Boone firm chosen for Parkway planning effort

Boone-based Destination by Design will be leading efforts to create an economic development plan tying together all 29 counties along the Blue Ridge Parkway corridor, following a decision by the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation.

“Our entire team is thrilled to be working alongside the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation to further unify the region around this world-class asset,” said Eric Woolridge, director of planning at Destination by Design. “There is so much amazing talent found here in the heart of Appalachia, and we feel especially fortunate for the opportunity to engage with so many great people and communities here in our backyard.”

Destination by Design will facilitate detailed listening sessions in all 29 counties in the Parkway corridor, followed by a dozen regional meetings to explore specific issues and opportunities. The resulting action plan will identify key projects to advance economic development in multiple communities within the Blue Ridge Parkway corridor.

This effort marks the first time in the Parkway’s 87-year history that all 29 Parkway counties have engaged together to develop strategies benefitting the park’s neighboring communities. It is funded by two complementary grants Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation received from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. The grants designated $393,193 for Virginia and $517,924 for North Carolina.

Road construction could delay A.T. hikers

They are funded through the American Rescue Plan Act and U.S. EDA’s programs to advance economic recovery and resilience in travel, tourism and other sectors.

For the next two years, Appalachian Trail users will experience delays at Stecoah Gap due to construction on Corridor K. Construction for the long-debated project, which will improve a 12-mile portion of road between Robbinsville and Stecoah, began on Oct. 3. Passage across U.S. 143 will be possible during construction, but trail users may be delayed while waiting for vehicles to pass and permission from road flaggers to safely proceed across the highway. It is expected that these delays will occur for at least two years. Find more information, including maps, at ncdot.gov/projects/corridor-k/pages/default.aspx.

Greenbriar area closed for flood repairs

Access to the entire Greenbriar area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be closed from Feb. 13 until at least March 31 for flood damage repairs.

The road at the Greenbrier Ranger Station has been closed to vehicle traffic since July after flooding and rockslides made the road unstable and unsafe. Flooding also washed out culverts at Porters Creek beyond the Ramsey Prong Road intersection. Federal Highway Administration awarded a $410,000 contract to Bryant’s Land Development Industries, Inc. out of Burnsville, to complete the road repairs and culvert replacements.

During this time, the road, trails and campsites in the Greenbriar area will be closed to all use. The closure area includes Greenbriar Road, Grapeyard Ridge Trail, Porters Creek Trail, Brushy Mountain Trail, Ramsey Cascades Trail, Old Settlers Trail and backcountry campsites 31, 32 and 33. Once the area reopens, Ramsey Cascades and Porters Creek Trail will remain closed until footlog bridges dam-

Say hello to a hellbender

Learn about hellbenders, the biggest salamander in North America, during a presentation at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 20, at the Cowee School Arts and Heritage Center near Franklin.

Lori Williams, wildlife diversity biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, will deliver this talk for the “Where We Live” series — with help from Rocky the hellbender. Williams is conducting a long-term inventory and monitoring project on hellbenders.

Federal funding to combat chronic wasting disease

The federal Consolidated Appropriations Act that became law on Dec. 29, 2022, included a major win for wildlife advocates — inclusion of the ease affecting cervids like deer, elk and moose.

North Carolina is home to more than 65 species of salamanders, with over 50 species in the mountain region. But the Eastern hellbender is one of only three giant salamanders found in the world, and it lives in local streams. The salamander averages 1617 inches in length but can exceed 2 feet and weigh more than 2 pounds. Once common throughout the Mideastern U.S., the hellbender has disappeared from many streams due to declining water quality, overcollection and persecution.

That funding includes $35 million annually for research to focus on methods to detect CWD in live deer, harvested deer and the surrounding environment; best practices for reducing CWD through sustainable harvest; and factors contributing to local spread. Another $35 million would go toward management, including surveillance and testing. Priorities would include areas with high CWD prevalence, areas responding to new outbreaks, areas free of CWD but with greatest risk of CWD emerging, jurisdictions with the greatest financial commitment to combating CWD and efforts to develop comprehensive policies and programs to manage CWD. The bill also allows federal, state and tribal agencies to create and distribute educational materials to inform the public about CWD.

