This Land, Your Land

The National Forest Service has issued final orders limiting the use of metal detectors and limiting geocaching in North Carolina's four national forests: Croatan, Nantahala, Pisgah and Uwharrie. The Forest Service announced the decision in March.

The order limiting metal detectors allows their use with a permit in designated areas, which include the Ray Mica Mine in Madison, Cheoah Point beach and Jackrabbit Mountain beach in the Nantahala, Neuse River Recreation Area (Flanners Beach) in the Croatan, Lake Powhatan beach in the Pisgah and Kings Mountain Point beach in the Uwharrie.

Geocaching - "storing equipment, personal property or supplies not being used in conjunction with a current visit" - is prohibited in wilderness areas, Forest Service Research Experimental Forests and Wild and Senic River corridors.

The rules are in effect until April 2015.

Nighttime driving on the beach at Cape Hatteras National Seashore returns Thursday though November 15, the National Park Service has announced. Driving on the ocean beaches between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. requires a permit available here.

Drivers must sign and date a permit, and it must be visibly displayed on the dashboard of the vehicle.

The permitting process is part of federal rules that close stretches of Cape Hatteras National Seashore during sea turtle nesting season.

Areas reopened this week include:
* Tri-villages (Rodanthe-Waves-Salvo) beachfront, approximately 3 miles long, extending from the southernmost boundary of Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge to Ramp 23.
* Avon village beachfront, approximately 4 miles long.
* Ocracoke Campground and day use area beaches, approximately 2.5 miles long.

National Public Lands Day is set for September 25 this year, a Saturday, and five parks in North Carolina have official work events planned for volunteers.

National Public Lands Day celebrates service and recreation on public lands while educating volunteers about the effects of climate change on parks. In 2009, 150,000 volunteers built trails and bridges, removed trash and invasive plants, planted trees and restored water resources, the website for National Public Lands Day says.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park will celebrate with two trail work projects - one on the North Carolina side of the park and one on the Tennessee side. The North Carolina project is to improve Smokemont Nature Trail (3/4-mile loop trail) located in Smokemont Campground near Cherokee. The plan is to work from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

If you're interested, contact Trails & Facilities Volunteer Coordinator Christine Hoyer, at 828-497-1949 or Christine_Hoyer@nps.gov by September 17.

Elk Knob State Park in Todd near Boone has trail workdays for construction of a 2-mile summit trail every Saturday beginning at 9 a.m and lasting until 3 p.m. Call the park office at 828-297-7261 to sign up.

The Corps of Engineers is asking for help removing litter from aquatic habitat and shoreline at Jordan Lake. Contact Tom Colson with the Corps at 919-630-2569.

The Nature Conservancy is clearing woody vegetation with hand saws and chainsaws from grassy balds between Carver's Gap and Grassy Ridge along the Appalachian Trail at Roan Mountain. Some hiking will be required to get to the work site. Contact Megan Sutton at 828-350-1431.

Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve in Cary will be mulching trails. Contact Joy Logan at 919-387-5980.

A 2,915-acre expansion of Lake James State Park in Burke County opens formally next week, expanding the park to six times its former size and shifting its focus to the lake’s north shore, Lewis Ledford, director of the state Parks and Recreation Division says in a news release.

The new Paddy's Creek area has a 700-foot-wide swim beach and a "green" bathhouse, picnic grounds with two shelters and toilets, parking for 450 vehicles, and a maintenance compound and infrastructure to support this and further development, the news release says.

The park's master plan calls for eventually developing tent, RV and group camping areas, and placing rustic rental cabins on the Paddy's Creek peninsula.

Officials will formally dedicate the first facilities in the Paddy’s Creek section of the park Friday, September 17, in a public ceremony at 10 a.m. near the bathhouse. Get there from the new park entrance on N.C. 126 north of the lake’s Canal Bridge.

Clingmans Dome Road, the route to the highest peak in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, will be closed for construction work next week, from Monday, September 13 until Saturday morning, September 18, the National Parks Service has announced.

Work on the parking lot below the observation tower and to the shoulders of the road will conclude reconstruction and repaving of the seven-mile road begun in February.

Jordan Lake State Recreation Area's Poplar Point campground closed this week for renovation of its entrance road, the Division of Parks and Recreation said.

The project to create new traffic lanes and renovate the entry kiosk is to be complete by April 15.

Poplar Point, one of five campgrounds at Jordan Lake, normally closes during the winter for maintenance, and that closure will be extended next spring.

Jordan Lake’s Crosswinds campground will remain open throughout the period to accommodate year-round camping, and portions of the Parker’s Creek campground will remain open through November 28 and reopen on March 1.

A hot summer and less-than-average rainfall should lead to a vibrant display of color this autumn in the mountains of western North Carolina, Western Carolina University's fall foliage forecast says.

"It’s been a hot year in North Carolina, with above-average temperatures this summer. Rainfall has been slightly less than average during the spring and summer. These are two factors I look at when thinking about the timing and quality of fall leaf color change in the mountains,” said Kathy Gould Mathews, a WCU associate professor of biology specializing in plant systematics.

“I predict this fall color change will be variable throughout the Southern mountains, but on the whole we should expect to see rich and attractive color change this season,” Gould said Wednesday in The Reporter, a WCU publication.

Although peak fall color typically occurs during the third week of October, this year's peak might arrive closer to the end of October because of the warm temperatures, Mathews said. The color change should begin at the higher elevations in late September and continue through mid-November in the lower levels of western North Carolina.

Thanks to the Smoky Mountain Hiking Blog, where we saw the WCU report.

As the meadow at the Blue Ridge Parkway's Crabtree Meadows Recreation Area fades into history, the National Park Service has changed the park's name to capitalize on the area's 70-foot waterfall.

Crabtree Meadows Recreation Area has been renamed Crabtree Falls Recreation Area, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported recently. The park is at Milepost 339.5 near Spruce Pine.

Many visitors are unaware of the 2 1/2-mile Crabtree Falls Loop Trail and Crabtree Falls, the newspaper says. The 253-acre recreation area also has a campground, picnic area with grills, and restaurant and gift shop.

For more information, contact Crabtree Falls Campground at 828-675-5444

National Parks on the Outer Banks have closed in anticipation of the approach of Hurricane Earl.

Visitor centers and campgrounds at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, and Wright Brothers National Memorial were to close by 5 p.m. or earlier Wednesday, as was ocean-side beach access for off-road vehicles at Cape Hatteras.

The reservation system for Ocracoke Campground has also been suspended until further notice.

Earl was expected to bring high winds to the Outer Banks but not to make landfall.

This year's celebration of the Blue Ridge Parkway's 75th anniversary culminates September 10-12 at the Blue Ridge Music Center (Milepost 213) and the Cumberland Knob Recreation Area (MP 217). The celebration will include music, food, history discussions, craft demonstrations and many more activities for all ages.

Performances on the Blue Ridge Music Center stage include Sierra Hull & Highway 111 on Friday, Dr. Ralph Stanley & His Clinch Mountain Boys on Saturday, and shape note singing with Laura Boosinger and the bluegrass gospel of The Churchmen on Sunday.

There will also be some jamming tents, nature walks, storytelling, films, Appalachian craft demonstrations, an antique camper exhibit, children's activities, and more.

It's all free, including the speeches by politicians on Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Construction on the Blue Ridge Parkway began near Cumberland Knob - just south of the Virginia/N.C. line - on September 11, 1935.