2019 Fall Newsletter

We are thrilled about the progress that has been made on our north campus project! We are nearing completion and cannot wait to share this with you all in the spring. Thank you to all of our donors who made this whole project possible!

Photo: Mike Hunter

Photo: Charlotte Muir

LETTER FROM THE STATION DIRECTOR

AN UPDATE ON OUR 'CONTINUOUS PROJECT'

JIM COSTA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HIGHLANDS BIOLOGICAL

STATION

As a historian of science, I appreciate pausing to take stock, looking back to better understand the present and the future, and honoring forebears. The Highland Biological Station is the result of a remarkable idea conceived in Highlands in 1927. We've just completed our 92nd season, and I can't help but think back to such notable Station forebears as Dr. Ralph Sargent, an English Literature profe ssor by vocation and a botanist by avocation, who in 1939 became a Trustee of what was then called the Highlands Biological Laboratory and Museum, Inc., and later served as Secretary (1941-1944) and President (1944-1947). Ralph was instrumental in establishing our Botanical Garden, helped grow the research capacity of the Station, and later facilitated the Station's transition from a private institut ion to the University of North Carolina system. His history of the Station's first 50 years, Biology in the Blue Ridge (1977), opened with this heart-felt dedication:

In the 40 years since Ralph’s dedication, the Station has continued to serve our founders' original intent of research, education and outreach, and conservation. Ralph would be proud of how far we have come, and would have applauded the recent milestone of aligning fully with our long-time and closest UNC system partner, Western Carolina University. Despite challenges, our "continuous project" cont inues to thrive in ways that Ralph and our other founders and benefactors would delight in — a multi-faceted yet unitary institution that admirably serves the scientific / academic community and our local communities of Highlands, Macon & Jackson Counties, and surrounding areas.

Today, I am pleased to announce that the Station's latest and most significant planning process is nearly complete! Over th e past year, with the assistance of the HBS Board of Directors and facilitated by WCU professor Dr. Yue Hillon and her students, we have completed the most inclusive strategic planning process in our history: WCU leadership, HBS staff, teaching faculty, senior researchers, Grant-in-Aid students, Boards of Directors and Scientific Advisors, and HBF Trustees all contributed their perspectives and priori ties summarized in four key areas: (1) Organization, Planning, & Personnel; (2) Research Program & Support; (3) Facilities/HBS Campus; and (4) Academic & Public Programming. The final plan has been presented to the HBS Board of Directors and WCU leadership, and will be adopted at this fall's HBS Board of Directors meeting. There is much to applaud in our new strategic priorities, with initiatives f or programming, organizational structure, physical plant, and planning that will serve as our roadmap going forward.

Dr. Sargent was one of those rarities among organizational leaders – a visionary who valued the Station’s central scientific mission and saw the wisdom of working fruitfully with diverse constituencies toward a common goal, from town commissioners, local nature enthusiasts, volunteers , and benefactors to university administrators, research scientists, and teaching faculty. Speaking on behalf of WCU and the HBS Board of Directors, I look forward to continuing to work with our constituents in realizing our strategic plan — Station staff, our Foundation, the Highlands community, WCU, and the many other groups who recognize the Station’s value to our community and our environment.

He artfelt thanks for all you do to advance the "continuous project" that is the Highlands Biological Station! ~

Jim Costa, Executive Director

"To all the people, biologists and citizens, male and female, young and old, living and dead, who have participated in the continuous project that is The Highlands Biological Station"

Photo: Clay Bolt

A NOTE FROM THE GARDEN COMMITTEE

LYNDA ANDERSON, KEN CONOVER, & LIZ SARGENT

Thanks to our members, visitors and volunteers whose continued support is critical to our thriving Highlands Botanical Garden. This conservation garden provides a refugium for native plants of the southern Appalachians, supports pollinators, provides habitat and food for wildlife, benefits the environment by storing carbon and filtering pollutants from the air and water, and offers a peaceful oasis for visitors.

Enhanced plantings around the Nature Center welcome visitors (and pollinators) with perennials blooming throughout the growing season. The creation of two container bogs on the Nature Center back patio bring the fascinating world of carnivorous plants up close and personal to the delight of the child in everyone. Continuing down the path, visitors stroll through a woodland cathedral filled with native ferns, herba ceous perennials, flowering shrubs and trees. The plantings are set off by a new rock wall and boulder edging.