CWD is a transmissible, always fatal, neurological disease that affects deer and other cervids such as elk, moose and reindeer/caribou. There is no test available for live deer — the only way to confirm infection is through lab testing of brain tissue or lymph nodes.

Chronic Wasting Disease Research and Management Act.

The bipartisan CWD Research and Management Act is set to invest $70 million annually in research and management techniques to slow the spread of the deadly dis-

The disease was detected in North Carolina for the first time last year, with five deer testing positive in Yadkin and Surry counties. North Carolina began testing in 1999 and increased its efforts after the disease was recorded east of the Mississippi River in 2002. The state has been using an annual surveillance strategy since 2018.

Puzzles can be found on page 38

These

Up Moses Creek

BY B URT KORNEGAY

Mole and Thrush and Pretty Polly

Amole tunneled out of the woods early this winter and started digging back and forth behind the house in a neverending search for food. In two months it has turned our yard into a scale model of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Walk across the grass and your feet sink into newly pushed up earth.

We could trap and kill the mole, but it’s been fun to watch instead as it burrows below the surface, making the ground heave and crack. Our binoculars bring it close.

Besides, we’re not the only ones watching; a hermit thrush does too. It watches so avidly that wherever the mole goes, the bird is close behind. The two have been together so much we’ve named the pair Mole and Thrush.

But Thrush does more than follow. As Mole burrows along, humping the ground up into mini-ridges, the bird rides on top, because he’s hungry too. He’s like an egret that perches on the back of a grazing cow to see what insects its hooves stir up.

Thrush differs from an egret in one intriguing way. When he rides on Mole, his legs, first one then the other, twitch and tremble. They go as fast as a sewing machine needle or a person with a nervous foot. Thrush can’t seem to contain his excitement, waiting to see what Mole turns up, so he sends it into his feet.

What Mole turns up are earthworms. I’ve read that a mole can eat its body weight in worms in a day. We see a juicy one, slick and pink, wiggle up out of a crack, trying to escape Mole’s ravenous jaws, only to fall prey to Thrush. Thrush sees pink, then — Snap! — he plucks the worm and — Gulp! — down his throat it goes. The two parts of his beak work together like a knife and fork in the hands of a hungry boy. Thrush wipes his beak on a blade of grass then goes back for more.

It’s when Thrush jumps in front of Mole and watches him approach that his bird legs twitch the fastest. And when his legs twitch, his tail twitches too. As goes the tail, so goes the rest of the body, until Thrush is all in a jerk.

Can this be the same bird that’s overwintered here in the past? That thrush really was a “hermit.” He’d fly out of the woods and land under our hollies to eat fallen berries, then dart back as if he couldn’t wait to be alone again. He was so socially averse that no more than a glance from us out the window would send him off.

But this year, Thrush is a party animal. He sees Mole humping along, thinks about worms, and out he comes to quiver and dance. Out come our binoculars too.

That is, until this morning. This morning Mole moved into virgin ground, Becky’s flowerbed — the one right below a window. Mole was so close we didn’t need binoculars to see him push up dirt. And perched on top of the moving earth was Thrush, waiting for a pink wiggler to show, his skinny legs going to town.

To make sure we weren’t just seeing things, Becky opened her bird Bible, John Terres’ “Encyclopedia of North American Birds.” Terres does not mention thrushes under “SOME ODD METHODS OF FOODGETTING,” but he does name other birds that engage in “a peculiar kind of foraging called foot-stirring.” He says, to give chapter and verse, “Lapwings bring earthworms to the surface by quick trembling motions of one foot.” Next Becky went to an online source, Cornell’s “All About Birds,” and read, “Hermit Thrushes sometimes forage by ‘foot quivering,’ where they shake bits of grass with their feet.”

