The North Carolina Natural Heritage Program (NCNHP) is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2026, marking five decades of conservation science, partnerships and efforts to protect the state’s most significant natural areas. The Natural Heritage Program is located within the Division of Land and Water Stewardship in the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
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North Carolina State Parks and the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, two divisions of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, will be hosting this year’s N.C. Bat Working Group "Bat Blitz" to conduct a species inventory in five southeastern North Carolina counties Aug. 24-28. More than 80 trained participants from federal and state agencies and other organizations will be engaging in this effort, centered at Singletary Lake State Park in Bladen County.
NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher (NCAFF) invites the community to add a really cool item to their 2026 school list—a Back-to-School Beach Cleanup on Saturday, Aug. 22, 8-10 a.m. at Ocean Front Park in Kure Beach. The town offers free parking for the cleanup volunteers and the Aquarium provides reusable gloves, pickers and bags. The NC Aquariums are a division of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
It’s easy to run into a crab or a sandpiper in the coastal region of North Carolina – visitors and local folks are often witnesses to the marvels of nature that make up the state’s delicate ecosystems. Each organism from a frog to a fern is critical to the habitat and because of their importance, the North Carolina Aquariums are leading the Coastal North Carolina team in the NC Bioblitz—part of the City Nature Challenge (CNC) April 24-27. Science Across NC created the NC Bioblitz to encourage participation in the CNC in the state.
Making waves that have a ripple effect is at the heart of a new initiative to make the North Carolina Ferry System more sustainable, beginning with the Southport and Fort Fisher visitor centers. Riders will find only aluminum cans for water, soda and other drinks in the vending machines. Last year, the ferry system also added water refill stations—another measure to reduce single-use plastic.