The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is providing updates on measures to maximize trout stream stocking in the western part of the state after Hurricane Helene destroyed the Bobby N. Setzer State Fish Hatchery in September 2024. 

Editor’s note: This piece is the first of a two-part series exploring plans to rebuild I-40 through the Pigeon River Gorge and the project’s implication for wildlife populations. Part two will appear in next week’s the Smoky Mountain News.

When I-40 through the Pigeon River Gorge first opened in October 1968, it was hailed as a triumph of human accomplishment, the dawn of a new era for travel, tourism, and economic opportunity in newly linked Haywood County, North Carolina, and Cocke County, Tennessee.

The Carolina Mountain Club announced Karen Schultz as its next president, serving a two-year term from 2026 through 2028.

Schultz steps into the presidency following two years of service as vice president and after working closely with President Les Love and Past President Tom Weaver. 

What do rangers eat for lunch? How did the Great Smoky Mountains get their name? Do rangers have to feed the bears? Are there alligators in the park? What about moose? Dolphins? 

“The kids really want to know,” said Scott Young, a volunteer at Great Smoky Mountains National Park who, together with his wife Jayne, has answered every letter kids from across the country send to the national park since they first took on the task in 2021.

The Roadless Rule Recission is genuinely so unpopular to have perhaps been inspired by a claim that Trump couldn’t possibly do anything more universally hated than gutting National Park funding, to which the president said, “Oh yeah? Hold my beer.” 

North Carolinians continue to breathe the cleanest air in decades as emissions of harmful air pollutants like ozone and fine particles continue a long-running downward trend.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality is publishing its latest update to the “Air Quality Trends in North Carolina” report.

The Open Space Institute and Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust announced the acquisition of the 104-acre Peregrine Tract along the southern face of Whiteside Mountain. Permanent protection of the property, which had been approved for development, marks a major victory in longstanding efforts to safeguard one of Southern Appalachia’s most scenic and ecologically significant landscapes. 

To the Editor:

The elections last November ushered in a new wave in American politics with speeches and assurances of lower food and housing prices, the elimination of inflation, dramatically reducing the federal deficit, real government transparency and efficiency, a better healthcare system and a safer, wealthier America. Heck yeah! Who’s not in favor of helping all working people get ahead and keeping family safe? 

The Pigeon River Fund of The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina (CFWNC) awarded 12 grants totaling $350,365 to environmental groups working to improve surface water quality, enhance fish and wildlife habitats, expand public use and access to waterways, and increase water quality awareness in Buncombe, Haywood, and Madison counties. With these grants and since 1996, the Pigeon River Fund has distributed $10,594,556 in grants.  

The Environmental Action Community of Western North Carolina (EAC) invites supporters and the public to its year in review celebration from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 21, at the Folkmoot Auditorium in Waynesville. The evening will feature an informative program, raffle prizes, partner presentations, resource tables and light refreshments.