Many have noted the beautiful garden beds in front of the newly renovated cottages. Soon, these will be joined by additional beds next to Howell Cottage which will demonstrate to homeowners the many benefits and beauty of using native plants and how to control water from roof gutters with a rain garden. We welcome you to return next spring to see this wonderful new educational garden.

We hope you visit the enhanced Moss Garden in the center of the campus that demonstrates how mosses can serve as a focal point, act as a low-growing ground cover to help combat erosion, and can serve as an environmentallyfriendly alternative to cultivated grass lawns. The mosses create a quiet, soothing haven for visitors. Finally, we hope you will stroll through the rejuvenated Fern Trail Garden to enjoy a shady oasis and tapestry of green colors and textures.

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR DEDICATED VOLUNTEERS!

Many thanks to all our wonderful garden volunteers! As we have transitioned horticulturists, the volunteers have continued to meet weekly to ensure that our garden and its more than 400 plants species are well cared for. Our botanical garden is in great hands! Come stroll along its trails to see the results of their hard work.

We would also like to thank Amy, Cookie, and Karen Patterson for volunteering at the Nature Center this summer. Karen volunteered her time every week at the Nature Center while Amy and Cookie helped set up and clean up numerous Zahner lectures. Special thanks to Cookie who created posters to promote all our summer programs and our Zahner lectures. We hope you saw them as you drove by the Nature Center!

The Highlands Biological Foundation is always looking for volunteers, and we ha ve many opportunities to match your interests. We promise to make your volunteer time not only useful and meaningful, but educational as well! If you are interested in helping at the Nature Center, in the Garden, in the Laboratory, at special events or have another idea of what you would like to do, please contact HBF to volunteer.

HBF COMMUNICATIONS

Are you getting our weekly emails? If you would like to be added to our list, please email info@highlandsbiological.org or go to highlandsbiological.org to subscribe.

Photo: Clay Bolt

HBS STEM OUTREACH PROGRAM

The Station’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Outreach Program continues to expand annually both in terms of numbers of students and schools served, with recent program requests from as far away as Robbinsville, Andrews, Murphy, and Hiawassee. In 2019, over 300 programs were presented to more than 10,000 students throughout 9 western NC counties. Especially popular this year have been the li neup of NC Wildlife Programs, which offer lectures, hands-on labs, and field-based investigations for high-school students. Classes such as these illustrate what makes HBS Outreach Programs unique, as regional elementary, middle, and high school students gain some of the same types of biological field experiences that many college students do in our summer courses. In addition, HBS offered several similar workshops for teachers and informal science educators, both at the Station and at other locations such as the NC Arboretum in Asheville, CREW, and the Environmental Educators of NC annual conference. We thank the NC Science Museums Grant program, Duke Energy, Macon County Academic Foundation, and Highlands Biological Foundation for their continued support of HBS STEM Outreach in our local communities.

SUMMER INTERNSHIPS

Each summer, HBS hosts five interns that work in the the Nature Center or Botanical Garden. This year we had two Assistant Horticulturists who worked in the Garden and three Assistant Naturalists who worked in the Nature Center.

Winter Gary, recent UNC-Chapel Hill graduate and former HBS student, shares her summer internship experience:

"Having completed a semester at HBS through UNC-Chapel Hill’s Institute for the Environment (IE) program in the fall of 2017, I knew it would not be my last visit to Highlands. After graduating this past May, it was only natural that I found my way back to HBS as an intern at the Station's Nature Center. As one of three Assistant Naturalists, I wrote summer camp curricula, taught camps, cared for the va rious Nature Center animals, and led educational programs for all ages, both on and off campus. By sharing my love and knowledge of southern Appalachia, I was able to develop my environmental communication skills throughout the summer which will be invaluable for my future environmental endeavors. With the assistance of HBS staff, I also completed an intern project that consisted of adding features, su ch as signs and animal tracks, to the Nature Center. Exploring the Plateau with coworkers, who I now call friends, and getting to know HBS’s many dedicated researchers and volunteers has reaffirmed what I learned as an undergraduate- Highlands and HBS are extraordinary places. It’s no surprise when I tell you that I have already begun my third adventure here. I am assisting Charlotte, the Executive Di rector of the Foundation, and I am enthusiastic to see what else Highlands has to offer. It’s hard to say “no” to Highlands."

