NewsArchive


 * NEWS ARCHIVE**

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News has moved to our public website, www.WakeNature.org
//**2012 Nov 15: Raleigh Parks signs WakeNature Memorandum of Understanding.**// On 2012 Nov 8, Diane B. Sauer, Director of Raleigh Parks and Recreation, signed the WakeNature Memorandum of Understanding, making Raleigh Parks an official voting member of WakeNature. WakeNature and Raleigh Parks have worked together since the early days of WakeNature in a variety of discussions about how to best highlight, celebrate, and manage Wake County's natural heritage. During 2010-2011 we worked together on a Raleigh Parks task force that ultimately led to the creation of four Nature Preserves and one Protected Natural Area within the Raleigh Parks system. We have long appreciated the involvement of Melissa Salter and Emily Ander at WakeNature meetings and are delighted that they will now participate officially on behalf of a voting member of the Partnership! We all look forward to a long-lasting collaboration devoted to appropriate management and long-term stewardship of Wake County's highest quality natural areas.

//**WakeNature holds Invasive Plant Management workshop.** Gary Blank (NC State U, front, just right of center, with walking stick) and Ross Sullivan (Wake County Parks, Recreation, & Open Space, orange shirt, right of Blank) welcome participants to the workshop, held in Lake Raleigh Woods and the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation on NCSU's campus. Some 40 people registered for the workshop, and continuing education credits were certified by four different organizations. Participants examined and discussed invasive species in Lake Raleigh Woods, looked at an invasive plant control experiment led by Sullivan, and heard 4 presentations on invasive plant management. WakeNature is planning to hold workshops twice per year, with the next one some in March, 2013, on producing management plans for nature preserves.// // 2012 Sep 25. //

//**2012 Aug 18: Invasive Plant Management workshop held on 25 September.**// >>more information>>


 * //2012 Feb 1: Turnipseed Lichen Presentation goes International.//** The poster presented last June was revamped and presented at the Seventh International Association of Lichenologists Symposium in Bangkok, Thailand in January 2012: [|IAL7]. Here's the new and improved poster:[[file:Turnipseed IAL1_poster.pdf]]


 * //2011 Nov 15: New website for WakeNature.org.//** The WakeNature.org URL has been changed to point to our new website at WakeNature.wordpress.com We will use that website as our public face, while continuing to use this wiki for internal information. The wiki is linked to the website and will remain open for reading by anyone on the web. News will move to the wordpress web site.

//**2011 July 21:**// //**Turnipseed Lichen Survey Presentation.**// The lichen survey of Turnipseed WakeNature Preserve, conducted 2009-2011 was presented at two events in June. The first was at a bryological and lichenological meeting in Roan Mountain, Tennessee, and the second was at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences during it's Wild Life Ecology and Evolution presentation event//. //


 * //2011 July 5: Raleigh City Council approves Nature Preserves.//** Today, Raleigh City Council approved the report and recommendations of the Nature Preserve Task Force. As a result of this action, 4 Raleigh parks will be designated as Nature Preserves: Horseshoe Farm, Durant Nature Park, Annie Louise Wilkerson M.D. Nature Preserve, and the southern portion of Lake Johnson Park; and parts of Anderson Point Park will be designated as Protected Natural Areas. Raleigh Parks will now begin implementation work, which could take several years.


 * //2011 Jun 21: Raleigh City Council postpones decision on Nature Preserves.//** Mark Turner (Vice Chairman, Raleigh Parks, Recreation, & Greenways Advisory Board), Toddi Steelman (Co-chair, Wake Nature Preserves Partnership), and Melissa Salter (Raleigh City Parks) presented the Nature Preserve Task Force report and request to adopt the nature preserve criteria and designate 4 Nature Preserves (Horseshoe Farm, Durant Nature Park, Annie Louise Wilkerson M.D. ** Nature Preserve, and the southern portion of Lake Johnson Park )** and one Protected Natural Area overlay (Anderson Point Park). Councilors Crowder and Odum asked that approval be delayed until the next meeting to address a couple of questions; Councilors Baldwin and Weeks asked to move forward; Mayor Meeker moved to wait until the next Council meeting (5 July) and that motion carried. Because Steelman and Hess are both unavailable on 5 July, Raleigh Parks staff is going to ask to hold final vote until 19 July when Steelman will be available.


 * //2011 May 19: Raleigh Parks Board approves Nature Preserve criteria and list.// Raleigh's Parks, Recreation, & Greenways Advisory Board approved criteria for identifying Nature Preserves in Raleigh's Park System after more than a year of collaboration among Raleigh Parks, Raleigh Parks and Greenways Advisory Board, and WakeNature. Also approved was a list of 4 candidate Nature Preserves: Horseshoe Farm, Durant Nature Park, Annie Louise Wilkerson **M.D. ** Nature Preserve, and the southern portion of Lake Johnson Park. These recommendations will be made to Raleigh City Council for final approval on 21 June. **

**//2011 May 5: Turnipseed Nature Preserve Announcement.// The Turnipseed WakeNature Preserve was announced officially today on site. Fact Sheet:  **

**//2011 Apr 21: WakeNature receives Regional Raleigh Environmental Award .//** During an award ceremony this evening, George Hess & Chris Snow accepted the award on behalf of WakeNature. "The recipient of this award will have demonstrated enviromental stewardship for the region, for example air quality, local rivers, Neuse River Basin or other regional issues."

