A few years ago, DLC was approached by the Shearwater Point neighborhood in Cornelius to discuss options to preserve and cultivate the wildlife around this beautiful lake community. This group of neighbors proceeded to create a plan for pollinator gardens in key community spaces. They then proceeded to consult various Davidson citizen experts in this
Research in a Davidson College biology lab connects directly to the stewardship and monitoring work being done by Davidson Lands Conservancy to assess the current ecological needs of lands we preserve and manage. Associate Professor Kevin Smith and more than 15 students have been working on an ecological experiment to improve the prediction of extinction
by Dave Cable “The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life.” -Rabindranath Tagore, a poet, musician, artist and Nobel Prize recipient from the India. The fact you are reading this means you are probably already a
Sweet gum trees are native beauties.
Pawpaw is a fruit that grows in the woods in our area.
Take a walk, and look at the lawns of the houses you pass. Most of them will be neatly trimmed and made out of grass. After all, a beautiful green lawn is a status symbol in suburbs around the world. However, there is a catch. Growing a grass lawn often requires pesticides to keep
Not too long ago, seasons were clearly defined things. Winter was cold. Spring was warm. Summer was hot. Autumn was cool. Nowadays, however, man-made climate change has made telling the seasons apart and predicting what the weather will be a real headache—especially for farmers. In the space of one month, we might have snow,
What do you think of when you think of a garden? Perhaps a neat, orderly arrangement of flowers, or maybe rows and rows of fruits and vegetables? Whatever you think of, you probably don’t think of it as a wildlife habitat first and foremost. Of course, that doesn’t need to be the case. After
Think about soil for a moment: the brown, lumpy, crusty stuff that makes up the ground you walk on. Have you ever wondered where it all comes from? Soil is the end result of a process called decomposition, which is the breakdown of organic material (dead plants and animals) by organisms called decomposers. When
It’s spring, which for many of us here in Davidson means the return of flowers, birds, butterflies, and other pleasant things. However, it also means the return of something generally considered to be unpleasant—pollen. