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Call to Action

Stop the Open Space Amendment!

32 Comments

February 11, 2022

A message from Perrin de Jong, an 11-year Asheville resident, is a staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity and a commissioner on the city of Asheville’s Urban Forestry Commission

Dear Neighbors,

The Open Space Amendment will dramatically slash, and in some cases, eliminate, the open space that developers are now required to provide with larger construction projects

In addition, the proposal contains many loopholes that allow developers to avoid even those meager requirements. For example, it would:
• Relieve some developers from providing up to 80% of their required open space due to the use of stormwater mitigation measures that are legally required anyway.
• Relieve developers that provide a percentage of temporary “affordable” housing units from having to provide up to 80% of the open space that would otherwise be mandated.
• And relieve developers from providing an extra 10% of the open space that would otherwise be required in exchange for providing a flat, rectangular spot with pedestrian-accessible seating, resulting in a total potential discount of 90% of the open space required.

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Member News, Past Events

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: HOPE FOR THE HEMLOCKS

35 Comments

Tuesday, February 8, 2022

Zoom: 7:00-8:30 P.M.

Thom Green, Outreach Manager for North Carolina Restoration Initiative (HRI) will discuss the importance of hemlock trees in our Western North Carolina ecosystems, how the hemlock woolly adelgid is threatening them, and what is being done by HRI and others to combat the pest.

Thom moved to North Carolina in 2014 to earn an MS in biology with a focus on forest ecology from Western Carolina University. He has been with HRI since 2017 managing the adelgid in North Carolina’s remaining hemlock stands and educating landowners and the general public about what they can do for the hemlocks.

Zoom link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3764716084?pwd=OVNKNTFNdkxTODJtSjBMNGNMakF5dz09

Nature Notes, Wildlife

The Adaptable Fox and other Canids

29 Comments

by Linda Martinson

Blue Ridge Naturalist

One definition of a fox is “a wolf who sends flowers”. Unlike wolves that are rarely seen but often persecuted or the versatile coyotes, foxes are more solitary and rarely bothered unless they are killing chickens. This may be because they are small and cute; clearly not a threat; and careful not to be seen. Often when a fox sees a person, it freezes and watches curiously for a while looking rather sweet and friendly, i.e., “they send flowers”. Foxes belong to the Canidae family of mammals in the order Carnivora, which also includes domestic dogs, wolves, coyotes, jackals, dingoes, and many other dog-like mammals both extant and extinct.

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