A study conducted by MountainTrue found an average of 19 microplastic particles — pieces smaller than 5 millimeters, formed by the breakdown of larger plastics — per liter of water in local river systems. Exposure to microplastics has been tied to allergic reactions and other health impacts in humans, as well as negative effects on fish.
“In fact, Dominion’s pipeline drilling and installation could have a number of harmful impacts, which cannot be dismissed.”
According to the N.C. Climate Science Report prepared by N.C. State University’s Asheville-based N.C. Institute for Climate Studies and other experts, the area will likely experience more landslides in the coming years due to climate change.
“My whole world seems to be closing,” says Danny Bernstein, an Asheville-based outdoors writer who regularly leads hikes for the Carolina Mountain Club and Friends of the Smokies. “Staying 6 feet apart is easy on the trail. But how can we have outdoor activity if almost every piece of public land is closed?”
“This spring, National Audubon Society scientists teamed up with the National Park Service to release a peer-reviewed study, which revealed that climate change is likely to have significant impacts on birds in over 270 national parks, including our own Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains National Park.”
The highest peak in the Plott Balsam Mountains, Waterrock Knob encompasses a unique ecosystem. The Blue Ridge Parkway will now conserve 5,329 acres of this irreplaceable landscape thanks to recent land and financial gifts by a network of conservation groups and private donors. The public is invited to weigh in on plans for the area through Feb. 25.
In 2016, local writer Ben Anderson decided to examine the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with a fresh perspective. To mark the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service, he completed 40 day hikes, which he documented in his first book,
Smokies Chronicle: A Year of Hiking in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Various tax credits and preservation easements offer financial benefits to owners of historic properties; advocates also tout broader benefits, such as job creation, the reduced environmental impacts of restoration versus demolition, and the intangible value of connecting the present with the past.
“I wanted an excuse to play with seafood,” says Sarah Cousler, creator of Dive, a seafoodcentric pop-up dinner series happening in the Remington Room at Buxton Hall Barbecue.
“These efforts really are about protecting places for all Americans and for future generations,” notes Brent Martin of The Wilderness Society. The leaders of the national parks movement, he maintains, “all saw a much bigger picture, not only for all human beings, but for all living things.”
Despite their great variety, every one of the 71 national park units local author Danny Bernstein visited for her new book, Forests, Alligators, Battlefields: My Journey through the National Parks of the South, proved itself worthy of preservation and interesting for a wide range of visitors.
To many Western North Carolina residents, the region’s parks and recreational areas represent a chance to experience our state’s natural beauty and preserve its rich history. But what’s often overlooked is these attractions’ key role in bolstering local economies.
It was a hard, cold spring rain. My husband, Lenny, and I had been walking on the Appalachian Trail since 8 that morning. When we finally got to the shelter as it was getting dark, we saw that someone had hung a tarp to prevent rain from getting in. Inside, an old man was sitting […]
The next time you go camping in the Smokies, you might want to think twice about complaining to your noisy neighbor. If proposed federal rule changes are approved, he could be packing heat. Loaded guns—whether concealed or not—have long been a no-no in national parks, but the Department of the Interior and at least 50 […]
Good things come to those who wait—but sometimes they have to wait almost 60 years. Last week, Dale Ditmanson, superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, announced that the National Park Service will recommend paying a cash settlement to Swain County instead of building the so-called Road to Nowhere in the southwestern corner of […]
