Press Releases

A public memorial service to honor the life of former Somerset Place Site Manager Dorothy Spruill Redford will be held at 11 a.m., Monday, Oct.

The North Carolina Land and Water Fund Board of Trustees met Sept. 19 and 20 to consider grant applications and make awards for projects that will protect North Carolina’s land and water from the mountains to the coast. With the newly enacted state budget, over $45 million will be available immediately to fund these projects.“Our natural areas, rivers and streams are critical to the health and well-being of North Carolinians and our economy,” said Governor Roy Cooper. “These grants will help protect our state’s land and wetlands for generations to come.”

M. Scott Avis, the superintendent at Lake Norman State Park, has been named the new south district superintendent of North Carolina State Parks, according to the Division of Parks and Recreation. Avis succeeds Jay Greenwood, who retired in March after 27 years with the division.

A new study published in the journal Conservation Biology reveals that Critically Endangered African vultures are in steep decline in southern Tanzania due to poisoning and could soon go extinct. The study is the result of more than a decade of field research from a team of scientists from the North Carolina Zoo (NCZ) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

Under sunny skies on Sept. 16, a short and heartfelt ceremony dedicating a popular bronze sea turtle sculpture in memory of Millie Overman was held. Millie is known to many as the matriarch of the Network for Endangered Sea Turtles (N.E.S.T.) and of sea turtle conservation on the Outer Banks.

Trash is scary and this Halloween season, the community is invited to work together to slay pollution at the Boo to Trash Beach Cleanup, Sunday, Oct. 22, 8-10 a.m. at Carolina Beach Pier hosted by the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher, the Town of Carolina Beach and Carolina Beach Pier. Everyone is invited to wear a favorite costume for a contest and the Aquarium will provide the treats!

 A U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a major civil rights employment case with North Carolina ties soon will be commemorated with an N.C. Highway Historical Marker.

Throughout time, carvers, cabinetmakers, furniture makers, and carpenters have been crafting objects to serve as functional, social, and aesthetic pieces of work. Signatures or marks left by the craftsperson, whether incised/scratched or those of chalk, paint, pencil, or ink, allow a piece of wood to be transformed into a reflection of society, culture, economics, and trade. This exhibition, which opens November 11, 2023, explores the gift of crafting treasures from wood while highlighting the training and abilities of the crafter.

A North Carolina Highway Historical Marker soon will be placed recognizing the efforts made at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill to train officers, pilots, and cadets during World War II.The marker commemorating the U.S. Navy Pre-Flight School at Chapel Hill will be dedicated at 300 E. Franklin St., Sept. 30 at 2 p.m.This training program was one of only five such schools in the country during World War II. It served two linked purposes — to offer rigorous training for budding aviators and to keep open the doors of participating universities.

Take A Child Outside Week, an international initiative spearheaded by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, kicks off Sunday, Sept. 24 and runs through Saturday, Sept. 30.