ENVIRONMENT

A peach display in the grocery store might mention where the fruit was grown. Too often, that means Georgia or California. At a farm stand in the Sandhills, the peaches come from an orchard right here on the edge of the Uwharries. Growers even note the specific variety. After writing about the Ophir apple last […]

Last week while surveying one of our properties, a natural heritage field biologist found an interesting species never before documented this far south – the eastern gray tree frog (Hyla versicolor). The gray tree frog found widely across the state is the Cope’s gray tree frog (Hyla chrysoscelis). The eastern gray tree frog was documented […]

The Institute established the Charlotte Regional Indicators Project in 2007 to provide a data resource to enhance our understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the Charlotte region. This latest initiative of the Indicators Project moves beyond the old format of a printed report (which resulted in data becoming obsolete as soon as it was […]

While they have a long history in the area, farmers markets have seen a burst of activity in the Charlotte region in recent years. New markets are now springing up inside Charlotte as well as in the towns that ring the center city. Photographer Nancy Pierce visited several farmers markets to capture the life and […]

Fruits and vegetables that taste like summer—tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, blueberries, raspberries, melons—are swelling and ripening in gardens and farms of our region. These crops would be far less abundant without the buzzing chorus of pollinating insects that provide their services for free. Commercial honey bee and bumble bee operations make good use of the industrious […]

My mom was putting out mulch about this time last year when she noticed a box turtle digging a hole in the dry, red clay under the eaves of the house. Eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina) appear in many types of habitat, making them a natural choice for our state reptile. Since they’re most […]

If you’ve gotten outside lately you must have noticed that the forests have been alive with a consistent humming and drumming, sometimes quite loud. When you first hear it you’ll swear there is a motor running, or look skyward in search of the nearby power line. But this sound is natural, as it comes from […]

As you’ve likely gathered from a number of both my and Ruth Ann Grissom’s past articles on this website, it is pretty safe to say that there’s still a lot about wildlife we just don’t know in the Uwharries, and a lot of other places as well. One factor that is largely responsible for this […]

In 1805, one of my ancestors, Stephen Grissom, signed a petition to the state’s General Assembly on behalf of American shad. The petitioners were concerned that mill dams on the Uwharrie River blocked the passage of this migratory fish. The petition says those living on or contiguous to the river were “being deprived of the […]

Last week, the Appellate Court for the District of Columbia ruled against Alcoa’s petition requesting that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) proceed with issuing the company a new license to continue operating its dams along the Yadkin River. This ruling was not the final determination concerning who will own and operate Alcoa’s dams and […]