Upcoming Events/Hikes...
Monthly Calendar of Events, click here: May calendar
Scroll down for information on:
- PACWalk and PACRun
-Walnut Creek Preserve Programs, and more!
Join the PAC "Kudzu Warriors" every Monday from 9-11 at the PAC protected Norman Wilder Forest located off of HWY 176 to continue efforts to eradicate non-native and invasive Kudzu from the site.
The PAC "Kudzu Warriors" will be at the site from 9-11. Please join us if you have the time and interest! We are very hopeful to make a big dent in the Kudzu (and other non-native and invasive plants) over the winter!
Call PAC at (828)859-5060 or e-mail landprotection@pacolet.org if you are interested or would like more information. Also, check out our webpage dedicated to Kudzu Eradication.
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* May 4th, the 9th annual PACWalk & 3rd annual PACRun to be held at Tryon Estates, 617 Laurel Lake Dr., Columbus, NC!
Come out to help PAC preserve our mountains, farms, forests, waterways & greenspaces!
SCHEDULE:
PACRun:
7:15-7:45 a.m. – Check in & Registration
8:00 a.m. – PACRun 5K trail run start
PACWalk:
9:00- 9:45 a.m. – Check in & Registration
10:00 a.m. – PACWalk begins:
- The Sam White Stroll – easy/breezy ¾ mile stroll around the lake
- PACWalk – 2 mile walk/jog around the lake & through the woods, some gentle hills
- Phantom Walk – Use your imagination to support conservation without walking!
Approximately 11:30 a.m. – Awards Ceremony & FREE LUNCH!
You can register for PACRun online now at: www.strictlyrunning.com
or
to download and print the PACRun registration form, click here.
To download and print the PACWalk registration form, click here
Click here to download a PACWalk/PACRun flyer.
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* May 9th, PAC is hosting a Privet/non-native and invasive plant removal at the 2-acre Town of Tryon lot near IGA in Tryon (Hwy 176 and Carolina Drive) from 12-2. If you can come and help cut some of these non-native and invasive plants, we'd love the help! The goats will be arriving in June and we'd like to get as much of the "tall stuff" cut as possible so the goats can munch on it...ultimately killing the pesky non-native/invasive plants!
If you can join us, please meet us at the IGA parking lot at 12, near the Wildwoods trail head. Please wear appropriate clothing, bring work gloves, and if you have tools - especially a chain saw - please bring them. If you don't have tools, don't worry! PAC has some to lend. PAC will also provide water and granola bars to volunteers.
Thanks! Hope to see you Thursday!
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* May 10th, PAC is teaming up with Tryon Garden Club to rescue native plants again!
On Friday, May 10th, from 10:00-2:00, volunteers are asked to come out to Pearson’s Falls and help rescue native plants and reestablish the them in another location at Pearson’s Falls.
Those interested can volunteer for as long as they would like during the four hour work day. Plant rescuers are asked to wear appropriate clothing and footwear, bring your own tools (shovels, work gloves, etc.), and bring a bag lunch and/or snack and plenty of water.
Volunteers can park in the parking lot at Pearson’s Falls, just tell the gate keeper that you are there with the plant rescue group.
If you are interested in helping with the native plant rescue at Pearson’s Falls, please contact the PAC office by phone at (828)859-5060 or e-mail Pam Torlina at, landprotection@pacolet.org.
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Educational programs continue at the Anne Elizabeth Suratt Nature Center at Walnut Creek Preserve in 2013! Thanks PCCF and Delores Lastinger for funding a grants to continue these programs! Thanks to Walnut Creek Preserve for use of this special site! |
*May 25, Wally Hughes, will present on "Introduction to Geocaching" at the Anne Elizabeth Suratt Nature Center at Walnut Creek Preserve at 10:00.
Geocaching is a free real-world outdoor treasure hunt. Using a smartphone or GPS, participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates, trying to locate hidden containers, called geocaches. Cachers can then share their experiences online. This is a great way to get out and explore in the local area and abroad, and a great way to figure out how to use your GPS!
Learn the basics of this high tech treasure hunting using a GPS to find things that others have hidden.
* June 8th, "Salamanders of Western North Carolina" with naturalist Tim Lee and Alan Cameron at 10:30 a.m. at the Anne Elizabeth Suratt Nature Center at Walnut Creek Preserve (WCP)!
| Green Salamander (photo by David Campbell) | Black-bellied Salamander (photo by Pam Torlina) |
Salamanders of Western North Carolina
The Pacolet Area Conservancy (PAC) and Walnut Creek Preserve (WCP) invite the public to attend “Salamanders of Western North Carolina” on Saturday, June 8, at 10:30 a.m. at the Anne Elizabeth Suratt Nature Center at Walnut Creek Preserve, jointly presented by naturalist, Tim Lee and citizen-scientist, Alan Cameron.
North Carolina is home to 66 (known) species of salamander, more than any other place on earth. The presentation will highlight North Carolinas salamander diversity, highlighting many of the species found in the area and then center on the Green Salamander (Aneides aeneus), federally listed as a species of special concern and the only North Carolina salamander listed by the state as rare and endangered.
Tim Lee has studied and taught as a naturalist and biologist throughout the southeast for more than 20 years. For the past 13 years he has been the Interpretive Ranger/Naturalist for South Carolina State Park Service’s Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area where he conducts research and provides educational programs for children and adults. Alan Cameron is retired and has been volunteering with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission for eight years. He has worked on several threatened or endangered animal species, but his specialty has been the Green Salamander. Alan has found hundreds of new sites for this salamander and has greatly increased the known range of the species.
The Green Salamander has been found in many of the counties surrounding Polk County, in western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina. Historically, there was a known population of Green Salamanders in Polk County, but the habitat where this population was found has been destroyed and there are now no known locations of this species presence in Polk. Polk County should have appropriate habitat to support the species, and the public is asked to contact PAC at the number or e-mail below if they think that they might have, or know where there might be, habitat that may be suitable for the Green Salamander.
To get to Walnut Creek Preserve’s Nature Center from the Tryon and Columbus area, take Hwy 108 E and turn left on Hwy 9 toward Lake Lure. Follow Hwy 9 N for 5 miles and turn right onto McGuinn Road (at the Exxon Station). Go 1 mile to the intersection with Big Level Road; turn left, go 2/10ths of a mile and take the first right onto Aden Green Road. Follow Aden Green for 4/10ths of a mile and turn left on Herbarium Lane and into Walnut Creek Preserve. Take the first left onto Conservatory lane, which takes you to the parking area for the nature center.
For more information or directions from another location, contact the Pacolet Area Conservancy at 828-859-5060 or e-mail landprotection@pacolet.org.
Click here to visit the Walnut Creek Preserve website.
Click here for directions to the Anne Elizabeth Suratt Nature Center at Walnut Creek Preserve.
PAC/WCP programs are made possible, in part, by a grant from the Polk County Community Foundation. Thank you, PCCF!