part of a global strike involving over 1.4 million young activists, called for “radical legislative action to combat climate change.”
UNCA hosts this year’s Appalachian Studies Association conference
The 2019 Appalachian Studies Association conference returns to Asheville after 27 years. The annual gathering brings together an eclectic mix of scholars, educators, activists, students, groups and institutions to discuss and present on a wide range of topics related to life in the region.
Urban forestry proposals aim to save Asheville’s trees
By adding a dedicated urban forester, crafting an urban forest master plan and strengthening the current municipal tree ordinance, say members of Asheville’s Tree Commission, the city can manage its growth in a greener and more climate-resilient way. “The more hard surface we have, the more green we need to balance it out,” says commission chair Stephen Hendricks.
Evergreen science teacher wins national recognition
Jason Carter’s creative instructional attitude recently earned him the honor of being named a Teacher Ambassador by the California-based National Center for Science Education. Along with nine colleagues from across the country, he will help develop, test and deploy a curriculum that addresses climate change denial.
City to conduct controlled burn in Asheville watershed
Later this month, the N.C. Forest Service will help the city of Asheville carry out a series of controlled burns on at least 95 acres around the North Fork and Bee Tree Reservoirs, thereby reducing the risk of more severe fires in a watershed that serves more than 125,000 area residents.
I-26 Connector construction delayed in draft plan
The I-26 Connector project, an almost $1 billion overhaul of the highway system in and around Asheville, is one of 37 Division 13 projects that have been changed in a new draft State Transportation Improvement Program for 2020-29. The draft STIP identifies state transportation projects that will receive funding over a 10-year timeframe.
Dogwood Alliance boosts diverse voices for forest preservation
“People have a lot of unexpected, surprising, beautiful and heartwarming stories that happen in the forest,” says Dogwood Alliance marketing director Amanda Rodriguez. “It’s not just about acres and clean water and deforestation: It’s also about the really unique human connection that people have with forests.”
Citizens’ Climate Lobby asks BCTDA for legislative support
Jim Tolbert of the Citizen’s Climate Lobby encouraged members of the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority to support the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, a bill that aims to reduce carbon emissions through a tax on fossil fuel companies.
Green in brief: Duke wins downtown substation OK; local conservationists honored
Located at 252 Patton Ave. and 28 Knoxville Place, the new facility will feature a gas-insulated design that gives it a smaller footprint than a conventional, air-insulated substation. Duke representatives estimate that substation construction will be completed by the end of 2020.
Endangered Species Act changes could hinder hellbender conservation
Conservationists have been attempting to list the species under the federal Endangered Species Act since 2010, but as Elise Bennett with the Center for Biological Diversity explains, regulatory changes to the act proposed by the administration of President Donald Trump could hamper the path to protection for hellbenders and other at-risk wildlife.
Polk County hosts nationally significant species diversity
“The vagaries of climate and geology and time and the dispersal mechanisms of plants and animals too — all of those things, just over vast eons of time, have given Polk County this sweet spot,” says botanist David Campbell. His inventory of the county lists 32 significant natural heritage areas, as well as 127 rare or watch-list plant species found at those sites.
Interest group emails compete to influence NC national forests’ future
Many emails represent the views of local organizations and user groups – such as the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Council, the Friends of Big Ivy, and mountain bikers – who have played active and forceful roles during the forest plan revision.
As Waste Pro contract nears end, commissioners explore options
Buncombe County’s contract with Waste Pro, the company that handles trash and recycling collection in unincorporated parts of the county, will end on Dec. 31, leaving the door open for commissioners to select a new contractor.
2018 in review: Conserving WNC’s natural treasures
Western North Carolina’s wild places and creatures lie at the heart of the region’s appeal, inspiring local artists and attracting visitors from across the globe. Events in 2018 promised to shape the future of those natural resources for years to come.
2018 in review: 7 Asheville-area climate stories
Twelve years: That’s how long humanity has left to hold global warming below the key level of 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to an October report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In light of that sobering reality, these developments from 2018 had the biggest potential impact on Asheville’s contribution to climate change.
Year in review: The future of the car in WNC
Asheville’s human population growth has been matched by an increase in the number of vehicles on the region’s roads. Efforts to accommodate the resulting traffic — or move people around the city in different ways — were at the heart of many new developments in 2018.