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Past Events

Past Events

TREE ID on August 10th

Sunny skies greeted a full complement of 15 members participating in our August Tree ID Walk at Shope Creek.  It was ably led by Dave Ellum, Dean of Land Resources and Professor of Forestry at Warren Wilson College.  In addition to covering identification tips for about 30 species of trees, Dave also shared a great deal of information about forest management, silviculture, and medicinal understory plants.  The group witnessed first hand the impact of badly managed clear cutting and the impact on the forest decades later.  Dave also shared provocative views regarding the management of exotic invasive plants and the efforts to save our chestnuts and hemlocks.  It was an interesting and entertaining outing for those of us lucky enough to participate.


Past Events

Dragons & Damsels Walk

 Tiger Spiketail and photo at top is a Widow Skimmer
Photos by R. Richardson

Sunny and hot weather greeted this year’s dragonfly and damselfly hunters on two consecutive Wednesdays at Owen Park in Swannanoa.  Despite a number of late cancellations, we still had 18 members total participating across both days.  The July 21st group observed 11 species of damselflies, 8 species of dragonflies, and 8 butterfly species.  The July 28th group managed 11 of each, including 7 dragonfly and 5 butterfly species not seen a week earlier. 

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Past Events

A National Hotspot for Biodiversity on a Private Research Preserve: The Jones Center at Ichauway

 JULY 13, 2021 at 5:30
by DR. KIER KLEPZIG

The Jones Center at Ichauway is a 30,000 acre working forest, wildlife preserve and ecological research center. Funded from an endowment established by Robert Woodruff (the long time CEO of Coca Cola), this property contains thousands of acres of incredibly biodiverse wildlife, insects, reptiles, amphibians and plants. I will discuss what it takes to maintain this incredible place, the research we do, and how we share the work we do.

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