Spreading Knowledge of Appalachian Wildflowers

By Molly Moore | August 23, 2013 |

By Chelsey Fisher Rita McKinney has always had a passion for wildflowers, particularly rare North Carolina orchids. Starting in the 1980s, her personal work with a greenhouse led her to contact other horticulturalists, and eventually to volunteer in the horticulture department at Mayland Community College’s Spruce Pine campus. When the former lab instructor left in…

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Native Bivalves “Musseling” Their Way Back into Appalachian Streams

By Molly Moore | August 23, 2013 |

By Matt Grimley Waterways are sometimes disturbed by humans, and mussels are often the first to feel the pain. Thankfully, conservationists are working to repair native Appalachian populations of the bivalve. In West Virginia, the state Division of Natural Resources is using fish to restore pollution-damaged populations of pink heelsplitter mussels, and they’ve found an…

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