“The Forest Service needs to go back to the drawing board and write a plan that protects our forests — and the health of everyone who lives in these mountains.”

“The Forest Service needs to go back to the drawing board and write a plan that protects our forests — and the health of everyone who lives in these mountains.”
“Find out who maintains your favorite trail and go help on trail workdays or donate.”
Asheville City Council passed a resolution condemning the actions of white supremacists and racial violence in Charlottesville earlier this month. Council members also resolved to support the designation of Big Ivy as a wilderness area, and voted to move forward with a phased approach to a greenway along Lyman Street to Amboy Road. A proposal to reduce the minimum width of residential lots by 20 percent citywide was sent back to the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission for further study.
“We really want to give a great big shoutout to all the volunteer and professional firefighters and everyone who helped them do such a magnificent job containing the fires!”
An informational meeting regarding the U.S. Forest Service’s long term plans for the Big Ivy section of the Pisgah National Forest drew about 200 people in Barnardsville Feb. 5, with another 100 waiting outside to get in. The crowd voiced strong anti-logging opinions to forest rangers, who are in the process of drafting a new long-term plan for the forest.
It was my first prescribed burn. After weeks of training, and months of anticipation, I was finally on the ground – drip torch in hand – ready to apply fire to restore the mixed pine-hardwood forests at the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains, on the Grandfather Ranger District of Pisgah National Forest.
On Dec. 5, two scientists with the Forest Service’s Southern Research Station, including Assistant Director Kier Klepzig, received an agency award for their work to prevent attacks of the Southern pine beetle — a pest that’s responsible for annual losses estimated in the billions of dollars.
The U.S. Forest Service, Macon County Sheriff’s Office and the State Bureau of Investigation are seeking the public’s help in finding the perpetrator of a Sept. 25 rape that occurred in the Nantahala National Forest. The agencies have released a sketch of the suspect, who is considered armed and dangerous.
If you see smoke in the Bent Creek area this coming week, it’s likely part of a research project: If weather conditions remain safe, the USDA Forest Service says it will conduct a prescribed burn sometime during the week of July 25. The burn is being done for research purposes on the Bent Creek Experimental Forest near Lake Powhatan, southwest of Asheville, say officials at the Southern Research Station of the USDA Forest Service.
Photo by Jonathan Welch