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Appalachian Christmas: Reccomended Books and DVDs
WHEN MINERS MARCH is the incredible story of the battles to bring the UMWA and the American Constitution to the West Virginia coal fields. Written back in ‘52 when Blair Mountain hero Bill Blizzard was still alive, this work by his writer/photographer son, William C. Blizzard sat unpublished for over half a century! Pictures and…
Read MoreThe Crooked Road
Climbing into the Cumberland Mountains, Virginia’s Heritage MusicTrail – “The Crooked Road” – comes to Clintwood and stops at a mighty mansion bearing the name of Ralph Stanley. A smoky-voiced singer, the 80-year-old Stanley is one of Southwest Virginia’s greatest musical success stories. As one half of The Stanley Brothers, Ralph created some of the…
Read MoreRecognizing “nature deficit disorder”
Q How did you first become interested in the way children are being closed off from nature? A. I started researching Last Child in the Woods in the late 1980s, when I was working on The Future of Childhood. I looked for repeating themes, and I noticed that people had this feeling, they couldn’t name…
Read MoreInvestigating Looney Creek: An ecosystem autopsy in which we suspect mining as the cause of death fo
Looney Creek’s watershed stretches up Black Mountain on the Virginia side of the Kentucky border, near Rt. 160. The mountainside up near the ridge line is mixed hardwood forest, logged most recently maybe 15 or 20 years ago but not clearcut, as some older trees remain. Although this slope has probably been logged many times,…
Read MoreCaring for Creation: Seeing God’s fingerprints in nature.
We love wilderness. We love it for its beauty, power and majesty. Others can stand at the foot of a great sculpture, near a painting or hear a sonata and find the results of God at work through the efforts of humans. We rest between the gunwales of our canoe at a quiet bay on…
Read MoreThe High Cost of Coal
As this, the fall issue of the Appalachian Voice goes to press, millions of Americans are flocking to the mountains to see the gorgeous vistas of autumn foliage as they can only be seen in the Appalachians, home of the most diverse forests in the nation. According to a mapping project recently completed by Appalachian…
Read MoreAppalachia’s Ten Best Bike Trails
Not so long ago, when the region’s first “rails to trails” projects began, state park rangers were often confronted by angry landowners who feared their property would become worthless. Today, bike trails have become a hallmark of progressive communities like Knoxville, TN, Asheville and Boone NC, and the New River Valley of Virginia. They greatly…
Read MoreAppalachian Festivals
It all started with a wagon in 1973. And Jimmy Neil Smith didn’t really think it would work. Smith brought Jerry Clower, the comedian, onto the stage at the Washington County Courthouse Square in Jonesborough, Tenn. But Smith also had a backup for his marquee – he hired Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys as…
Read MoreConservationists, 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 forest would, and require heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers. Photo courtesy of the Dogwood…
Read MoreThe Lost Lane-End into Heaven
Ward Burton is living proof that one person can change the world. Single-handedly, and mostly out of sheer determination, he has saved 2100 acres of Southside Virginia riverfront wilderness, preserving it as a wildlife habitat, and keeping it safe from development in perpetuity. He began this endeavor without government assistance, without university degrees, without a…
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