But it’s not foot-stirring or foot-quivering that’s going on in the flowerbed this morning. Thrush and Mole are hunting in concert, and foot-strumming is what I see.

Now Thrush jumps in front of Mole, his thin legs pumping, his clawed toes picking away. Mole senses the twanging vibes and thinks, “There’s a wiggler just ahead!”

I can’t see Mole, of course, but I can picture him under the rhythmic surface, his big hands plucking at dirt and roots. Like a bluegrass boy slapping the strings of a bigbellied bass, Mole anchors the music with pounding thumps in a Foggy Mountain Breakdown, in a Deliverance duel, while Thrush claws and hammers at banjo earth.

We tap our feet too, in front-row seats. It’s a Moses Creek hoedown with Mole and Thrush. Now, suddenly, between the two — flashing pink to their clogging beat — here comes Pretty Polly!

Burt Kornegay is the author of “A Guide’s Guide to Panthertown Valley.” He and his wife, Becky, live in Jackson County.

COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

• The Jackson Arts Market takes place from 1-5 p.m. every Saturday at 533 West Main St. in Sylva with live music and an array of local artists.

• Cowee School Farmer’s Market is held Wednesdays from 3-6 p.m., at 51 Cowee School Drive in Franklin. The market has produce, plant starts, eggs, baked goods, flowers, food trucks and music. For more information or for an application, visit www.coweeschool.org or call 828.369.4080.

• Jackson County Green Energy Park is once again welcoming visitors. It is open to the public each week 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. Public classes will resume this spring. JCGEP will also host live glassblowing demonstrations at Innovation Station during the Lights and Luminaries festival in Dillsboro. For more information email info@jacksonnc.org or 828.631.0271.

B USINESS & E DUCATION

• Haywood Community College will host “Balance & Burnout: Small Business Lunch & Learn Series” from 12-1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15. Seminars are free to attend. To see the full schedule and register, go to sbc.haywood.edu.

• Haywood Community College will host “Relationship Marketing, Your Ground game: Relationship Marketing Series” from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16. Seminars are free to attend. To see the full schedule and register, go to sbc.haywood.edu.

Fundraisers And B Enefits

• Cowee School will host a Valentine’s Dessert and Dance Fundraiser from 6-9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, at Cowee School Arts and Heritage Center with music by BlueJazz. Tickets are $20, available at the door or at coweeschool.org.

• Haywood Waterways Association and The Town of Canton are hosting the 11th annual Plunge and Plunge Challenge will take place at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, at the Champion Credit Union Aquatic Center (Canton Pool). The event raises funds for Kids in the Creek and other Haywood Waterways’ other community education activities. For more information contact 828.476.4667 or info@haywoodwaterways.org.

• Haywood Community College Foundation is hosting a concert to support student needs on Saturday, March 4, at 3 p.m. in the HCC Charles Beall Auditorium. The Blue Ridge Orchestra will showcase Musique Ménage, a concert of contrasts, featuring Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 — “The Great” — and original music by local artists Fancy and the Gentlemen. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.haywood.edu/orchestra

H Ealth And Wellness

• Mountain Area pregnancy Services and the WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counselor work together to provide a casual support group for prenatal and breastfeeding individuals from 1-2 p.m. on Tuesdays at Mountain Area Pregnancy Services, 177 N Main St. Waynesville, NC. All are welcome, registration is recommended. For more information please call 828.558.4550.

Clubs And M Eetings

• The Canton Branch of the Haywood County Public Library Creative Writing Group meets 10:30 a.m. - noon on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month. For more information, email Jennifer at jennifer.stuart@haywoodcountync.gov or call 828.356.2561.

n All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted.

n To have your item listed email to calendar@smokymountainnews.com

• Knit Night takes place at 5:30-7:30 p.m. every second Tuesday of the month at The Stecoah Valley Center. The event is free and open to the public. RSVP is recommended: 828.479.3364 or amber@stecoahvalleycenter.com.

