By Barbara Musumarra Little Stoney Creek in the Cherokee National Forest is once again teeming with Southern Appalachian brook trout. This fall, the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute released 1,100 of the fish into their native waters. Researchers will track the…
Blog Archives
Acrobats of the Forest: The Eastern Gray Treefrog
By Meredith Warfield It’s mating season in Appalachia, and the region’s deciduous forests are humming with life. Birdsongs may be heard by day, but by night the Eastern gray treefrogs have hopped out of the branches and flocked to nearby…
Otterly Amazing: Resilient Mammals Stage an Impressive Comeback in Appalachia
By Chelsey Fisher With short legs, a slender body, webbed toes and a generally friendly personality, American river otters are one of the most charismatic creatures in the country. These four-foot-long mammals once flourished in the eastern part of the…
Native Bivalves “Musseling” Their Way Back into Appalachian Streams
By Matt Grimley Waterways are sometimes disturbed by humans, and mussels are often the first to feel the pain. Thankfully, conservationists are working to repair native Appalachian populations of the bivalve. In West Virginia, the state Division of Natural Resources…
Safe Passage
By Matt Grimley Every fall and spring, an ongoing restlessness called zugenruhe begins to make some birds’ wings twitch at night. They will gorge on seeds and insects, fattening their bodies by as much as 10 percent per day. Solitary…
TAGS: Avian wildlife Bats Cerulean warbler Golden-winged warbler habitat loss migratory birds Monarch butterflies Rough-legged hawks Spotted salamanders Wildlife Wildlife Migration
Traditional Trout Hang on to Native Waters
By Molly Moore Although they only occupy about 25 percent of their historic range, southern brook trout are doing alright, says Jim Habera, a cold water fisheries biologist for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. He has worked on every brook…
The Ebb and Flow of Appalachia’s Game Species
By Davis Wax From the mythic, raccoon-crowned Daniel Boone to the adventurous, tradition-minded hunter of today, hunting in Appalachia makes up a long and colored tale. Its most intriguing characters may be the game species themselves, each accentuating a pastime…
TAGS: black bears bobwhite quail game species Hunting North Carolina ruffed grouse Virginia West Virginia Wildlife
The Heated Issue of Prescribed Burns
By Molly Moore Steep rock cliffs, a raging river, weathered heath balds and several types of forest make the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area in Western North Carolina a popular recreation destination. A few rare species native to the gorge are…
TAGS: Land management Linville Gorge Wilderness Area mountain golden heather Prescribed burns U.S. Forest Service Wildlife
The Custodian’s Conundrum
By Molly Moore A swarthy tree trunk stands in a small clearing, a gap in the forest canopy created by its once-thick crown of leaves. Shrubs and saplings clamor for sunlight around the tree’s base, and carpenter ants colonize the…
TAGS: Golden-winged warbler Land Conservation Land management Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests Wildlife
The Appalachian Voice — February/ March issue
At grocery stores, coffee shops and libraries throughout the region, newsstands are filling up with spring peepers. We’ve chosen this little frog as the cover celebrity for “The Silent Majority” — the countless creatures that share our treasured Appalachian Mountains…
