home www.wncnaturally.com
email scott@wncnaturally.com

As you may have noticed, it's been a while since I've updated the site - it's been a really busy spring, summer and early fall. The main thing that has been occupying my time is a new program I'm workin on with the North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement at UNC-Asheville. The program is called the Blue Ridge Naturalist and I've been working for quite a while with the development of it and am currently writing some of the curriculum for the program. Our goal is to produce good, interprative naturalists to share the word about our area. Hopefully, down the road we'll have an association of grads to lead programs for interested organizations.

Our first field classes are finishing up right now - one on Tree Natural History and one covering Identification of Fall Wildflowers. Starting in January we are offering a classroom series on Ecology and another for Botany. The courses will focus as much as possible on the Blue Ridge province of the southern Appalachians, and the Botany course is designed to be field oriented and teach the students aspects of Botany that will enhance an interpretive program.

This overdue update finds autumn progressing, albeit at a strange pace. I don't remember having this little color this late in the year. I think the dry September and warm weather may have had something to do with it.

We will either have spectacular color very soon or, late one night, there will be a lound thump as the leaves all fall.

I hope everyone has had a great summer, and that you get out into the woods to enjoy the cooler weather.