2013 — Issue 1 (Feb/March)
Spelunking the Highlands | Owning the Caves
Worley’s Cave: Worthy of Respect and Care By Matt Grimley With my headlight loosely strapped and my boots tightly tied, I walked into the mouth of Worley’s Cave and I realized something: 28 boy scouts. That’s how many boy scouts you shouldn’t have on a caving trip. Still, I enjoyed this pubescent expedition with River…
Read MoreThe 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 wood’s damp interior, pushing it closer to decay. Sensing this activity, a pileated woodpecker, with…
Read MoreImpoundment Safety Called Into Question | Stream Buffer Zone Delay
Questions and criticism followed a Nov. 30 accident at a CONSOL Energy-operated coal slurry impoundment in West Virginia that left one worker dead. A few days after the incident, The Charleston Gazette reported that records “outlined company concerns that construction to enlarge the dump had not been moving fast enough to keep up with slurry…
Read MoreSoutheastern Coal Plants Retire and Convert | Other Shorts
The growing share of electricity generated by natural gas and recent announcements of coal plant retirements are rapidly changing the energy sector across the southeast. On Jan. 7, Georgia Power announced its plans to retire 15 coal- and oil-fired units at four plants across the state. The same week as Georgia Power’s announcement, Duke Energy…
Read MoreA Local Fight for Water Rights | Fiscal Challenges for N.C. Clean Water Trust Fund
More than 40 municipalities around the state have passed resolutions against state government control of municipal water infrastructure. Now, the North Carolina legislature plans to seize control of Asheville’s water system. The issue goes back to when Asheville entered into a regional water authority with Henderson and Buncombe counties. As time passed, the partnership dissolved…
Read MoreOn The Fringe of Life
A Tour of Appalachia’s Biodiverse Frontier By Molly Moore Crouch Knob in Randolph County, W. Va., might be home to the largest remaining cluster of running buffalo clover in the world. As its name suggests, this particular clover once flourished alongside buffalo, sending “runners” of floral clones across the bison-trodden earth of eastern North America.…
Read MoreWhere There is a Will
The Persistence of Political Challenges in a Region Apart By Brian Sewell From the muddy path that led to the cabin, reporters and cameramen waited to document the modest declaration of an “unconditional war on poverty.” That day in 1964, surrounded by children on the front porch of a home in eastern Kentucky, President Lyndon…
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