Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and other, nearby refuges and state lands especially vulnerable to climate change are getting $27.5 million from the Inflation Reduction Act for nature-based solutions.
nature
Happy trails
Aquatic vegetation appears to form a pleased expression on the water’s surface as viewed from above the Patsy Pond Nature Trail in the Croatan National Forest near Newport. The trails that are accessed from N.C. Highway 24 include lengths from 0.75 to 1.9 miles and are open from dawn to dusk. The small ponds here are fed by groundwater and often surrounded by carnivorous plants such as bladderwort and sundew. Photo: Dylan Ray
Brice’s Creek Nature Preserve to become nature park
The 172-acre Brice’s Creek Nature Preserve in New Bern the Coastal Land Trust transferred to Craven County this week is to become the county’s second public nature park.
Surf snack
A ruddy turnstone secures a snack recently at the surf’s edge near Oceanana Pier in Atlantic Beach. These sandpipers have a varied diet that includes crabs, mollusks, worms, sea urchins and small fish, according to the National Audubon Society. They nest in the North American and Eurasian arctic and winter along the coastlines of six continents. Contributed photo: Nicholas Green
Interactive online tour shows Green Swamp’s need for fire
Emma Gwyn, an intern with The Nature Conservancy in Wilmington has created an interactive online StoryMap that illustrates how a wildfire earlier this year has already benefited the Green Swamp Nature Preserve.
Pelican’s perch
A pelican stretches while perched upon a pylon in Core Sound near the Down East village of Atlantic. Photo: Dylan Ray
‘It’s not a costume’
An orb weaver appears to don its Halloween skull mask. Photo: Mark Courtney
Morning hunt
A blue heron hunts in the marsh grass near Conch’s Point on Calico Creek in Morehead City. Photo: Dylan Ray
Wings Over Water Festival set to mark 25th anniversary
The festival takes place at six national wildlife refuges that together cover parts of six northeast North Carolina counties and is the annual fundraiser for the Coastal Wildlife Refuge Society.
No frittering for fritillaries
A Gulf fritillary rests on a flower inside the Butterfly House at Airlie Gardens in Wilmington. Guests can roam the 2,700-square-foot native North Carolina butterfly house that is part of the extensive Airlie Gardens. Admission is required to enter the gardens but is free to New Hanover County residents the first Sunday of every month. Photo: Mark Courtney
Some pattern
An orb-weaver spider sits in it’s intricate patterned web in the Porters Neck area just outside Wilmington. Photo: Mark Courtney
Refuge exudes natural diversity, wonders of pocosin lakes
Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge may be “the Yellowstone of the East,” according to Wendy Stanton, who manages the refuge teeming with wildlife that welcomes more than 30,000 visitors annually.
The sand waves of Hatteras: ‘on a mission of death’
After adventurous New York journalist John Randolph Spears undertook to visit Cape Hatteras in spring 1890, he wrote of miles and miles of deadly sand waves that threatened to swallow islanders and their homes.
Green Swamp now turning green again after burn, wildfire
Grasses are already popping up after a controlled burn earlier this year and a wildfire that swept through the Green Swamp Nature Preserve in June, and officials expect some plant species to recover where they had been crowded out by taller vegetation.
Ode to the Salt Marsh: Paddling the waters less traveled
Photojournalist Mark Courtney shares his images, observations and experiences from 25 years of paddling the salt marshes near Wilmington.
Beekeeping in North Carolina largely an amateur endeavor
North Carolina has the largest state beekeeping association in the country, but its number of large-scale commercial beekeeping operations lags far behind other states.
