Nature

A recent Supreme Court decision has some trail advocates worried about the fate of the national rails-to-trails program, but the ruling is unlikely to affect North Carolina. The case, Brandt Revocable Trust v. United States, has to do with who retains the property rights to abandoned railroad right of ways. The national Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and […]

Last summer, LandTrust of Central North Carolina staff, interns, and friends participated in the first backpacking thru hike of the full Uwharrie Recreational Trail. Thanks to more than 15 years of conservation work, this trail can now be hiked in its 40-mile entirety. We got such positive response from our first thru hike, that we […]

Is there anything more diverting for a Southerner than a couple of inches of snow? The mere suggestion of the slightest chance of a flurry whips us into a frenzy. When my niece and nephew were younger, they’d flush ice cubes down the toilet then go to bed wearing their pajamas inside out and underpants […]

I’m not immune to the charms of a dozen roses on Valentine’s Day – or any day for that matter – though I’m always disheartened by those with no discernible fragrance and perfect buds that inexplicably shrivel and droop. These are not attributes one cares to associate with romance. I try to limit my purchase […]

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh has an area where you can see through the glass and watch scientists at work, and in this section they also have a couple of glass displays that house a much smaller worker of the creepy crawly variety – dermestid beetles. These beetles have a job […]

The brown-headed nuthatch is one of our own, a permanent resident of the Southeast. They don’t care to visit the Caribbean in winter, and they rarely stray above the Mason-Dixon Line. They make their living in our piney woods. Until recently, it was assumed they required a stand of old-growth pines, but Davidson College Professor […]

Is it possible “to see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wildflower” as poet William Blake suggested? According to biologist David George Haskell, this “search for the universal within the infinitesimally small” runs through many cultures. Tibetan monks create mandalas, paintings of sand that represent the entire universe within […]

Despite the popularity of trampolines and bouncy castles, kids still love to frolic in a good old-fashioned leaf pile. A solid mound turns out to be delightfully springy. There’s plenty of room to hide. Armloads of leaves are virtually weightless. Thrown into the air, they spiral slowly back to earth. As adults, we start to […]

The approaching holidays make it a busy time in many offices, but for Kevin Redding’s small staff, this year it’s unusually hectic. That’s because the Piedmont Land Conservancy, where Redding is executive director, is scrambling to close a pile of land-preservation deals before the end of the year. The same is true at other regional […]

During hunting season, photos of beaming young women often grace the pages of The Montgomery Herald. Dressed head to toe in camo, they pose with a turkey or deer. The Uwharries seem to be on the cutting edge of a national trend. According to a 2011 report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the […]