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Why euthanize bears that have fed on human remains? Biologist: Bears may repeat behavior
This article is being shared with the permission of Karen Chávez and Asheville Citizen Times. It can be read in its entirety by clicking the link below.
By Karen Chávez, Asheville Citizen Times
What's in a black bear's belly?
It could range from bees to household trash to blueberries. And even the remains of humans, according
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Ancient Grassy Balds: A Great Place to be During a Pandemic
By Frances Figart, Creative Services Director
Mysterious and haunting, Southern Appalachian grassy balds have long fascinated scientists and hikers alike. How many balds are there in the Smokies? How did they evolve? How do they support rare plants? Can balds be found in other parts of the world?
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
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Image for the Asking: Waking Up the Cove
Story and image by Don McGowan
The great open valleys of the Smokies—Cataloochee in North Carolina; Big Cove in Qualla Boundary; and Cosby, Tuckaleechee, and Cades Cove in Tennessee—are self-contained microcosms of the diverse human history of this wonderful land. Ongoing research and discovery is continuously adding to our
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2020: A Great Year for Waterfalls and Mushrooms
By Steve Kemp
Based on the heavy flow of waterfalls and the plethora of mushrooms on trails, you might guess this has been a rainy year in the Great Smoky Mountains.
You are correct! According to Jim Renfro, the park’s air quality specialist and de facto meteorologist, 2020 has been the wettest year on record thus far at Newfound Gap and
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Permanent Camp: Grass-of-Parnassus
by George Ellison with illustration by Elizabeth Ellison
“From a distance the white flowers are attractive but not extraordinary; when observed closely, though, the delicate tracery of the green veins on the waxy white petals is astonishing.” ~Alan S. Weakley, “Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States&
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Sail into 2021 with the Butterflies and Moths of the Smokies
Each and every year, the Great Smoky Mountains are home to an intricately orchestrated show that has been going on since calendars were invented—wildflowers bloom in spring, leaves fall in autumn, and the Smokies’ many unique butterflies and moths come from near and far on their patterned wings to float amongst it all right on cue.
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A Long Day’s Walk to Hear President Roosevelt
by Jim Casada
Among the many intriguing characters I was privileged to know as a boy growing up in Swain County was a local old-timer, George Monteith, who had grown up on lower Forney Creek in an area that eventually became part of the park with the flooding of Fontana Lake. In my mind’s eye I still see him, invariably clad in clean
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Permanent Camp: Skunk Goldenrod
By George Ellison with illustration by Elizabeth Ellison
Have you ever been enjoying a walk along a mountain trail when you suddenly encountered a musky unpleasant smell? I've learned to consider five likely sources: bear scat, wild boar, carrion vine, galax, or goldenrod.
Goldenrod?
Yes, if you’re walking in the higher elevations
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Illuminating the Magic and Mystery: An Interview with Radim Schreiber, Firefly Photographer
By Frances Figart, Creative Services Director
One of our favorite products that we sell in our GSMA bookstores is Radim Schreiber’s book, Firefly Experience. The coffee-table book has a glowing cover and contains scores of amazing photographs of lighting bugs both in the Smokies and throughout the country.
For our latest
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Ellison and McCue: Kephart Brought Them Together
By Frances Figart, Creative Director
In 2019, George Ellison and Janet McCue won the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award for their Back of Beyond: A Horace Kephart Biography (2019, Great Smoky Mountains Association). They will be interviewed on a Lit Café Zoom meeting hosted by the Western North Carolina Historical Association on
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