May 2026

Mayapple. Credit Joe Cook and Monica Sheppard

May’s Mountain Wildflower: Mayapple

Despite its name, the fruit, which looks more like a yellowish-green, egg-shaped berry than an apple, usually does not begin to develop until early to mid-summer.
White jelly snow fungus growing in the author’s Botetourt County, Virginia woodlot.

May’s Wild Edible: White Jelly Snow Fungus

“Pass the fungus,” is not common dinnertime conversation in the Blue Ridge Mountains region, but that’s because folks perhaps have not heard of the white jelly snow fungus.
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Kim DeLozier: Wildlife Biologist, Author, and Park Ranger 

He’s cared for wild animals for nearly five decades, and his innovative work led to the highly successful reintroduction of elk into Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Today, more than 250 elk roam the nation’s most visited national park.
Ron Messina | Courtesy of the Department of Wildlife Resources

Historic Easement Protects SWVA Land, Opens It to the Public

Lovers of wildlife, woodlands, and waters will soon have a vast area to explore in Southwest Virginia.
Elizabethton, Tennessee, USA, - May 15, 2021: Reenactment at Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park of the Siege of Fort Watauga in 1776.

Revolutionary Roundup

On July 4, 1776, a new nation was born. In honor of this historic day, we explore the forts, battlefields, museums, trails, and more that trace the Patriots’ journey to freedom in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Departments

Behind Blue Ridge Country

Even More Sweet Virginia Breezes

Casually cruising to Claytor Lake in southwest Virginia, I felt like I had come home – back to where it

CALENDAR OF EVENTS