Podcasts
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A wildlife biologist holds a rainbow trout. Photo by Mark Lisac, USFWS.
Gill lice in North Carolina
August 17, 2015 | 2 minute read
Transcript Greetings and welcome to the Southern Appalachian Creature Feature. Fresh off of discovering whirling disease for the first time in North Carolina, fisheries biologists with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission recently confirmed gill lice on rainbow trout in three North Carolina streams. Gill lice—which are actually tiny, white crustaceans—attach to a fish’s gill, which can inhibit the fish’s ability to breathe. While most fish are able to tolerate a moderate infestation of gill lice, some fish, particularly those suffering from other stressors like drought or high water temperatures, can succumb. Learn more...
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Lynn Cove Viaduct, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. Photo by Matthew Paulson, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Blue Ridge Parkway bio-blitz
August 10, 2015 | 2 minute read
Transcript Greetings and welcome to the Southern Appalachian Creature Feature. The Blue Ridge Parkway, the National Park Service unit that stretches from Great Smoky Mountains National Park, along the Blue Ridge Mountains, to Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park, is hosting a bio-blitz in mid-September. The blitz will be a 24-hour period, when experts on plants, mushrooms, birds, and other forms of life will descend on the Rock Castle Gorge area of the Parkway in southwest Virginia. Learn more...
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Oconaluftee River snorkelers. Photo by Gary Peeples, USFWS.
River snorkeling
August 3, 2015 | 2 minute read
Transcript Greetings and welcome to the Southern Appalachian Creature Feature. We’re in the heat of summer, and one thing is evident – river recreation is on the uptick this year. Why not add a new dimension to hitting the water? We think of snorkeling as a tropical, saltwater pastime, but there’s no reason we can’t bring it to freshwater, and there’s no better place than the rivers of the Southern Appalachians. Learn more...
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Outdoor Heritage Act
July 25, 2015 | 2 minute read
Transcript Greetings and welcome to the Southern Appalachian Creature Feature. North Carolina governor Pat McCrory recently signed into law the Outdoor Heritage Act. The act does a handful of things, the one that has gotten the most attention is that it allows for hunting on Sundays with the use of firearms on private property with written permission from the landowner, beginning Oct. 1, with the following provisions: Hunting on Sunday between 9:30 a. Learn more...
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Mountain golden heather near Linville Gorge. Photo by Gary Peeples, USFWS.
Mountain golden heather monitoring
July 20, 2015 | 2 minute read
Transcript Greetings and welcome to the Southern Appalachian Creature Feature. Despite the elevation, it was quite hot, as the midday sun fell on the dry ridge running along Linville Gorge. We were there to monitor mountain golden heather, a threatened plant. Despite being a Wednesday, an off day for outdoor recreation, during three three or four hours we were in the sun counting plants, several people hiked by on the trail that bisected our work area. Learn more...
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Ruddy duck at Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Tom Koerner, USFWS.
Duck stamp
July 13, 2015 | 2 minute read
Transcript Greetings and welcome to the Southern Appalachian Creature Feature. The 2015-2016 Federal Duck Stamp was recently unveiled, and features a pair of ruddy ducks painted by wildlife artist Jennifer Miller of Olean, New York. Last fall, a panel of five judges chose Miller’s art from among 186 entries at the Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest. Miller is the third woman to win the Federal Duck Stamp Contest. A federal duck stamp is required for hunting waterfowl. Learn more...
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A young bog turtle in an Appalachian bog. Photo by Gary Peeples, USFWS.
Working lands for bog turtles
July 13, 2015 | 2 minute read
Transcript Greetings and welcome to the Southern Appalachian Creature Feature. Western North Carolina is dotted with farm fields, and while most don’t even draw notice from those driving by, contrary to conventional wisdom some of these farm fields play a key role in conserving one of our rarest turtles – the bog turtle. Bog turtles are North America’s smallest turtle, and protected by the Endangered Species Act. These are two populations – a northern and southern, with the southern population centered on western North Carolina. Learn more...