2019 Summer Interns: Frances Sledge (Auburn), Winter Gary (UNC-Chapel Hill), Hannah Dinkins (WCU), Nicole Cook (UNC-Asheville), Kate Loughran (UNC-Asheville)

Photo: Jim Costa

Photo: Winter Gary

Photo: Frances Sledge

Photo: Nicole Cook

PATRICK BRANNON, EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH COORDINATOR

MEMBER-SUPPORTED RESEARCH GRANTS

For over 50 years, the Highlands Biological Foundation has provided grants in support of scientific research, bringing students to the Highlands Biological Station from all over the country and abroad. Through applications vetted by our Board of Scientific Advisors, these “Grants-in-Aid (GIA) of Res earch” make it possible for researchers to conduct their studies in residence at HBS and have supported thousands of research projects and hundreds of graduate theses and dissertations over the years. Their research has led to a better understanding of the incredible diversity of this region.

DINE-IN OR CARRY-OUT: WHERE DO SEMI-AQUATIC SALAMANDERS FEED?

PHILIP GOULD PH.D. STUDENT THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

Species conservation efforts critically depend on accurate prediction of the combined effects of environmental disturbances on population dynamics and persistence. Changes in rainfall patterns and temperature driven by global climate change, occurrence of wildfires, and land-use activities such as timber harvesting or road building are all ecological disturbances affecting North American forests in comple x ways. When disturbances happen simultaneously, the combined impacts may interact, in essence producing an impact that is more or less than the sum of independent events. Salamanders are useful for studying the effects of disturbance on ecosystems, because they are incredibly abundant and are very sensitive to environmental disturbances.

Long-term studies of the impacts of timber harvesting on amphibia n communities are lacking, and the effects of higher intensity and increased occurrence of droughts and wildfires is not understood. Our ongoing study in cooperation with the USFS has revealed significant effects of wildfire on timber-cut plots, with significantly fewer salamanders captured than in pre-wildfire surveys.

HBF support in 2019 allowed me to complete 48 surveys, mark 1329 salamanders, and pro vided an opportunity for six undergraduates to have their first experience in field ecology while contributing to one of the largest on-going mark-recapture projects of its kind (>28,000 capture records over 11 years). Findings from this study should allow us to make recommendations for forest management practices that will better protect biodiversity in southern Appalachian forests while helping document the potential risks of multiple disturbances happening simultaneously, something that is becoming the new norm for our forests.

One component of my research is to identify the percentage of prey from terrestrial vs. aquatic habitats in the semi-aquatic Black-bellied Salamander ( Desm ognathus quadramaculatus ) diets. My gut-content analyses have identified many types of prey consumed by these salamanders, and given their extreme abundance in headwater streams they thus appear to play an important role in nutrient cycling in southern Appalachian forest ecosystems: by consuming prey in one place and excreting in another at different times of year and life stages, they transfer nutrients from forests to streams and vice versa, playing a significant ecological role in recycling nutrients between stream and forest.

A second focus of my research is to evaluate salamander densities in relation to variations in stream habitat. We counted salamanders at different points along stretches of nine different streams, and measured physical elements of the stream (e.g., substrate, cover, shade) at ea ch sampling location. The results will help conservation planners and forest managers understand the physical components of stream habitats that are most important for salamanders.

Finally, taking advantage of the opportunity provided by the 2016 wildfires in western North Carolina to better understand the impacts of fire on amphibians, my collaborators and I sampled salamander populations for the third y ear following the Camp Branch fire. As we recently reported in the journal Forest Ecology and Management , we continue to find depressed numbers of Red-legged Salamanders ( Plethodon jordani ) in the burned forest. However, population declines in and around streams are less severe, suggesting that streams and floodplains may provide a refuge for these animals. We plan to continue this study to analyze the re lationship we have observed between density of salamanders and distance from a stream.

MICHAEL OSBOURN VISITING ASSISSTANT PROFESSOR APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY

EVALUATING THE PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES OF TERRESTRIAL SALAMANDERS TO CLIMATE CHANGE

MEAGHAN GADE PH.D. STUDENT THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

Terrestrial plethodontid salamanders are the most diverse group of amphibians in North America, with over 30 species found in the southern Appalachians alone! Because these salamanders do not have lungs but absorb oxygen through their moist skin, they have to live in cool, moist environments. This physiological requirement restricts them to very specific habitats and makes them extraordinarily sensitive t o changes in temperature and humidity. Assessing their stress response to these changes could be an indicator of how salamanders could fare as a result of climate change.

