State utility Florida Power and Light (FPL) wants to buy an old coal plant in Florida just to shut it down, a move that it says would prevent nearly 1 million tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year. FPL filed a petition with the state’s Public Service Commission last week to acquire the Cedar Bay Generating Plant in Jacksonville, which went into service in 1994. Upon buying the coal plant, FPL plans to immediately reduce the plant’s operations by 90 percent, and then phase it out of service completely over the next two...
read moreFor the past several years, the Asheville Beyond Coal campaign has been speaking out publicly and building support for transition off of coal at Duke Energy’s Asheville coal plant. They have brought attention to the threat carbon emissions pose to our climate, as well as the coal ash pollution and its effects on our rivers and groundwater. What we now know is that in addition to these threats, the Asheville coal plant is emitting air pollutants that are harmful to human health. Specifically, it is emitting higher than safe levels of sulfur...
read moreBeginning Monday morning, March 16, 2015,and continuing for approximately one month, Blue Ridge Parkway maintenance personnel will be conducting road shoulder and ditch cleaning operations along Virginia sections of the Parkway. Specific information regarding daily closures in these work zones will be available on the Parkway’s Real Time Road Map, found at here. Effected sections will close at approximately 7:00 a.m. each weekday and re-open daily by 5:00 p.m. EST from Monday, March 16 to Wednesday, April 8, 2015. The road will be open...
read moreIn his first trip to North America, the British snow artist was invited by Banff Lake Louise Tourism to create a series of large-scale designs in snow. Beck has been making snowflakes, leaves and geometric designs with his snowshoes for the past decade, mostly in the Alps. He stomped out a huge snowflake at Peyto Lake in the Canadian Rockies that took more than six hours and measured 1,476 feet from tip to tip, according to a statement. As an added touch, the outline was illuminated by LED lights. “We were all excited to see what...
read moreThe problem with feral hogs in the Francis Marion National Forest has become so bad that the state and federal governments are paying three hunters to help remove them. Feral hogs are found statewide and are considered one of the worst animal nuisance problems in South Carolina. The hogs are descendants of livestock that wandered off. The Francis Marion trial program has sparked complaints from other hunters who want a chance to hunt hogs as well. But DNR’s position is that the object is to remove the animals, not just hunt them as...
read moreGary Gustafson leans on his ice ax to catch his breath. His legs and lungs, straining from nearly five hours of climbing and 4,000 feet of elevation gain, plead for rest before he spies the top of an antenna on the summit. Soon, the crampons of his mountaineering boots are once again digging into the icy terrain as he and a partner make the final push to the granite rooftop of New England. “It’s kind of like Heartbreak Hill on the Boston Marathon,” says Gustafson, 58, of Conway. “(Heartbreak’s) really not much of...
read moreAmerican Express (AXP) and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today announced a multi-year partnership to increase volunteerism in National Parks and Public Lands. The $5 million grant over four years from American Express will help the Department of the Interior (DOI) and National Parks Service (NPS) build volunteer coalitions to preserve and sustain America’s public lands. This partnership directly supports Secretary Jewell’s recent commitment to increase volunteerism from 322,000 to one million annually by 2017. The DOI is the...
read moreThe first rays of sunshine have burst through the clouds to melt the snow, and people and animals are emerging from a sleepy winter. While many walking and hiking trails carved through northern West Virginia are well known, such as the Panhandle Trail, Montour Trail and Mingo Creek County Park trails, others are hidden treasures. Enlow Fork is tucked away in Greene County in State Game Lands No. 302. While walkers should be aware of regulations during hunting season, the trails are blazing with color during the spring. In late winter, flowers...
read moreOn so many issues, California is the green leader, showing other states how it should be done better. But better is not necessarily the same thing as flawless. Right now, California is doing a better job of regulating fracking than any other state that allows it — but, of course, many local activists would rather the state just banned it, as New York has. The federal government doesn’t require fracking companies to disclose the chemicals they use in their operations, and it has failed to produce data on the safety of fracking. Five years...
read moreThe stereotype of the quiet, introspective mountain loner and the beach-going partier may have truth to it: These different personalities are drawn to different physical terrains, according to new research. Researchers at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology say your choice to be on a drunken booze cruise or tucked away in the Catskills all depends on your type of personality. In a series of three studies, researchers tested whether there is a link between personality and an aspect of physical ecology: flat terrain versus...
