Panthertown Valley is a treasured 6,311-acre backcountry recreation area located in western North Carolina’s Nantahala National Forest near the mountain towns of Cashiers, Sapphire, and Lake Toxaway, not too far from Asheville, Brevard, and Sylva.
Avery Shawler is a PhD student at the University of California Berkeley studying how elk migrations affect patterns of wolf-livestock conflict. Her study area is in Cody, Wyoming, which is on the eastern frontier of Yellowstone National Park, and where she conducts winter and summer field seasons investigating wolf GPS locations. She grew up all over the world, but is from Cashiers, North Carolina, and spent a lot of her childhood recreating in Panthertown and other surrounding areas.
In her talk Avery tells us about her research and also give a glimpse of what it’s like to lead field research in a rugged place with the highest density of grizzly bears in the lower 48. She will also talk about how her research in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem relates to wildlife management in western North Carolina, where wildlife populations are also expanding, leading to more encounters with humans.
Avery got her B.A. in Conservation Biology at Middlebury College in Vermont, and before graduate school she was working as an independent contractor in Idaho where she worked with several conservation nonprofits including the Idaho Conservation League, The Nature Conservancy, and the Central Idaho Rangelands Network. She was also the Project Coordinator for a predator-livestock coexistence collaborative, the Wood River Wolf Project, which is how she first learned about the many challenges of managing wolf-livestock conflict. She is currently a PhD candidate at U.C. Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management.
This webinar was recorded LIVE on Thursday May 28th, 2020. View Avery’s presentation to hear about capturing and GPS collaring wolves, tracking one of the world’s most spectacular elk migrations, challenges of coexisting with wildlife, and more!
The presentation was followed by a Q&A session with Avery.
In these uncertain times we want to give you an update on Panthertown and the work that we are doing to continue protecting and maintaining this special place.
We are working closely with the U.S. Forest Service and local authorities to monitor the situation and provide accurate information at this time. The health and safety of our staff, volunteers, and visitors is of great concern to us.
Due to the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, we strongly encourage you to stay safe and stay at home as much as possible until all emergency orders have been lifted. We hope that you will understand and thank you for your continued support as we navigate through this global crisis together.
Trail use, backcountry access, and dispersed camping in Panthertown, following CDC social distancing guidelines, and in groups of 10 persons or less, currently remain open for local residents at this time. However, the U.S. Forest Service and local authorities are encouraging everyone to stay at home as much as possible, especially those from outside of our area. Future access to the trail system and backcountry may change. We will continue to keep you informed.
We hope that you and your family stay safe and healthy, and we look forward to sharing brighter days ahead on the trails in Panthertown. We’re in this together.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us via e-mail.
#1 Rule: Always, always practice social distancing and follow the guidelines of your local government or the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC), whichever are more restrictive.
Our volunteers maintain 30 miles of public trails in this treasured backcountry recreation area located in western North Carolina's Nantahala National Forest.
Our members support our conservation efforts with membership donations.
We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. All donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law.
Media Archives: View past media coverage about Panthertown
