Cultural concepts that may be different to you

From the end of October through the New Year and onto Valentine’s Day, it’s easy to forget that the holidays we celebrate are simply cultural constructs that we can choose to engage in — or not. The concepts and ideas we celebrate — like our spiritual beliefs and daily habits — are a choice, though sometimes it feels like we “have” to celebrate...

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A failed Soviet irrigation project brings eco-apocalypse to SE Ukraine

In 1976, it looked like a good idea: to divert the waters of the Danube into a salt-water lagoon on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, and irrigate millions of hectares of arid steppe land. But the result has been human and environmental disaster on an epic scale. Some environmental disasters happen in the blink of an eye, much too quickly for anyone to react: an oil...

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8 ways to hike more in 2015

If you’re like most people, all of your good intentions, inspired by the illusion of some cosmic do-over that comes with the new year, are already well on their way to oblivion. In one year and out the other, as the saying about resolutions goes. The problem with many resolutions is that they’re simply too vague. So maybe you’ve made a resolution to hike more in 2015....

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Oconee Passage of the Palmetto Trail, Sumter National Forest, SC

This climb up Station Mountain begins within Oconee Station State Historic Site then passes through Sumter National Forest on the way to Oconee State Park. Along the way you’ll enjoy the 60-foot Station Cove Falls and a botanical preserve inhabited by beaver. The climb is a good workout, as a peaceful hardwood forest and a well-maintained trail lined with switch...

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Wild buffalo now roam east of the Mississippi for the first time since the 1830s

When David Crites walked out of his apartment last month, he was greeted by a line of six or so bison standing shoulder to shoulder in the front yard. He sidled over to his truck, staring at the huge animals, slipped into the front seat, then closed the door and turned on the ignition. As the pickup slowly made its way down the driveway, the bison lumbered alongside. “It...

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Pope Francis Expected To Instruct One Billion Catholics To Act On Climate Change

At the end of 2015, the nations of the world will meet in Paris and attempt to hammer out a global deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions. And Pope Francis hopes that the world’s Catholics, as well as other major religions, will be a big part of serious climate action. This includes a series of steps next year. Francis is expected to tell the planet’s 1.2 billion Catholics...

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“Hike Death Valley” And Gain A Decal For Your Death Valley National Park Memorabilia Collection

Death Valley is an imposing place to go for a hike, though the staff at the national park is encouraging visitors to experience the park on a hiking trail through a new program that debuts in January. The Hike Death Valley program offers a list of hikes for visitors to take. Each hike has a point value assigned to it. For instance, hike the half-mile to Scotty’s...

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View of Smokies shows air quality improving in East Tennessee

Don Barger can tell from his commute to work that air quality in East Tennessee has improved in recent years. Barger, the southern regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association, said the views of the Great Smoky Mountains on his way to work from Norris to Knoxville are evidence enough without the need to consult any data. “We’ve got our...

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Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front is place of surprises

In his book “This House of Sky,” Ivan Doig described them as a “steel-blue army of mountains, drawn in battalions of peaks and reefs and gorges and crags as far along the entire rim of the earth as could be seen.” “Summit after summit bladed up thousands of feet as if charging into the air to strike first at storm and lightning, valleys and...

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Seniard Ridge Trail to Log Hollow Falls, Pisgah National Forest

Occasionally a nice easy stroll to a beautiful waterfall is just what the doctor ordered. I made this a three and a half mile loop, but you can actually get to the waterfall in a mile round trip. The woods off FR 475B in Pisgah National Forest are dense and filled with mountain streams running down from the Blue Ridge high above. One of these streams is Log Hollow...

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Veteran hikes the Appalachian Trail, canoes the Mississippi

His job wasn’t difficult, but it wore on him all the same. He craved adventure. He had to do something. That something, it turned out, was hiking the venerable Appalachian Trail in an unbroken streak from Georgia to Maine and, that not being enough, paddling a green canoe from the headwaters of the Mississippi River all the way to Baton Rouge, La. Jared McCallum...

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Think Like a Deer: Award-Winning Video Aims to Reduce Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions

Collisions between vehicles and wildlife are a big problem on U.S. roads. Each year, on average, 1-2 million collisions with large animals, especially mule deer and white-tailed deer, end in 200 fatalities, 26,000 injuries, and costs exceeding $1 billion. About a third of the collisions reported on rural roads are wildlife-related, and two-lane highways with speed limits...

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Buffalo Creek Park, Hickory Nut Gorge

Buffalo Creek Park is the gateway to 1,500 acres of land conserved by the Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy on Weed Patch Mountain that protects the northern headwaters of Lake Lure in Hickory Nut Gorge. The town of Lake Lure has since purchased 200 acres for the creation of Buffalo Creek Park and a network of hiking and mountain biking trails. When fully developed, it...

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Kauai fire department rescues more than 60 hikers

Heavy rains on the Hawaiian island of Kauai led to major rescue efforts by the Kauai Fire Department. Dozens of hikers are lucky to be alive on Christmas Eve. More than 60 of them had to be rescued from Kalalau Valley on Kauai that morning. But officials say some of them weren’t even supposed to be there. A total of 62 stranded hikers were air lifted out of the valley...