Authors And B Ooks

• Professor Bart D. Ehrman, Biblical scholar and author of six New York Times bestselling books including “Jesus” and “The Triumph of Christianity,” will speak and answer questions at 7 p.m. Friday, April 14, at the Queen Auditorium in the Folkmoot Friendship Center at 112 Virginia Ave. in Waynesville. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door Tickets may be purchased at Blue Ridge Books or by calling 828.226.5921.

• Tremont Writers Conference, an intensive five-day retreat for writers of fiction, nonfiction and poetry will take place Wednesday, Oct. 25-29. Applications to participate in the event may be submitted online now through April 30 at writers.gsmit.org.

K IDS & FAMILIES

• Creative Writing Club will take place at 3:30 p.m. on the fourth Wednesday of every month at the Macon County Public Library. The writing club is intended for ages 8-12. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.

• Move and Groove Storytime takes place 10:30-11 a.m. every Thursday, at the Canton branch of the Haywood County Public Library. Exciting, interactive music and movement story time ideal for children 2-6 years old. For more information contact Ashlyn at ashlyn.godleski@haywoodcountync.gov or at 828.356.2567.

• Mother Goose Storytime takes place 10:30-11 a.m. every Wednesday, at the Waynesville branch of the Haywood County Public Library. Ideal for children from birth to 2 years old. For more information, contact Lisa at lisa.hartzell@haywoodcountync.gov or call 828.356.2511.

• Wiggle Worms Storytime takes place 10:30-11 a.m. every Tuesday, at the Waynesville branch of the Haywood County Public Library. Ideal for children 2-6 years old. For more information contact Lisa at lisa.hartzell@haywoodcountync.gov or call 828.356.2511.

• Storytime takes place at 10 a.m. every Tuesday at the Macon County Library. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.

• Toddler’s Rock takes place at 10 a.m. every Monday at the Macon County Library. Get ready to rock with songs, books, rhymes and playing with instruments. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.

• Art afternoon takes place at 3:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month at the Macon County Public Library. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.

concert at 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, at First United Methodist Church in Waynesville. A livestream will be available through the First UMC Waynesville YouTube channel. For more information visit www.voicesinthelaurel.org.

• Voices in the Laurel will sponsor Movie MADness, a community Multicultural Arts Day from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, at First Baptist Church in Waynesville. While admission is free, space is limited, so make your reservation today at www.voicesinthelaurel.org.

• Helena Hunt will play traditional tunes for a Sunday afternoon concert from 3-4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26, at the Canton Branch of the Haywood County Public Library. For more information contact Jennifer at jennifer.stuart@haywoodcountync.gov or call 828.356.2561.

• Green Energy Park will celebrate its reopening with the “Fire Arts Festival” from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 4, at the Green Energy Park, 1/2 mile past Huddle House in Dillsboro. For more information visit www.JCGEP.org.

• Mountain Makers Craft Market will be held from noon-4 p.m. the first Sunday of each month at 308 North Haywood St. in downtown Waynesville. Over two dozen artisans selling handmade and vintage goods. Special events will be held when scheduled. mountainmakersmarket.com.

F Ood And D Rink

• “Flights & Bites” will be held starting at 4 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays at Bosu’s Wine Shop in downtown Waynesville. For more information on upcoming events, wine tastings and special dinners, click on waynesvillewine.com.

• A free wine tasting will be held from 6-8 p.m. every Thursday and 2-5 p.m. every Saturday at The Wine Bar & Cellar in Sylva. 828.631.3075.

• Take a trip around the world with four different wines every Friday 11 a.m.-8 p.m. and Saturday 11a.m.-6 p.m. at the Bryson City Wine Market. Pick from artisan Charcuterie Foods to enjoy with wines. 828.538.0420

• Cooking classes take place at the McKinley Edwards Inn from 6-8:30 p.m. on Thursday nights. To reserve your spot call 828.488.9626.

