Join Sarina Dellinger, Public Garden Manager at the City of Salisbury, for a tour of Hurley Park! Sarina works full time at this park and cares for the 40+ garden beds across 18 acres. This tour will highlight some of the late summer beauty at Hurley Park, on a large and small scale.

Join Jon Roethling, Director of Reynolda Gardens, for a tour of their recently added meadow,  a new boggy area that with the addition of a boardwalk for accessibility will now showcase the Eastern bald cypres/sabal palmetto ecosystem, and lastly some of their trails where replanting efforts are underway.  We will conclude with the option for anyone to then go into the formal gardens and/or into the original garden Greenhouse where a major renovation will begin in 2023 to restore it to its former glory.  

Register Here

Sound Solutions : Marine Resources Reform and Management with Tim Gestwicki

About Tim:

Tim Gestwicki’s dedication to preserving wildlife and wild places dates back to the early 1990s when he traveled door-to-door as a field canvasser for the North Carolina Wildlife Federation. 

Over the decades, his role elevated from boots-on-the-ground newbie to Chief Executive Officer of the oldest and largest statewide organization dedicated to protecting, conserving and restoring wildlife and habitat in North Carolina. 

Since becoming CEO in 2009, Tim has worked to bring together citizens, outdoor enthusiasts, hunters and anglers, government officials, and industry to protect North Carolina’s natural resources and sustainably manage them for future generations. 

Under his leadership, NCWF’s conservation network of hundreds of volunteers focuses on wildlife and habitat conservation, education and outreach. They plant trees and pollinator-friendly gardens, create and restore habitat, feed food-insecure families with hunter-harvested venison, organize statewide trash clean-ups, provide opportunities to get kids outside and champion sound and science-based conservation policies.  

Whether he’s hunkering down in a duck blind, paddling his kayak, constructing nesting platforms or testifying before legislators, Tim loves nothing more than engaging with the natural world and advocating on behalf of wildlife and wild places that have no voice.

Program Description:

North Carolina’s coast is home to roughly 2.5 million acres of estuarine waters, 1.5 million of which are within the Albemarle-Pamlico Region. It’s here where hundreds of species of fish and other marine life grow and feed until old enough to venture to the ocean or migrate along the coast. Although this network of sounds, wetlands and waterways is the largest lagoon on the East Coast and the 2nd largest estuary in the U.S., its long-term sustainability and function as nursery habitat is in jeopardy. Ineffective policy, mismanagement, unsustainable fishing practices, habitat loss and water quality degradation are threatening marine fisheries and depleting some of our most important fish, including southern flounder, striped bass, and weakfish. Over the last several decades, the state has consistently failed to enact precautionary, meaningful rules that would lead to the recovery of our state’s valuable marine fisheries resources.

Foundational Tenets of Sound Solutions

Habitat: Strengthen protection of the waters and habitats that make up North Carolina’s inner coast, as well as those that flow into our sounds.

Management: Improve the way NC’s marine fisheries and habitats are managed and regulated.

Gear: Influence changes to destructive fishing gear and unsustainable methods.

Register Here

Please join us for our first in person program! Our April program will be held in the meeting room of the Kathleen Clay Edwards Branch of the Greensboro Public Library at 1420 Price Park Drive. If you can’t make it, you can join us via Zoom as well.

Box Turtles: Disappearing Gems of the Forest with Ann Berry Somers

About Ann:

Ann Berry Somers is a UNC Greensboro Senior Lecturer Emerita and Lloyd International Honors College Faculty Fellow and NCWF Board Member.

Program Description:

Learn more about our state reptile, the Terrestrial Box Turtle! At the end of this presentation you'll understand the amazing life history of our state reptile, the threats that box turtles face, how to tell the difference between males and females (tougher than you think!) and how you can help protect them.

Register Here

Please join us as we gaze at the stars with the Greensboro Astronomy Club at Haw River State Park, Iron Ore Access 1 hour after sunset.

Iron Ore Access off of N. Church St., Browns Summit, 27214

Safe Passage with Jeff Hunter

About Jeff:

Jeff Hunter is a senior program manager with National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) in Asheville, NC where he works on issues related to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.

He spends most of his time coordinating a collaborative project focused on improving wildlife’s ability to safely cross Interstate 40 in the Pigeon River Gorge, just outside of the Smokies

Program description:

Jeff will provide an overview and update on Safe Passage: The I-40 Pigeon River Gorge Wildlife Crossing Project. This collaborative effort seeks to improve wildlife‘s ability to safely cross interstate 40 near the Smokies.

You can read more about Jeff and his work here

Register here

Creating a Bird and Wildlife Habitat with Carol Buie-Jackson

About Carol:

Carol Buie-Jackson, owner of Wildology and Bird House on the Greenway, is a certified Nature Nerd who serves on the Board of the National Wildlife Federation and was the first female board chair of the North Carolina Wildlife Federation. Carol is a Corporate America dropout and one of the lucky people whose passion is what she does as a profession, as a volunteer and as a tourist.

Carol is a Habitat Steward, a Master Naturalist and a Master Composter. She is the co-founder of HAWK, Habitat and Wildlife Keepers, the Mathews chapter of the NC Wildlife Federation. Her two wild bird boutiques provide quality products for a thriving backyard wildlife habitat as well as garden art and nature-inspired gifts for nature nerds, like herself.

Carol and her husband Jay have lived in Matthews with Ella--the shop dog.

Program Description:

Learn how to create a fun and dynamic haven for birds, butterflies and other wildlife using native plants, feeders and water providing the essential elements of a thriving wildlife habitat. Carol will use video examples of her own garden to educate and inspire creativity to replace some of what has been lost through development.

Register HERE

The Endangered Red Wolf and the Road to Recovery with Katerina Ramos (virtual)

About Katerina:

Katerina Ramos has been involved with Red Wolf recovery since 2018 and has been giving wildlife education talks since she was 16. She received a Master’s in Integrative Biology with a focus on Predator-prey interactions in 2020. After completing her degree she came on board to North Carolina Wildlife Federation as the Refuge Programs and Volunteer Coordinator with a focus in creating awareness and understanding of the critically endangered American Red Wolf.

Program Description:

Katerina will be speaking on the long road the red wolf program has taken in the recovery of the American Red Wolf. This species of wolf can only be found in the United States and was one of the first recovery programs to exist. She will be covering the start of the program to present day and the methods currently being employed to help the species.

Sign up HERE: