Recreation & Gardening
Featured
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Holly Kays photo
Rolling the Dice on a Walk in the Woods
My sister and I were hiking a downhill section of Black Balsam—my favorite trail, a high-elevation loop featuring thickets of wild blueberries and grassy summits that offer to-die-for views of the surrounding Blue Ridge—when my foot caught on a rock. Read more
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Casey Phillips/Tennessee Aquarium photo
Nocturnal Drama Springs to Life in Shallow Puddles
Puddles seem uninteresting. Any body of water without fish seems barren and unimportant. Maybe there are some mosquito larvae or some unlucky tadpoles squirming around. Hopefully the tadpoles sprout legs before the water evaporates. Read more
Holly Kays photo
Rolling the Dice on a Walk in the Woods
My sister and I were hiking a downhill section of Black Balsam—my favorite trail, a high-elevation loop featuring thickets of wild blueberries and grassy summits that offer to-die-for views of the surrounding Blue Ridge—when my foot caught on a rock. Read more
Oct 1, 2019
Seasonal Blooms Offer Food for Hungry Pollinators
In a recent report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, scientists say most native species have experienced at least a 20 percent loss in overall abundance due to habitat loss since the 1900s. Read more
Oct 1, 2019
A Conversation With the Smokies’ Mountain Lion Expert
In 2018, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the eastern cougar subspecies from the endangered species list in order to “correct a lingering anomaly” that listed the species despite its having disappeared forever at least 70 years go. Read more
Oct 1, 2019
Casey Phillips/Tennessee Aquarium photo
Nocturnal Drama Springs to Life in Shallow Puddles
Puddles seem uninteresting. Any body of water without fish seems barren and unimportant. Maybe there are some mosquito larvae or some unlucky tadpoles squirming around. Hopefully the tadpoles sprout legs before the water evaporates. Read more
Oct 1, 2019
Keith Lanpher photo
A Living Ribbon Unfurling Through the Woods
This 57-mile rail-to-trail recreational wonderland gets better with each visit: more relaxing, richer in birds and blooms, and for history lovers, more valuable as a window into the region’s recent past. Read more
Aug 1, 2019
These Buzzing Behemoths Are Peaceful Pollinators
Encountering a large bee in your garden can sometimes feel like a harrowing experience. For the vast majority of situations, however, bees and wasps are not to be feared and, in fact, have very little interest in humans at all. Read more
Aug 1, 2019
A Conversation With the Smokies’ Elk Guy
Joe Yarkovich is a wildlife biologist for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and he’s also known as “The Elk Guy.” Since coming on full-time with the park in 2006, he’s been the go-to guy for the Smokies’ fledgling elk population. Read more
Aug 1, 2019