//**WakeNature received the Raleigh's Regional Environmental Award.** Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker, Chris Snow (Director, Wake County Parks, Recreation, & Open Space), George Hess (NC State University; co-chair, WakeNature), John Burns (Chairman, Raleigh Environmental Advisory Board). Snow and Hess accepted on behalf of WakeNature. 2011 Apr 21.//

//**2011 Feb 18:**// **New lichen species described from Turnipseed Preserve.** A new species of cobblestone lichen (//Acarospora janae//) was found in one of Turnipseed's granitic flatrocks in 2009 and now published in a new monograph describing 100 new lichen species by an international team of scientists:http://www.mapress.com/phytotaxa/content/2011/pt00018.html . There is also a page to the new lichen on the Encyclopedia of Life: http://www.eol.org/.

**//2011 Feb 9:// Turnipseed Lupine field and powerline corridor mowed.** Wake County mowed these areas to maintain them in their early successional state and to avoid chemical spraying of the powerline corridor by Progress Energy. "No spraying" signs will be posted on the powerline corridor and the County is working out an agreement with Progress Energy to ensure that no spraying occurs.




 * //2010 Dec 13://** **Wake County's Turnipseed Preserve designated first WakeNature Preserve.** Upon recommendation of the review committee, the WakeNature membership has approved the designation of Wake County's Turnipseed Preserve as the first WakeNature Preserve, effective immediately.


 * //2010 Dec 2://** **Review committee recommends approval of Turnipseed as first WakeNature Preserve** after reviewing changes made by Wake County in response to committee comments. A vote is now before the full membership through 10 December. More information is available on the Turnipseed Review page.


 * //2010 Oct 19://** **A review committee recommended provisional approval of Turnipseed Preserve as the first WakeNature Preserve**, pending revisions to the management plan suggested by the review committee. Wake County Parks, Recreation, and Open Space has agreed to the changes. Once the plan is revised, the full partnership will take the final vote on Wake County's application.


 * //2010 Oct 18://** **See the WakeNature video** that was presented at the National Outreach Scholarship Conference in Raleigh on 2010 Oct 5.


 * //2010 Sept 24://** **WakeNature to be featured at national outreach conference.** WakeNature will be featured during the morning plenary session of the National Outreach Scholarship Conference being held 4-6 Oct at the Raleigh Convention Center. The plenary is on Tuesday 5 Oct 9-10:30AM and will feature a video about WakeNature and a panel of five WakeNature partners from a variety of organizations. There will be a follow-up session from 10:45-11:30 in which WakeNature panelists will be able to interact with audience members in more depth.


 * //2010 Sept 21://** **TLC continues to support WakeNature wiki.** Triangle Land Conservancy has covered the cost of our wiki for another year - their payment keeps our site free of advertisements. Thanks, TLC!


 * //2010 Sept 16://** **www.WakeNature.org goes live.** We have purchased the WakeNature.org and WakeNature.com domain names and linked them to our wiki site (this site).


 * //2010 Sep 10://** **Invasive plant removal from Turnipseed pilot site.** Approximately 15 people spent a morning removing //Lespedeza//, stilt grass, small pines, and privet in and around a meadow restoration site.


 * //2010 Jun 23://** **WakeNature has received its first contribution.** The Osborne Family has donated $200 through NC State University to support our activities! Many, many thanks to the Osborne Family for this kind and generous donation! All donations and tracking of their use are published on our SupportWakeNature page.


 * //2010 Jun 23://** **Lupine seeds planted at Turnipseed pilot site.** WakeNature volunteers planted hundreds of Lupine seeds on an abandoned field in an attempt to restore a once-common wildflower.


 * //2010 May 17://** **Wake County's Board of Commissioners approved a resolution** supporting continued cooperation between the Wake County Division of Parks, Recreation, and Open Space and permitting submission of an application to have Turnipseed designated as Wake County's first WakeNature Preserve.

PROGRESS** - This is a list of older items from before we started running news entries.


 * Criteria developed for identifying most ecologically valuable protected land/natural resources in the County
 * Marks Creek chosen as pilot/demonstration area
 * Marks Creek Herps Inventory completed, 2008 Feb. 28
 * Lake Myra flora inventory completed
 * Service learning curriculum in progress. Held Service Learning Workshop, 2008 May 1
 * Wake County hired a Natural Resources Program Manager, Tim Lisk
 * Wake County Parks Dept. staff working on database development for inventory information
 * Draft Template for Management Plans completed and posted, September 2008
 * Bronson Bullock's (NCSU) Forest Inventory class inventories Marks Creek, Fall 2008
 * Introductory meeting with municipal Park and Rec Directors in Wake County, 2008 Oct 2
 * Marks Creek Workday, 2008 Nov 14
 * Turnipseed Road Unit 1 Management Plan initial sections drafted and posted, November 2008
 * County-wide Capacity Building Workshop on Natural Resource Inventories, February 19, 2009
 * Technical assistance to Apex, NC
 * Technical assistance to Garner, NC for White Deer Park
 * Held Capacity Building Workshop #2: Field Trip to Mecklenburg County to learn more about management of their Nature Preserves, May 21, 2009
 * Marks Creek Lichen Inventory initiated, 27 June 2009
 * Helped bring Mecklenburg County's Michael Kirschman to Nov. 9, 2009 Regional Conservation Summit for presentation on the Economic Benefits of Nature Preserves
 * October 7, 2009 City of Raleigh City Council adopts new parks planning classification for "Nature Parks and Preserves" [[file:wakenature/Res2009-996.doc|Res2009-996.doc]]
 * November 21, 2009 Turnipseed Road Habitat Restoration Volunteer Work Day
 * March 8, 2010 Turnipseed lichen survey progress presented at NCSU Forestry Seminar (see Marks Creek Assessment page for pdf)
 * May 17, 2010 Wake County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution supporting continued cooperation between the Wake County Division of Parks, Recreation, and Open Space and permitting submission of an application to have Turnipseed designated as Wake County's first WakeNature Preserve.
 * May 29, 2010 Turnipseed (Marks Creek) Lichen survey completed.