With a $23 billion wood and paper products industry in South Carolina, it might not be surprising that there’s a Greenville-based organization dedicated to preserving the state’s working forests and the communities that depend on them. What might be surprising is that organization’s mission is national in scope, and its creation was prompted by the U.S. and Canadian governments as part of a settlement in a decades-old timber trade dispute. The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities has been working for almost two decades all over the country to ensure the nation’s working forests are sustainably managed. This work not only produces environmental benefits but helps support the timber industry and, through that support, the people and communities that rely on working forests for their livelihoods, according to Pete Madden, the endowment’s president and CEO.

VESUVIUS, Va. — A wildfire burning in the Big Levels region of the Blue Ridge Mountains is causing concern for one tiny creature found only in Virginia; the Big Levels salamander. So far, that fire has scorched nearly two thousand acres in the area where the Augusta, Nelson, and Rockbridge County lines meet. That is also the only place in the world where the Big Levels salamander can be found, and even then, they only live on a few select mountain tops. “They occupy these high elevation areas; they’re very isolated on these mountain tops,” said Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources State Herpetologist J.D. Kleopher. “That makes them very vulnerable to things like climate change and habitat change.” Big Levels salamanders are important to the ecosystem because they help to control the insect population, and they serve as a food source for bears, coyotes, turkeys, and other birds.

Carolina Wildlife Conservation Center workers are searching for two missing and badly burned bobcats spotted on the side of Crocker Road in Kings Mountain after a major wildfire at Crowders Mountain State Park. The staff spent two hours searching for them with headlamps later in the evening, but they were unable to be located, the conservation center said. The crew is asking the public to be aware of the bobcats and continue looking for them, but warns against approaching the injured animals. …The 730-acre wildfire, which has been burning since Sunday, spread through Crowders Mountain State Park early Monday morning and has been called the “Coyote Fire,” according to the North Carolina Forest Service. As of Monday afternoon the fire is 95% contained. …The N.C. Forest Service said no homes or structures are threatened at this time. The cause of the fire is undetermined and under is under investigation.