One indicator of how an animal might be coping with change is their stress response, which can be extrapolated by identifying the characteristics of the stress hormones they produce. Increased stress can suppress important processes li ke immune function and reproduction, leading to individual and ultimately population decline. This summer, I used an experimental approach to understand how terrestrial salamanders respond to hot and dry temperatures, which are expected in the future.

Using the environmental chambers at HBS, I exposed salamanders to hot conditions, dry conditions, and combinations of hot and dry conditions. To quantify ch anges in stress in response to these challenging environmental scenarios, I swabbed the back of each salamander with a cotton swab. The stress hormone is then extracted from the swab and the results allow me to correlate the stress hormones to specific environmental conditions. The results of this study will be essential to better understand how global climate change will impact these salamanders in a reg ion recognized as the “salamander capital” of the world.

LITTLE TENNESSEE RIVER BASIN FISH AND MUSSEL SURVEY

DR. JASON DOLL ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY FRANCIS MARION UNIVERSITY

Anthropogenic alterations to the landscape present numerous challenges for freshwater fish and mussels. Understanding population trends in fish and spatial patterns in mussels that inhabit river systems provides insight into th e challenges these species face. This project evaluated the population status of the state and federally threatened Spotfin Chub ( Erimonax monachus ) in the Cheoah River and spatial patterns of freshwater mussels in the Little Tennessee River. These projects are a collaboration between the Freshwater Ecology Center at Francis Marion University, North Carolina Wildlife Resources, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The sample design to assess Spotfin Chubs allowed us to estimate the total population size, rather than an index of abundance. Seven sites were sampled in the Cheoah River using underwater observations (i.e., snorkeling). Each site was surveyed three times on different days. The total population size was estimated to be 13,905 fish (with a 95% confidence interval of a population ranging from 11, 620 to 22,181 individuals). This estimate of the current abundance of Spotfin Chubs suggest that conservation efforts to reintroduce this species to the Cheoah River have been successful.

The mussel survey recorded 1,336 different mussels at 27 sites in the Little Tennessee River. Species observed include the state endangered Slippershell Mussel ( Alasmidonta viridis ) and the state and federally endangered Appalachian Elktoe ( A. raveneliana ). Data analysis is ongoing and will culminate with a model describing spatial occupancy of individual mussel species as a function of habitat. The resulting model will be used to inform mussel population restoration efforts in streams throughout western North Carolina.

Photos: Clay Bolt

Research technicians snorkeling in the Cheoah River.

GERMINATION ECOLOGY OF TWO SOUTHERN

APPALACHIAN FOREST ANNUALS,

PHACELIA FIMBRIATA AND P. PURSHII

MICHELLE D’AGUILLO PH.D. STUDENT DUKE UNIVERSITY

Unlike animals, plants are unable to change locations to avoid unfavorable conditions, such as moving into the shade on a hot day. However, plants are not completely helpless when it comes to protecting themselves from adverse environmental conditions. Plants can modify the environment they experience by changing the timing of their development. For example, a seedling that germinates in the middle of win ter will be exposed to much colder and harsher conditions compared to a seedling that germinates in the spring. Because of this, the timing of germination and other developmental events usually occur at predictable times of the year because of natural selection.

My research investigates the timing of germination in two herbaceous species native to the southern Appalachian Mountains, Phacelia fimbriata (F ringed Phacelia) and P. purshii (Miami-mist). In 2018 and 2019, I collected over 16,000 seeds from 14 populations scattered across western NC and eastern TN. I am currently conducting a multi-state field experiment and a laboratory experiment to examine how the two species and individual populations differ in the optimal temperatures that elicit germination and in the timing of germination in the field.

P reliminary results show that P. fimbriata , which occurs at slightly higher elevations, germinates in response to cooler temperatures compared to P. purshii ; this difference is hypothesized to aid in successful establishment in cooler, higher elevation environments. I hope my experiments will illustrate how plants are actively interacting with their environments and highlight how—far from being helpless— p lants adjust their developmental timing and behavior to increase survival and reproductive success.

THANK YOU, in summary, is how I feel about summer 2019.  What we accomplish here at the Highlands Biological Foundation is astonishing – and it is thanks to YOU!  You came to the Nature Center in droves, sent your kids and grand-kids to our camps, attended m ultiple Zahner Lectures (we had over 100 people at most of them!), supported our fundraisers, arranged flowers for events, and weeded our botanical garden.

