Southern Appalachian Creature Feature

It’s a non-descript metal building in a compound tucked on the edge of Marion, North Carolina. From the outside, it looks like just another small warehouse. However, step inside and it’s clear you’re in no warehouse.

My daughter and I walked past the racks of fishing rods for loan, found a quiet spot on the bank of Lake Powhatan, a Forest Service lake on the edge of Asheville, and settled in for a morning of fishing. We didn’t catch anything, but we still enjoyed the stillness of the spot, and the opportunity to simply observe the natural world around us, from the dragonflies to the turtle that swam by. When we tired of fishing, hot dogs were coming off the grill for lunch.

This year, firefly viewing at the Elkmont Campground area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be from June 4 through June 11.

Georgia aster is an uncommon plant that declined for decades, to the verge of receiving federal protection. However, this spring, numerous organizations, private and public, are stepping up to conserve the plant in an effort that should keep it off the endangered species list.

We all stood on the bank of Mitchell County’s North Toe River, watching as the track hoe chipped away at the old, decrepit Spruce-Pine dam. Removing the crumbling dam allowed fish to move upstream and take advantage of that habitat, and removed a safety hazard for local paddlers. The dam’s removal was paid for in part by Partners for Fish and Wildlife, a program of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designed to help private landowners improve fish and wildlife habitat.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission will open approximately 1,000 miles of hatchery-supported trout waters in 25 western counties at 7 a.m. on April 5. The season will run through Feb. 28, 2015.

Biologists with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission are asking anglers to help stop the spread of the rusty crayfish — a destructive, non-native crayfish that has invaded the upper Catawba River in western North Carolina.

This year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will distribute $1.1 billion to state and territorial fish and wildlife agencies as part of an annual distribution that has become one of the most sustainable sources of funding for conservation and recreation.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, in partnership with students at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, is holding a contest to generate a new license plate design for the Commission’s Wildlife Diversity Program, which does research, conservation and monitoring work benefiting nongame animals such as songbirds, sea turtles, eagles, salamanders, frogs, turtles, and bats.

The Appalachian elktoe is a an endangered freshwater mussel found in a handful of Western North Carolina Rivers, and in a sliver of the Nolichucky River in East Tennessee. For years the plight of the elktoe looked to be improving. The Cheoah River population was expanding thanks to the return of water previously piped overland to a power generating station. It was expanding upstream in the South Toe River, and down the Little River to the French Broad in Transylvania County.