Mega Work Day Planned for Pisgah Ranger District

The Pisgah Conservancy, U.S. Forest Service, and a host of supporting organizations have announced a broad based volunteer work day in the Pisgah Ranger District called “Pisgah Pride Day 2016,” which is being planned in conjunction with National Public Lands Day, September 24. Work crews will convene at different locations on Saturday, September 24, and will perform trail work, surveying and removing invasive species, trash removal, brush trimming, river habitat projects, and more. Afterwards, volunteers will gather at Oskar Blues in Brevard to celebrate the results, with a percentage of beverage proceeds going to The Pisgah Conservancy.

John Cottingham, Executive Director of The Pisgah Conservancy, stated “We are getting a great reaction from virtually everyone we talk to about this initial Pisgah Pride Day. We’ll have groups from the Carolina Mountain Club, Trout Unlimited, Backcountry Horsemen, Pisgah Area SORBA, MountainTrue, Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy, Muddy Sneakers and many others working in the forest to show our common pride in this wonderful natural resource. We’ll be doing everything from trail work to picking up trash, to polishing signs.”

Lorie Stroup, interim Ranger for the Pisgah Ranger District, is excited by the prospect of this first-time event. “For everyone who loves Pisgah this is a great opportunity to get out and show that love. Plus, it should be fun – we’re hoping for a great turnout and lots of great results.”

Volunteers do not need to be a member of any of the sponsoring organizations to participate, but must be signed up to work on Forest Service property. To sign up, go to www.pisgahconservancy.org/how-you-can-help/pisgah-pride-day-2016.html.

Pisgah Pride will also include a “Pink Beds BioBlitz” at the Cradle of Forestry that starts on Friday evening, September 23 and will continue on September 24. A BioBlitz is an event dedicated toward applying citizen science in order to identify as many species of flora and fauna as possible in a designated amount of time in a defined area. The Pink Beds BioBlitz will include surveys, nature walks focusing on botany, entomology, ecology, birds, reptiles, amphibians, mushrooms, and more. Devin Gentry of the Cradle of Forestry in America Interpretive Association said “We are excited to have our first BioBlitz in the historic Pink Beds valley on this 100th anniversary of Pisgah National Forest. This will be a chance for the armchair naturalist and local school children to get out in the field and participate in important, hands-on service projects.” For specific information on the BioBlitz you can visit https://pinkbedsbioblitz.wordpress.com.



Jeff
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