The success of this organization is all because of our members.  I feel so lucky to work with our Board of Trustees, the HBS staff and my fellow HBF team.

I’d especially like to recognize our new Nature Center Education Specialist, Paige Engelbrekt sson!  She has been here only 6 months and has taken the Nature Center programs to a whole new level.  Be on the lookout for even more great educational opportunities led by Paige.

We are already looking ahead to next summer: dedicating our North Campus project, another fabulous Soiree, enhancing our summer camps, and planning our first ever Carpenter Lecture.  I am a huge fan of winter in Highlands and plan to enjoy the slower, colder pace and time to reflect and plan, but I look forward to another jam-packed summer with you next year!  It just keeps getting better.

My husband John and I at my favorite HBF event, Highlands on the Half-Shell!

A NOTE FROM HBF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CHARLOTTE MUIR

Photo: Clay Bolt

Photo: Krystal Cutshaw-Cohen

JULY 28 | SOIREE AT KENRIDGE

The Soiree at Kendridge was held at the beautiful home of Ella and Chip Flower to celebrate 92 years of the Highlands Biological Station. This annual event supports all we do at Highlands Biological Foundation including providing grants-in-aid to visiting students conducting their research in Highlands, keeping the Nature Center admission FREE, and maintaining o ur Botanical Garden. Heart-felt thanks to our host committee: Tricia & Inman Allen, Judy & Dick Allison, Elizabeth Bradham, Jenny Lynn & Waldo Bradley, Ruth & Tom Claiborne, Vevie & Lawrence Dimmitt, Martha & Michael Dupuis, Ruth & Berryman Edwards, Beverly Ellars, Melinda & Jim Ethier, Monte & Palmer Gaillard, Anne & Dick Goodsell, Amanda & Greg Gregory, Julia & Bill Grumbles, Marianne & Ben Jenkins , Cathy & Paul Jones, Cookie & Harrison Jones, Carol & Stiles Kellett, Alfred Kennedy & Bill Kenny, Frank Langford, Elizabeth & David Martin, Melanie & Tom Mauldin, Kathleen Cheek-Milby & Jim Milby, Heath Massey & John Mitchener , Stephanie & Bill Reeves, Cheryl & Hugh Sargent, Rachel Friday & Jeff Schenck, Nancy & Tred Shurling, Lyda S. White & Art Steineker, Carol & Rusty Stewart, Martha & Hal Stibbs, Jennie Stowers, Jane & Tom Tracy.

OCTOBER 6 | HIGHLANDS ON THE HALF-SHELL

We appreciate all who endured the lovely Highlands rain and made this years' Highlands on the Half-Shell such a great party! Thank you to all who attended to support Highlands Biological Station, and a special thanks to our oyster queens: Jennie Stowers & Martha Stibss and all our generous hosts: Lynda Anderson & Ken Conover, Kim & Bill Coward, Mary Todd & Ji mmy Davis, Kim & Rich Daugherty, Julia & Bill Grumbles, Diane & Michael Levine, Elizabeth & David Martin, Nancy & Lyle Nichols, Frances & Obie Oakley, Karen Patterson, Miriam & Vernon Skiles, Martha & Hal Stibbs, Marcia & Jack Stibbs, Jennie Stowers, Jonnie & Jimmy Swann, Kathy & Bestor Ward, Sarah Morgan & Walter Wingfield.

BRIGHA YOUNG

Soiree Photos: Paige Engelbrektsson Half-Shell Photos: Krystal Cutshaw-Cohen

ZAHNER LECTURE SERIES

SCENES FROM

NATURE CENTER EVENTS

HBS Executive Director and Darwin expert Dr. Jim Costa will lead this exciting ship-based expedition to the fabled islands that Darwin visited in 1835. Travel in Darwin’s footsteps as you visit spectacular islands teeming with amazing wildlife, from iconic giant tortoises and marine iguanas to blue- and red-footed boobies, frigatebirds, and the famous Darwin’s finches! For more information, call (828) 52 6-2602 or go to highlandsbiological.org to download the brochure.

