Posts Tagged ‘Wildlife’
Fox Squirrels Making a Comeback in N.C.
If you’ve ever seen what you thought was a gray squirrel on steroids, what you actually saw was most likely a fox squirrel. This bushy-tailed, colossal squirrel is common throughout most of Appalachia, but was not seen in the North Carolina mountains in several decades — until relatively recently.
Read MoreA Golden Wing and a Prayer: Restoring Warbler Habitat
By Brian Sewell Appalachia’s favorite bird, the golden-winged warbler, has been selected as one of seven focus species by a new partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that aims to reverse population decline through habitat restoration. The “Working Lands for Wildlife” program will collaborate with private landowners…
Read MoreBreaking Down Job Barriers
By Paige Campbell Nearly three-quarters of a million jobs were lost in Appalachia between 2007 and 2009. All but 35 of the region’s 420 counties, as designated by the Appalachian Regional Commission, saw negative employment trends during that lowest low of the current recession, and the slow crawl back out has been slower here than…
Read MoreGolden Eagles Winter in Appalachia
By Molly Moore With their deep brown bodies and gold-tinged feathery manes, golden eagles are icons of ferocity. When Americans imagine a golden eagle diving through the air with talons outstretched, they typically pair the image with a Western backdrop. But as Appalachian researchers are quick to point out, the notion of golden eagles as…
Read MoreIt’s Sad to Say, Fracking’s Here to Stay
A new series of proposed natural gas pipelines will give many states better access to natural gas reserves of the Marcellus Shale, a formation of sedimentary rock that covers much of the Appalachian Basin. The pipelines will connect to larger interstate lines to reach more customers in the northeastern United States and possibly Canada. The…
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