I had risen, as was my custom, around 7:00 am, turned on the coffee pot, and looked across the tree tops to the bare mountain opposite my cabin on Blackrock Mountain. Pastel streaks of dawn lifted away the last vestiges…
Monthly Archives: October 2005
The Marriage of Science and Religion
I have spent my life in a lover’s quarrel, not with my wife of four decades, but with the two disciplines I love: science and religion. I once started a Science and Religion class with the claim that these are…
North Carolina Towns and Counties Vote for Cleaner Air
Editors note: Erica Palmer is a superstar intern at Appalachian Voices. In recent months, she has been working with members and volunteers to help pass town and county resolutions in support of our clean air protections, which are currently threatened…
Deer Infected with Chronic Wasting Disease Discovered in West Virginia
Chronic wasting disease, a disease in deer caused by a protein that literally eats away brain tissue, has finally arrived in the southern Appalachians. In September, the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR) found the first known case of…
Smiling at the Gas Pump
Think badly of me if you must, but I’ve actually enjoyed watching gasoline prices rise to their recent unprecedented levels. When the local TV news crew does a story on higher gas prices at the pump, I smile as the…
Conservationists, Industry Reach Historic Agreement to Protect Forests on the Cumberland Plateau
The practice of converting hardwood forests to pine plantations has long been criticized by scientists and conservationists in the Southeast who maintain that pine monocultures fail to provide adequate habitat for wildlife, fail to protect water quality as a natural…
The Bobcat: Apparition of the Appalachians
Photo courtesy of Terry Spivey, USDA Forest Service, www.forestryimages.org https://appvoices.org/images/AppalachianVoice/AVOct05/Photos/circles/Circle_Bobcat.gif Wild animals appeal to us for various reasons- the freedom of birds, the gracefulness of deer, the majesty of elk, and the strength and danger associated with bears. The fact…
Having Your Trees and Cutting them Too
Participants in the recent sustainable forestry workshop on the Cumberland Plateau hike through a healthy, native working forest. Photo by Foster Hunt. Forester Clint Trammel advocates an ecologically sensitive brand of forestry that is more concerned with what’s left behind…
As the Forests Have Changed, So Have Residents’ Lives
With virtually no laws governing forest practices in Tennessee, timber companies have been free to clearcut hundreds of thousands of acres of native forest on the Cumberland Plateau, replacing them with loblolly pine plantations. Photos courtesy of the Dogwood Alliance.…
Deer Hunting
Photo of a white-tailed deer courtesy of Scott Bauer, USDA Agricultural Research Service, www.forestryimages.org https://appvoices.org/images/AppalachianVoice/AVOct05/Photos/circles/Circle_Deer.gif As deer hunting seasons throughout the Appalachians get underway, hundreds of thousands will take to the woods and enjoy some of the world’s most beautiful…