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Maddron Bald Trail to Albright Grove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Take a hike on the Maddron Bald Trail from the Cosby area of the Smokies, and you will be thrust into a different age and time. With a restored 19th century cabin and old family cemetery along the way, and mature forest as your destination, you might imagine yourself walking the trail in the days more than a century ago when settlers built their homesteads here. The...

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Ring in new year with hikes at State Parks

Start your New Year off on the right (or left) foot with a First Day Hike at a State Park. Explore history, view winter wildlife, enjoy fresh air and connect with nature at these fun, family-friendly events. First Day Hikes are a healthy way to rejuvenate with family and friends after the long holiday rush. These free, guided hikes are usually easy to moderate in...

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EPA Just Saved Utilities a Lot of Money With Weak Coal Ash Regulation

When power plants burn coal, they’re left with a coal ash residue containing arsenic, mercury, lead, and selenium. Until today, there were no federal standards for utilities to dispose of it. Utilities produce more than 100 million tons of the stuff annually, and what’s not recycled into concrete is spread across the country in 1,400 dry and wet ponds. The problem,...

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Trails Grant To Be Well-Spent By The National Park Service At Chesapeake Bay

National Park Service Chesapeake Bay was one of 37 national parks selected to receive a 2014 Active Trails grant from the National Park Foundation, the official charity of America’s national parks. Now in its sixth year, the Active Trails program supports healthy living by getting people out and active in national parks through projects that help restore, protect,...

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Delaware’s newest biking and hiking trail opens in Dover

The latest addition to Governor Jack Markell’s First State Trails and Pathways initiative opened in Dover December 18, 2014. State officials cut the ribbon on the Capital City Trail, a 10-foot-wide multi-use path near Legislative Hall. The trail connects to the St. Jones Greenway on its southern end and the Silver Lake Trail system to the north. Jeff Niezgoda, the...

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America’s Second-Biggest Form Of Waste Is About To Be Federally Regulated For The First Time

The EPA has confirmed that on Friday, Dec. 19, 2014 it will release its first-ever regulations on the second-largest form of waste generation in the United States: coal ash. When it is is finalized, the rule is expected to include requirements on how coal ash should be disposed, how existing coal ash pits should be cleaned up, whether coal ash should be designated as a...

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Rocky Mountain National Park: Hiking 100 miles to mark 100 years

In celebration of 100 years of trails and recreation, Rocky Mountain National Park officials are encouraging people to get out and enjoy the vast park’s excursions in 2015. Julie Nelson, of Loveland, CO advocates going further. She and her father, Bill Perry, have made a goal to hike 100 miles next year in celebration of the park’s 100th anniversary. She is...

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What One Wolf’s Extraordinary Journey Means for the Future of Wildlife in America

On Feb. 5, 2014, the world’s most famous wolf woke up somewhere along the Oregon-California border, very likely in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, a landscape of Alpine forests and grassland valleys. For the better part of a year he had been making his home in this place where the Cascade, Klamath, and Siskiyou mountains converge. It was cold that day, in the...

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Pisgah Range Paracord Boot Laces

There are very few companies producing quality paracord bootlaces. One of the biggest flaws is that not a one of them uses authentic military paracord. It is, however, commercial grade cord in “mil-spec patterns” with 7 bi-woven innards. That just won’t cut it. Pisgah Range Ltd. wanted the real 8 tri-woven innards with a manufacturer’s...

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WNC’s National Forests at crossroads

On Oct. 21, 2014 the U.S. Forest Service unveiled draft management area boundaries that put 692,700 acres — about 69 percent — of Nantahala-Pisgah National Forest in management areas that make “timber production, for the purposeful growing and harvesting of crops of trees to be cut into logs” the “primary or secondary use of the land.” Today, the Nantahala-Pisgah is one...

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Why sunrises are more amazing in winter

When it comes to getting great sunrise and sunset photos, perhaps the best time of year to find success is during winter. There are two reasons why the winter months offer up the greatest opportunities. The first reason is that the sun rises later and sets earlier so you don’t have to get up at a frighteningly early hour or stay out past dinner time to capture the...

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An off-roading wheelchair made of bike parts tackles hiking trails

An engineer with an eye for cost-effective design is winning fans in the third world with an affordable wheelchair made out of bike parts. The original chair grew out of a project for disabled people in rural areas. Amos Winter, then a graduate student at MIT, designed a three-wheeled chair made from ordinary bike parts, with levers that riders pump to power it along...

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Take a Walk on a Leaky Uintah Basin Oil Well With a Whistleblowing Oil and Gas CEO

Three separate and very interesting things have happened over the past few months, and what makes them even more interesting is the timing, and the fact that they all happened within such a short period. Sequentially speaking, the second and most recent thing that happened, is that a midwife in the highly conservative oil patch community of Vernal, Utah in the Uintah...

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Volunteers, forest service crews rebuilding trail linked to century-old Mount Baker Marathon

An overgrown trail with a link to the Mount Baker Marathon, a storied race that occurred a century ago, is being cleared out and rebuilt as part of a Bellingham ultra-runner’s dream of launching a new version of the competition. Daniel Probst knows first-hand why the Ridley Creek Trail needs a makeover. He and other runners attempting an epic run, hike and climb from...

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