I’ve engaged children of all ages in outdoor activities over the past 20 years — first as an environmental educator, and more recently as a father. It has been an eye-opening experience to transition from working with other people’s children to kids of my own. My...
Perhaps no word in the lexicon of conservation is more powerful than “extinction.” It evokes images of skies once darkened with the flight of unnumbered passenger pigeons, now empty; of a grainy film from 1933 of the last Tasmanian tiger pacing in a dusty exhibit in a...
Spring: If you are like me, the mere whisper of the word is enough to make your ears perk up from across a room. Every year, from the time the first leaf drops in autumn, the wait until spring's first blooms seems interminable. But the seasons have a way of gently...
It is not the largest tree in the forest, but that doesn’t mean the sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum) doesn’t stand out in a crowd of hardwoods and pines. This time of the year, these medium-sized trees are easy to spot along The North Carolina Arboretum’s approach road,...
Every fall, as the air turns cooler and the leaves begin to look like they are ready for a change, the sky is dotted with monarch butterflies. For as long as anyone can remember, they have been making this trip across the Blue Ridge Mountains, taking advantage of...
It was a whirlwind adventure for The North Carolina Arboretum’s ecoEXPLORE team: visiting 10 state parks in 10 days. They began with animal encounters at Chimney Rock State Park and a salamander meander at nearby Rumbling Bald. From there they and their...
Fifty years ago this month, Apollo 11’s trip into space produced Neil Armstrong’s July 20, 1969, walk on the moon, along with historic awe-inspiring photographs of the moon, earth and the surrounding cosmos. In 1980, astrophysicist Carl Sagan brought the story of our...
Calling all nature (smart phone) lovers! Do you love Western North Carolina and all of its natural beauty? Do you find yourself taking photos of plants or animals that you encounter on your hikes? Do you love to WIN competitions while also supporting scientific...
As fall officially begins this Saturday, I can’t help but reminisce on the many adventures my family and I had over the summer. From hiking to swimming to berry picking, there are a variety of things to do in the Asheville area over the summer. Recently, I came across...
It is no secret that Asheville and Western North Carolina are one of the top food and beverage destinations in the country. (In fact, the region has been dubbed with the nickname, Foodtopia.) With a strong focus on quality and sustainability, area restaurants and...