[at-l] AT-related news in the paper

["Lynn Setzer" <hikester@mindspring.com>]

I'm trying to get some semblance of order on my desk and I found one article
I meant to post and remembered another.  These were both printed in the
Raleigh News in Observer


1.  There's a guy in New Hampshire who is talking about the possibility of
developing an Appalachian Trail that's for mountain bikers.  His thought is
that this AT-biking trail would parallel nearby the hiking trail.  He thinks
that there's a lot of forest service roads, etc. that can make this idea
happen. ...  Although I peddle, this idea makes me nervous....


2.  In the 9-28 edition of the N&O, there was a story about the infestation
of fungus spread by the beech scale insect.  Seems that the critter has
spread the fungus and the fungus is wiping out whole stands of beech trees
in Great Smoky NP.  Rangers reported that they first found the beech scale
in 1993 at Clingman's Dome.  The damage in the park is most noticeable along
the AT.  If you're up there hiking and wonder what's happening to the trees,
it's probably not acid rain.  Rangers don't quite know what to do about the
disease and predicted, in this article, that come 20 years from now GSMNP
won't have "the forest we have now."

Lynn



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