The story below is an excerpt from our May/June 2014 issue. For the rest of this story and more like it subscribe today, view our digital edition or download our FREE iOS app!
Joanna Pecha
Deer
The white-tail, a part of Indian life for centuries, had been hunted to near-extinction in western North Carolina.
The white-tail, a part of Indian life for centuries, had been hunted to near-extinction in western North Carolina.
North Carolina
Biologists are working with the Cherokee Indians to restore white-tail deer to tribal lands in western North Carolina, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. Deer, once plentiful here, were central to the Cherokee way of life for centuries, but were hunted to near extinction by the middle 18th century. “It’s important for our school kids to understand this historic connection to a cultural resource,” says Mike LaVoie, fisheries and wildlife management director for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
North Carolina
Thanks to an agreement between conservationists and the U.S. Forest Service, the agency will leave intact important ecological areas while logging other areas near the Devil’s Courthouse in the Pisgah National Forest. The conservationists objected to the original plan to log in a state-designated Natural Heritage Area that includes the headwaters of the French Broad River, old-growth stands and habitat for rare plants and animals. The Forest Service will also re-grade a road to reduce its environmental impact. southernenvironment.org