Classes And Programs

• Chess 101 takes place from 3:30-4:30 p.m. every Friday in the Canton Branch of the Haywood County Public Library. No registration required, for more information call 828.648.2924.

• Wired Wednesday, one-on-one technology help is available at 3-5 p.m. every Wednesday at the Canton Branch of the Haywood County Library. For more information or to register, call 828.648.2924.

• Uptown Gallery, 30 East Main St. Franklin, will be offering Children’s Art Classes Wednesdays afternoons. Adult workshops in watercolor, acrylic paint pouring, encaustic and glass fusing are also offered. Free painting is available 10 a.m.-3 p.m. every Monday in the classroom. A membership meeting takes place on the second Sunday of the month at 3 p.m. All are welcome. Call 828.349.4607 for more information.

Art Showings And Galleries

n Complete listings of local music scene n Regional festivals n Art gallery events and openings n Complete listings of recreational offerings at health and fitness centers n Civic and social club gatherings own project and a bag lunch. 828.349.4607 or pm14034@yahoo.com.

Outdoors

• The 20th annual Business of Farming Conference is coming up Saturday, Feb. 11, at the A-B Tech Conference Center in Buncombe County. Organized by the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project. Register at asapconnections.org.

• Howard Browers will lead a birding adventure at 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, at Lake Junaluska. Sign up at bit.ly/haywoodrec.

• Hike in the Lake Logan Retreat area at 9 a.m. Friday, Feb. 17, with Haywood County Recreation and Parks. The hike starts just before Lake Logan and ends lakeside. All hikes are $10. Sign up at bit.ly/haywoodrec.

• The Highlands Biological Station will celebrate the Great Backyard Bird Count on Friday, Feb. 17, and Saturday, Feb. 18.

• Learn about hellbenders during a presentation at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 20, at the Cowee School Arts and Heritage Center near Franklin. For more information visit coweeschool.org.

• Master Gardener Volunteer Bonnie Refinski-Knight will host a seminar on gardening from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday, Feb. 21, at the Haywood County Cooperative Extension Center in Waynesville. Cost is $10.

• Explore a section of the Art Loeb Trail at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, with Haywood County Recreation and Hikes. All hikes are $10. Sign up at bit.ly/haywoodrec.

• The annual Haywood County Extension Master Gardener plant sale is now underway, with pre-paid orders due by March 3. Find order forms online at haywood.ces.ncsu.edu, pick them up at the Extension Office on Raccoon Road in Waynesville or contact 828.456.3575 or mgarticles@charter.net.

• Registration is open for two upcoming sessions of Outdoor Adventure Kids, or OAK, at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville. OAK is open to kids ages 6-13 and runs Fridays 12:30-4:30 p.m., with the first session March 331 and the second session April 14 through May 12. Learn more or sign up at ncarboretum.org/educationprograms/youth-family-programs/oak-drop-offprogram.

• The inaugural Land and Lake Relay will be held Saturday, March 4. This 63-mile race is set up for fourperson and six-person teams, starting at Warren Wilson College in east Asheville and finishing at Fonta Flora Brewing at Lake James. Registration is limited to 60 teams. For more information or to register, visit gloryhoundevents.com.

• The Haywood County Elementary Honors Chorus and Voices in the Laurel Concert Choir will present “Haywood Voices Sing We Are One,” a multi-cultural

• “Thursday Painters” group will be held from 10 a.m.3 p.m. on Thursdays at The Uptown Gallery in Franklin. Free and open to the public. All skill levels and mediums are welcome. Participants are responsible for their

• The 16th annual Asheville Catholic School Shamrock 5K/10K will return Saturday, March 11, benefiting the O’Brien and William Edward Gibbs Memorial Scholarship Fund. Both races sold out last year, so early registration is encouraged. For more information or to register, visit gloryhoundevents.com.