North Carolina Conservation News

The Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander is one of the rarest species in North Carolina, and it’s hanging on by a thread. Before Hurricane Helene, only about 500 individuals were known. After massive landslides severely damaged their habitat, their current numbers are unknown.

TNC, the Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy (ARC), and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission quickly launched a rescue mission, entering disaster‑stricken areas to locate these tiny salamanders and safely transport them to the NC Zoo, where they will be cared for as part of a new breeding program.

Learn more in this story by The News & Observer.

In the Southern Appalachians, TNC and partners are working to bring fire back to the landscape. For thousands of years, fire was a natural and essential part of these forests. However, extensive timber harvesting in the early 1900s led to policies that suppressed fire across the region. As a result, the composition of Appalachian forests changed dramatically.

Historically, these forests were dominated by species such as red oak, white oak and American chestnut, but today they are increasingly dominated by maples and poplars, which are less fire-tolerant and provide less valuable habitat for wildlife. 

Keep learning on this PBS EcoSense episode.

PBS joined our fire crew in North Carolina’s Sandhills to learn why we set forests on fire—on purpose. Alan Teed, Burn Boss and Sandhills Stewardship Manager, led the burn and walked the PBS team through the plan and its execution. TNC uses controlled burning to restore and maintain fire‑adapted ecosystems such as longleaf pine forests.

Longleaf pine is one of the region’s most at‑risk forest types. Its range once stretched across 90 million acres from Virginia to Texas, but centuries of land conversion and fire suppression reduced it to just 3.5 million acres. Thanks to stewardship efforts and land protection, that number has grown to 5.2 million acres.

Watch the PBS episode.

In 2011, a wildfire in the Great Dismal Swamp burned for 111 days. Why did it last so long? The answer dates back to the 1760s, when colonists drained parts of the swamp to create farmland. What they know was that beneath the surface lay vast deposits of peat soil, made up of partially decayed plant material that had accumulated over thousands of years. When saturated with water, peat acts like a giant carbon sponge, storing vast amounts of carbon. But as the swamp was ditched and drained, the peat was exposed to air and began to oxidize, becoming highly vulnerable to fire. Unlike typical wildfires, peat fires smolder underground and can burn for weeks or even months. As they burn, they release carbon that has been stored for millennia back into the atmosphere.

Today, efforts to restore the Great Dismal Swamp focus on rewetting the peat by raising water levels and restoring the swamp's natural hydrology.

Learn more on PBS Overview.