22-05-2025
Climate politics, staff cuts ensnarl post-Helene forest cleanup
BARNARDSVILLE, North Carolina — Hurricane Helene felled thousands of acres of trees in North Carolina's Pisgah National Forest last September, but it spared a hefty American beech standing near the entrance to Big Ivy, an area so cherished for its old-growth stands that the federal government considered it a national park candidate in the 1930s.
The tree, however, had a closer call this spring with Forest Service chain saws.
A favorite of Will Harlan, Southeast director for the Center for Biological Diversity, the tree grows aside a muddy dirt road the Forest Service recently carved into the woods at Big Ivy as part of the post-Helene recovery effort.
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