2023 Highlights
The year began with an amazing gathering from our community along Burnt Mill Creek for our January clean up. This site was holding piles of plant material that had been removed from the creek during the period of overgrowth in 2021. Over the summer, warm waters, steady sunlight, and the nutrients in the water fueled the growth of invasive plants like water hyacinth and alligator weed for months. Water hyacinth floats on the surface, blocking light for other native vegetation, and taking up phosphorous and nitrogen from the water. In removing these plants from the water, numerous bottles and cans were also pulled from the water and trapped in the mats of plants. In 90 minutes, the team gathered 300 lbs of garbage. It was a great start to the year.
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Monthly clean ups are an important part of our support as a chapter of the NC Wildlife Federation. Their Clean and Green program provides plants native species for every 25 pounds of litter collected. Those native plants promote healthy wildlife habitat, mitigate climate change, and buffer stormwater runoff and sediment load in waterways. Some of the other clean up locations included Maides Park, Brunswick Town, Caswell Beach, Bald Head Island Conservancy, and Carolina Beach.
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In February, you helped us raise over $6,000 for the Black River. North Carolina is home to
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October mini-bog workshop with The Nature Conservancy
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Fire in the Pines. Join us for guided hikes and bird walks through a longleaf forest, a carnivorous mini bog workshop, a screening of 'Shew's Natural Treasures', showcasing this amazing region and our festival next Saturday, Oct 14
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Flow ILM in October at Cameron Art Museum. learn about the North Carolina Wildlife Federation Butterfly Highway program
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September Southport Naturefest
We had a wonderful time at the Southport NatureFest Lecture series with Luke Bennett, Conservation Coordinator, from the @ncwildlifefed
He and Lora Sharkey spoke about the important conservation work that we do and how to get involved with the Butterfly Highway Program!
September Native Plant Festival