read moreGreat Smoky Mountains National Park officials have announced the spring opening schedule for park facilities for the 2015 season. Campgrounds and secondary roads will begin opening Friday, March 13. The schedule is here…
read moreNational forests support some of the most pristine groundwater and springs in the country – at least that’s what the most successful water bottling companies advertise. Current policies leave these springs exposed to exploitation, especially during droughts, which are becoming more intense, like in California. Strawberry Creek arises from the ground in San Bernardino National Forest, providing access to one of the only areas where fishing is allowed in the San Jacinto Mountains. Cherry Lake in the Stanislaus National Forest,...
read moreThe Keystone Trails Association’s second annual KTA Membership Celebration and Film Festival will feature four films about Pennsylvania trails. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 19, at the Wesley Center of Camp Hill United Methodist Church, Camp Hill. The four films will include the following. Best of Pennsylvania – 1000 Steps Hiking Trail is a humorous look at a great trail near Mount Union in Huntingdon County. Among the best day hikes in Pennsylvania is Tiadaghton State Forest’s Golden Eagle Trail, which Scott...
read moreWe are destroying nature’s ability to help us stave off catastrophic climate change. That’s the bombshell conclusion of an under-reported 2014 study, “The declining uptake rate of atmospheric CO2 by land and ocean sinks.” Based on actual observations and measurements, the world’s top carbon-cycle experts have determined that the land and ocean are becoming steadily less effective at removing excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This makes it more urgent for us to start cutting carbon pollution ASAP, since it will become progressively...
read moreFor lovers of natural beauty, there is little to beat taking a gondola up into the mountains, going for an alpine walk then stopping for lunch on the sunny terrace of a mountain hut. That’s just one of the many hiking options in Austria. There are waymarked routes that cover everything from gentle lakeside strolls to breath-taking high-mountain challenges. You can wander along a pine-scented valley, walk across pastures to the sound of cowbells and birdsong, or take a zig-zag path down through mountainside wildflowers. Carinthia’s...
read moreOne of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s most popular trails is temporarily closed because of storm damage. After weeks of snow and ice saturated the soil, this week’s rains washed out a portion of the Laurel Falls Trail just before the falls. A park volunteer discovered the damage on March 11, 2015. “Our trail crews are experienced with these kinds of washouts and will work to make the necessary repairs so that the Laurel Falls Trail, one of our most popular in the park, can be safely reopened for hikers,”...
read moreDawn’s golden light caught the tops of the snowcapped Himalayas and gradually crept downward as the rising sun lit up a sweeping arc of soaring peaks, at once forbidding and starkly beautiful. The stunning vista from the top of Poon Hill — at 10,475 feet, the highest point of a six-day trek in Nepal — was among many highlights of a “Lord of the Rings”-like adventure through lush forests, terraced fields and traditional villages nestled above plunging valleys. Sometimes the going was tough — like hiking two hours up steep,...
read morePlains bison, an icon of wild landscapes, will be returned to Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada, in an effort to bring the “missing link” back to the park’s wildlife ecosystem. The decision, announced last week, will both support Canada’s National Conservation Plan and also bring a better balance to the park’s ecosystem. Through their grazing and physical disturbance of vegetation and soil, bison helped create and maintain the patchwork of meadows, grasslands and other open habitats upon which they, and many...
read moreIt may have seemed surprising when four former employees of Florida’s state Department of Environmental Protection said they were forbidden to use the words “climate change” and “global warming” in any official communications. But as it turns out, the alleged practice is not unusual — at least in states with governors who do not accept the scientific validity of human-caused climate change. In fact, two states were accused of implementing a very similar practice with their environmental conservation agencies last year. The most recent...
read moreKids in Parks, a signature program of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, is continuing to draw national attention for its work helping to bring kids outdoors and getting them active. Kids in Parks is based in Asheville, NC. The group received the Association of Partners for Public Lands 2015 Partnership Award for Outstanding Public Engagement at a ceremony recently in Atlanta. “Dynamic, effective partnerships are absolutely essential to the preservation of America’s most treasured public lands and the enhancement of their...
read moreA fire so massive that it could not be approached by firefighters erupted after an explosion at an oil waste disposal site north of Alexander, North Dakota. McKenzie County Emergency Manager Karlin Rockvoy said the only thing to do at first was watch the fire burn itself out. The explosion occurred at approximately 3:30 a.m. on March 7, 2015. Emergency responders from both Williston and Alexander, ND established a perimeter around the site to ensure the safety of anyone in the area. Five employees at the facility escaped unharmed, one of whom...
