The Appalachian Voice

Communities Upset Over Globe Logging Plan A controversial U.S. Forest Service logging proposal has sparked dismay across the high country of North Carolina. The area to be cut includes 231 acres of the Pisgah National Forest adjacent to the town of Blowing Rock and near the Julian Price & Moses Cone Memorial Parks. The area…

images/voice_uploads/BW7-Boone.gif September marks a special anniversary for the New River Valley and for environmental protection in Appalachia. Thirty years ago, in 1976, President Ford signed a bill to protect and preserve the upper New River. The bill designated 26.5 miles of the waterway as a National Wild and Scenic River, shielding that section of the…

Although they are a little known Appalachian group, Melungeons have always attracted the interests of people seeking to understand America’s earliest mysteries. Are they remnants of the Lost Colony? Are they descendants of shipwrecked sailors from South Carolina? And how are they linked to Turkey? Although the questions may not be fully resolved, Turkish-American relations…

The Ongoing…. “Truth, not politics,” should guide energy development, quips Massey energy Co. president Don Blankenship at a WV coal symposium in September. If that were to happen, “American coal will reduce the need for young men and women to die for oil in the Middle East.” … The Ohio Valley Energy Coalition responds: ”The…

Dear friends at Appalachian Voices, This spring the Southern Energy Network (SEN) and the Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) are partnering with grassroots community groups in the coalfields of Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia to hold Mountain Justice Spring Break in Charleston, WV from March 10-18! This will be an opportunity for current and future…

Editor, Appalacian Voice, My name is Denver Mitchell and I am writing this letter because I am concerned about how the coal companies are raping our land and tearing up our mountains. I think it is a shame that the people in the valleys aren’t fighting against this more. When we went to grade school,…

Dear Appalachian Voice, I read with interest your article on Coyotes head East, (Appalachian Voice, Winter 2003). In Central New York State we have been dealing with the coyote, and problems attendant for several years. The coyotes are prevalent in most of New York State. I know from reading Henry Hooker’s book Fox,Fin and Feather,…

Appalachian Voice, It is criminal to see the coal companies destroy the mountains for good. They all say they are providing jobs. They say they are doing it and benefiting the local citizens because there is not much flat ground. They have many reasons for destroying the land. I ask honestly how many jobs they…

In the weeks ahead, the Appalachian Voices Business League will welcome its 1,000th member. Made up of small businesses from throughout the southern mountains, the Business League was formed by Appalachian Voices in 2002 to provide a unified voice for businesses that support conservation in the region. It has grown exponentially to become one of…

Virginia: Boulder from mining operation kills toddler A three-year old boy from Wise County, Virginia, was killed on August 20 when a boulder from a surface mining operation crashed through the wall of his home and into his bedroom, where he was sleeping. The mining company was working in the dark to widen an access…