Thanks to Anna Bigler for inviting us to a Frog Watch information session. This monitoring program teaches community members how to contribute to citizen science efforts to identify and monitor local frog populations and habits. Interested in participating? Check out the Facebook page for more info. 🐸
The first BRC outing of the year was a fascinating educational tour of easement landowner Scott McNeely's Luisa Farms property in Wilkes County. Mr. McNeely has partnered with Blue Ridge Conservancy to protect much of his land under two conservation easements over the years.
On the tour he shared his impressive management of the property including habitat enhancement for white-tailed deer and eastern wild turkeys, increasing year-round food availability, and balancing agricultural production with wildlife habitat by converting less productive farmland into permanent native vegetation, which benefits early successional wildlife and pollinators. Over a few hours, we made several stops to explore the property (and see baby owls!) and discuss the comprehensive management practices in detail.
Big thanks to Mr. McNeely for sharing his expertise with us!
David, Sara, and Abbey attended the Land Trust Alliance's 2026 Southeast Land Conservation Conference in Greenville, South Carolina this week. During the conference they got the chance to network with peers and attend educational seminars about trends and best practices in land conservation.
It's almost time to gather for our annual auction event at The Mill At Rock Creek! We're excited to welcome you for an evening of beautiful music, delicious food and drinks, a lively auction, and celebrating conservation and access wins in Northwest North Carolina. Tickets for this event go on sale Friday, May 1 at 8:00 am on the website. If you have questions or problems, please contact [email protected]
We can't wait to see you there!
For Earth Week, this group of BRC volunteers (including some not pictured - they avoided the paparazzi 📸) did an excellent job getting the BRC Conservation Campus spiffed up for spring and summer fun! Thanks for all the help! 🥾👩🌾🌿
It's more than a cute phrase - every day truly is Earth Day at Blue Ridge Conservancy!
Here's where you can find us this Earth Week - from tabling with students at App State to cleaning our Conservation Campus in preparation for summer activities, to supporting an amazing act at the Schaefer Center, we're out and about this week.
Come see us and say hello! 🌍🌿🥾🎺
Hiking and climbing are great, but we're also interested to learn more about the animals that call Howard Knob home.
This week, Dr. Jon Davenport's Herpetology class is doing surveys at the property- unearthing, measuring, and cataloguing reptiles and amphibians. And it was cool to see our "old" friend Max helping out as a T.A. for the class. Max was one of the first folks who came out to look at herpetofauna at the BRC campus when we first moved in, back when he was still in high school.
Today's data seems to suggest that the high number of red-backed salamanders we observed back in the fall was not a fluke! There's more work to do, and we thank Jon, Max, and the students for helping out.
Appalachian State University Appalachian State University Department of Biology
#herpetology #blueridgemountains #salamanders
Celebrate Earth Week and help BRC get the Conservation Campus trail and meadow ready for spring and summer! Bring your boots, gloves, water bottle, and sunscreen.
🌍😎🥾🌸
April 23
Noon-3pm
416 Aho Rd, Blowing Rock
Let us know if you'll be joining in the fun by RSVPing here:
[email protected]
