| <div class="ck-content"><h3>Get to Know Fireflies!</h3><p>Our chapter is pleased to announce that we are hosting Dr. Clyde Sorenson of NC State University who will be giving an online presentation "<i><strong>Carolina Ghosts, Synchronous Shows, and Foxfire Nights: The Bioluminescent Insects of North Carolina</strong></i>."</p><p>Here is what Dr. Sorenson has to say:</p><p>"Fireflies and their relatives are some of the most charismatic critters around, but their lives are poorly known, I'll be introducing folks to the diversity of fireflies and other glowing insects in the state, discuss the ecology and biology of bioluminescent insects, and describe our Carolina Ghost Hunt citizen science project."</p><p><strong>Register</strong> using this link: <a href="https://bit.ly/3UQ2Tpc"><span style="color:#000000;">https://bit.ly/3UQ2Tpc</span></a>. Registration is <strong><u>free</u></strong> and open to the public so feel free to invite your friends and family. If you register and are unable to attend on Dec 12 at 7pm, the recording link will be sent to you by email.</p><h3>Wisdom from Ray Tennant</h3><p>Tim Logue, who leads a weekly invasives removal event along the Hillsborough River Walk (and also helps with the TriWild Saturdays program at Brumley), brought to my attention a <a href="https://baynature.org/2023/05/25/on-the-oddly-satisfying-war-on-invasive-species/">really excellent article</a> by another invasives-obsessive, Roy Tennant: <strong>On the (Oddly Satisfying) War Against Invasive Species: Some tips from the trenches.</strong></p><p>It's full of common-sense advice designed to help you avoid feeling helpless and overwhelmed by invasives. One of my favorites:</p><blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;"><strong>It’s not a battle, it’s a war of attrition</strong>. We can’t win, all we can hope to accomplish is to reduce the level of invasion to a manageable level. We may be successful in keeping a particular species off the properties completely, or away from trails, with due diligence over years, but we will never completely rid these properties of invasive species.</p></blockquote><p>The way I like to phrase this is: With (most) invasives, you can't win the war, but you win every battle.</p><p>Sure, maybe we'll never completely get rid of wisteria in Community Center Park, but we can certainly ensure that it doesn't grow right up trees and kill them.</p><p>Give the article a read when you get a chance, and pass it along to friends who think that what we do is futile.</p></div><div class="ck-content"><h3>Receive all my reports on tree rescues</h3><p>If you'd like to get some good news about restoring native habitats delivered straight to your brain upwards of a few times a week, sign in to <a href="https://rewildearth.net">Rewild Earth</a>, click on your name in top right, then My profile. Under Communication Preferences, switch “Send reports of all events” to ON. </p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1BeynVqu8taOGrsvi56u0mmDKuNJko22h&sz=w600-h400" alt="REPLACE" width="358" height="138"></div><h3>Resources you might find useful</h3><ul><li><a href="https://shop.naisma.org/collections/buckthorn-blaster">Buckthorn Blasters</a>: safe, easy herbicide delivery system from the North American Invasive Species Management Association. Don't start cutting without them!</li><li><a href="https://nc-ipc.weebly.com/nc-invasive-plants.html">NC Invasive Plants list</a>: recently updated by NC-IPC, the NC Invasives Plants Council.</li><li><a href="https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AG259">Overview of different herbicides</a>: glyposphate, triclopyr and others - which should you use?</li><li>Volunteer for <a href="https://triangleland.org">Triangle Land Conservancy</a>: the biggest land conservancy group in our area. </li><li>Volunteer for <a href="https://ellerbecreek.org">Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association</a> (Durham): a wonderful group working hard to maintain contiguous natural areas along Ellerbe Creek.</li></ul></div> |