Photos: Charlotte Muir

Photos: Charlotte Muir

FAMILIAR PLACE IN A DRASTICALLY CHANGING WORLD

JASON LOVE, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, HIGHLANDS BIOLOGICAL STATION

Twenty years ago, I followed my then girlfriend to Highlands. She had been hired to manage the Nature Center at the Highlands Biological Station, a place with a long and storied history and a mission to research, teach, and celebrate the diversity of life in the southern Appalachians.

I had just graduated from UGA with a major in Wildlife. I was hired as a US Forest Service (USFS) Technician to deplo y Gypsy Moth traps in forests around Highlands. The USFS was trying to contain the non-native pest with a variety of techniques, including inundating forest tracts with tiny plastic particles saturated with female moth pheromones in an attempt to confuse the males. The number of male moths in the traps would be evidence for whether the plan was working, or not.

To place these traps, I often found my self hiking (and crawling) through some of the most rugged, beautiful country in the East. For me, who grew-up in the suburbs of Atlanta, rambling in the woods was a dream job.

Today, I am back on the Plateau. My now wife is the STEM Coordinator for Macon County Schools. I completed an M.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Resources from West Virginia University, and after working at the Great Smoky Mounta ins Institute at Tremont, and the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, I am the new Associate Director of the Biological Station. These southern Blue Ridge Mountains still hold the same enchantment for me as they did 20 years ago. But they are changing. Drastically.

Twenty years ago, I was battling the Gypsy Moth, an exotic pest intentionally introduced in a misguided attempt to enhance silk production. N ot surprisingly, the moths did not help the silk trade but did escape and have been wreaking havoc with eastern forests ever since. But their damage seems minor compared to new pests.

In fewer than 10 years, the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid laid waste to the hemlocks. Ash trees are dying from the accidental introduction of the Emerald Ash Borer. The Appalachian Elktoe mussel has disappeared from the Little Tennessee River downstream of Franklin. Hellbenders, the largest salamanders in North America, are disappearing from our local creeks and rivers. In North America, there are 3 billion fewer song birds than there were in 1970.

Clearly, we are failing as Earth’s caretakers.

But this makes the Station’s mission – research, education, and (I’ll add) celebration of southern Appalachian biodiversity, mo re important than ever. We must continue to research organisms like salamanders to better understand how they will (or won’t) adapt to this changing world, and how we can minimize the impacts to natural systems. It is important to create awe in the younger generation by showing them the wonders and enchantments of nature. It is also critical that we continue to educate adults about the hard, uncomfo rtable truths of the growing impacts of humans on the natural world. And, finally, it is important that we continue to celebrate these mountains, for it is the home of a myriad of remarkable and wonderful life forms, including ours.

Photos: Winter Gary

Photo: Clay Bolt

NATURE CENTER NEWS

PAIGE ENGELBREKTSSON, EDUCATION SPECIALIST

This summer, the Highlands Nature Center’s programming celebrated the rich natural history of the Plateau. Our campers explored wild spaces ranging from the HBS Meadow to Panthertown Valley, digging into topics like geology, ecology, and gardening along the way. At Nature Center Nights, attendees searched for fluorescent millipedes in the Bot anical Garden, meandered for salamanders, and listened for bats over the lake. Regularly throughout the summer, visitors to the Nature Center met "featured creatures," toured the Botanical Garden, and performed "mad science experiments" under the guidance of our Assistant Naturalists.

We added several new exhibits and more signage at the Nature Center. Early in the summer, visitors searched for clues i n a rotating “Critter Scene Investigation” display. Now, with an interactive screen at our “Research at the Station” exhibit, you can hear directly from researchers who work out of the Highlands Biological Station.

The Nature Center also received much-anticipated upgrades with the support of the Highlands Biological Foundation. We have installed an energy efficient heating and air conditioning system th at will keep even the largest crowd cool at a Zahner lecture. We replaced the overhead lighting with a new LED system that provides improved, energy efficient lighting. Facility improvements will continue over the winter.

Our public hours have wound down for the winter. There is no “off” season in the natural world, however, and our programming will reflect this. Watch for new events in the coming months!

Many thanks to those who made this year’s programming and improvements possible, including: Lynda Anderson, Nicole Cook, Ken Conover, Hannah Dinkins, Winter Gary, Mike McMahan, our Junior Counselors, and The Mountain Retreat Center’s Many Hands Peace Farm.

Photo: Clay Bolt

Photos: Paige Engelbrektsson & Winter Gary

HIGHLANDS BIOLOGICAL FOUNDATION

P.O. BOX 580

HIGHLANDS, NC 28741