Annual Scott Hogsed Memorial Youth Conservation and Education Day set for Saturday, Aug. 27 in Brasstown

It is that time of year again to get youth registered for the annual Scott Hogsed Memorial Youth Conservation & Education Day.

The event, which is held in Brasstown on Fred Cook’s farm, is Saturday, Aug. 27. Gates open at 7 a.m. and admission is totally free. Youth ages 7-17 are invited to attend from all across the region and the nation. Youth will be learning about outdoor activities including hunting and fishing, archery and firearm safety, and much, much more. This event also offers a free wild game lunch for all participants and parents.Youth will receive a free t-shirt and goody bag as well as being entered to win door prizes.

Members of the Franklin Tourism Development Authority met last Monday at Shoney’s for their monthly meeting, hearing the proposal of upcoming event organizers and a member of the community interested in joining TDA ranks, contending eligibility as a member.

Rob Gasbarro and Cory McCall, proprietors of the downtown Franklin outfitters store Outdoor 76, presented to the board their plans of holding the first annual Outdoor Athlon event.

Last month, members of Franklin’s Tourism Development Authority denied a grant request amounting to $4,000 to help pay for event expenditures.

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For each of the last 17 years, Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park has had the unique opportunity to host a one-hour prime time broadcast to tell more than one million households that their support matters. The annual Friends Across the Mountains telethon has raised more than $2.2 million since 1995.

On Thursday, Aug. 11, viewers from Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee can tune in to WBIR-TV Channel 10 out of Knoxville or Asheville’s WLOS-TV Channel 13 to learn how being a ‘Friend of the Smokies’ makes a difference for the country’s most-visited national park.

Two faculty members from Western Carolina University’s geology program have been awarded a National Science Foundation grant to use in examining the learning benefits of group undergraduate research while also investigating how water is routed through the ground in Western North Carolina.

The three-year federal grant of $199,099 will fund the project “Testing the Benefits of Undergraduate Research-Based Learning at Various Curricular Levels Using Authentic Research Questions in Hydrogeomorphology.” The project will be directed by Dave Kinner, assistant professor of geology, and Mark Lord, professor of geology and head of WCU’s Department of Geosciences and Natural Resources.