Southern Appalachian Creature Feature

At first glance it appears to be merely a patch of woods and farm field beside an established Flat Rock neighborhood. However, to biologists it’s Ochlawaha bog, a degraded remnant of one of the rarest natural communities in North America, and it’s in the beginning stages of a resurgence.

A lot of people in the Southern Appalachians take their fly fishing seriously. Come March, anglers will get an opportunity to test their skills head to head against anglers from across the region as the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and Davidson River Outfitters host the fourth annual Pisgah Fly Masters fly-fishing tournament.

There’s a long list of reasons why we should protect our biodiversity – the variety of genes, species, and natural communities found in our world. One reason that’s becoming increasingly understood and appreciated is that biodiversity protects ecosystem services. Ecosystem services is a somewhat obtuse way to describe all those things the natural world does for us – from plants producing oxygen to wetlands cleaning water.

It seems this winter has seen a flurry of activity in the capture and prosecution of wildlife smugglers.

Once you see a hellbender, you never forget it. Hellbenders are salamanders, but not just any salamanders. They’re big salamanders. Growing up to three feet in rare instances, it’s fairly easy to comes across individuals at least a foot long here in the Southern Appalachians. Despite their size, they’re essentially harmless to humans and are part of a healthy stream ecosystem.

I recently spoke about a flock of critically endangered whooping cranes flying across a corner of the Southern Appalachians on their way from Wisconsin to Florida. Things were going well for the small group of birds, except for one who was hampered by a leg injury, but still had a long and healthy life ahead of him as a breeding, education, or research bird.

For years the water in western North Carolina’s Cheoah River was collected and piped overland to a power station on the neighboring Little Tennessee River, leaving behind a river bed fed by a trickle of water coming through the dam and water flowing in from downstream tributaries. One of the great conservation success stories of recent years has been the return of flow to that dewatered stretch of river, a commitment made by Alcoa as part of the deal struck to allow them to continue using the river to generate electricity.

When it comes to endangered species conservation and the broader argument for protecting biodiversity – which includes not only the diversity of species, but also genes on a smaller level, and natural communities on a larger level, perhaps the most fundamental question is why?

People across the United States now have an incredibly simple way to help protect animals like tigers, rhinos and gorillas.

The first toe in the cold water of Yancey County’s South Toe River usually brings shrieks among many fifth-graders, but the excitement of getting to wade the river during school keeps them going.