Right after I graduated from college, I moved to Washington, DC for a year. I lived in a great neighborhood with cool restaurants and easy metro access, but there was one problem. The closest grocery store was about two miles away, and it was nowhere near a metro. Like many Washington residents I had no […]
Picture a traditional city rooftop. Most of us would envision a gray, concrete, rather drab urban environment. Ben Flanner, head farmer and president of Brooklyn Grange, on the other hand, sees a farming opportunity. As part of a movement that has spread around the world, Flanner and his colleagues are taking the idea of a […]
Spend four hours in the Triangle with our newest recommended weekend itinerary! 10 a.m. Arrive at the Lower Haw River State Natural Area, 502-592 Bynum Rd, Pittsboro. With 1,022 acres on either side of the river itself, the natural area contains both hiking and paddling opportunities. With help from TLC, in 2001 this tract of […]
It's the time of year when our Farmers Markets hold longer hours, and the variety of produce becomes increasingly diverse after a long winter of comforting root crops. There's no better time to taste the delicate leaves of spring salad greens — from romaine to butterhead to leafy varietals — or bite into a crisp […]
Photo by Charlene Wu A few weeks ago, I was trooping through some local woods on the look-out for herpetofauna (snakes, lizards, salamanders, and frogs) for my graduate Wildlife Surveys course. As part of our search, we would carefully lift up wooden boards and tin pieces in the hopes that creatures would be hiding underneath. […]
Spend three hours in the Triangle with our newest recommended weekend itinerary! 10 a.m. Arrive at Historic Yates Mill County Park, 4620 Lake Wheeler Road, Raleigh. This park features the only historically preserved mill in Wake County, as well as a 174-acre wildlife refuge and an environmental visitors’ center. While the mill is currently under […]
When we picture the Piedmont region of North Carolina today, many of us envision forests dominated by pine or smaller hardwoods. However, two of North Carolina’s historic natural ecosystems have all but disappeared by today's 21st century: the old-growth, bottomland forest and the Piedmont prairie from which the region earned its name. “I would have […]
Spend three hours in the Triangle with our newest recommended weekend itinerary! 1 p.m. Arrive at Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve, 2616 Kildaire Farm Road, Cary. Though found in the traditionally Piedmont Prairie region of North Carolina, this state nature preserve features flora and fauna more typically associated with alpine ecosystems, including the famous hemlock trees […]
All over the world, national government entities and development groups have been investing in ecosystem restoration. While their efforts may be laudable, writes Richard Coniff for Yale Environment 360, the actual results are often not so positive. With multiple studies summarizing the failure of restored ecosystems to “match the performance of natural systems” or even […]
10 a.m. Arrive at Durant Nature Park, 8305 Camp Durant Road, Raleigh. Featuring 5 miles of walking trails in its 237 acres, plus a playground, fishing lake, and Bird and Butterfly Gardens, the park truly has something for everyone. 10:15 a.m. After taking a few minutes to explore the Butterfly Garden, head down the Lake […]