read moreFairbanks air turns bitter every winter as Alaskans fill it with wood smoke and other things, but just down the road Denali National Park has the clearest air measured among America’s monitored national parks. Scientists at Colorado State University have taken a close look at Denali air as captured near the park entrance. A monitor there pulls air through a set of four filters, getting samples every third day. A park employee then mails the filters to the Lower 48. Scientists studied the particles less than 2.5 micrometers in size...
read moreIn October, two young Americans set off on the most daring and foolhardy wilderness expedition since, oh, maybe Lewis and Clark. They were trying to become the first people ever to backpack from Canada to Mexico on the Pacific Crest Trail in the dead of winter. Once before, in 1983, two people set out to traverse the trail in winter. They never made it. Their bodies were found a month after they fell off an icy cliff. A winter thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail seemed impossible. The trail is covered by many feet of snow that time of year,...
read moreSeveral hiking trails in San Marcos, California that burned in the massive Cocos Fire last year are now open again. “The views up there are just outstanding,” said hiker John Page as he returned from hiking the Double Peaks Trail. It has been 10 months since he or anyone else has hiked it. “They were burnt pretty bad where we had to keep people off,” said park ranger Ron Vinluan. “There are guardrails that kept people from going off the side, those were burnt.” Vinluan says five trails were closed after the...
read moreAfter a three-year dispute with the state environmental agency, Walker County officials will be in the clear once they absorb one last hit. It’s going to hurt. Like, $100,000 worth of pain. Maybe worse. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division first alerted Walker County in 2012 that there were problems with the construction of the Durham Trail, a hiking route that crosses Rock Creek on Lookout Mountain. EPD officials said the county never told them they were working near the creek, breaking state law. “If they had [requested...
read moreAfter one of the coldest months on record in East Tennessee, many people are more than ready for some warm weather. But the especially frigid winter has been a life-saver for some of the mightiest trees in the forest. This winter’s sub-zero temperatures in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park have devastated the once unstoppable Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. The adelgid is an invasive insect from Asia that has killed millions of hemlock trees in the eastern United States. They first arrived in the Smokies in 2002. “You know adelgids...
read moreDelicate Arch at Arches National Park is one of the icons of the National Park System. It’s showcased on Utah’s license plates, and a must-see for visitors to the park. But construction this year at the arch’s parking area could force you to put off your up-close-and-personal experience with Delicate Arch until another year, say park officials. Simply put, there just might not be enough space for you to park at the trailhead. Parking lots will be full most of the day, a notice on the park’s website says. “You can...
read moreJoin in a celebration of the life and works of Horace Kephart — author, outdoorsman, and a founding father of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park — at The Schiele Museum of Natural History in Gastonia, NC on Friday & Saturday, May 14-15, 2015. Kephart wrote the classic study of Appalachian mountain culture (Our Southern Highlanders, 1913) and the encyclopedic guide to outdoor living (Camping and Woodcraft, 1906). Explore a living history demonstration of camping in the early 20th Century style. Saturday’s activities...
read moreThe Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC), along with the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club (SMHC), invite the public to attend the official designation of Fontana Dam, North Carolina, as the newest Appalachian Trail Community™. The ceremony will be held on Thursday, March 26, 2015, and is free and open to the public. The event will kick off at 11 a.m. with music from the Larry Barnett Duo, allowing attendees to meet and greet each other before the designation ceremony at noon. Following the ceremony, guests are welcome to visit the Mountview...
read moreWe’re in Huairou, a rural district in the mountainous outlying regions of Beijing. It’s here, a two- or three-hour drive from downtown, that you’ll find some of the most spectacular sections of the Great Wall. For hikers across Beijing, the Great Wall is as functional as it is legendary. Thick, dry shrub covers the mountains here, and a trail with a view is a rare find. In contrast, the Great Wall is an elevated highway, although sometimes a disintegrating one. When the Freedom Team comes to the occasional cliff or eroded section, the hikers...
read moreA Mississippi power plant promises to create clean energy from our dirtiest fuel. But it will come at a price. On December 14, 2006, Barbara Correro was at home drinking tea, reading the paper. She had spent the past five years and most of her savings on a long-cherished retirement dream: a small mobile home on 24 acres of pine and hardwood forest, a large organic garden, and a pack of friendly dogs in rural Kemper County, Miss. The acres once belonged to her grandmother, who kept cows and chickens, sold the hand-churned butter and eggs, and...
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I am Jeff Clark, founder of Internet Brothers, producer of this blog, and passionate about hiking. I live in Western NC near the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are just out my door, so the content will focus on these areas, but let me know what you would like to see on the site. 
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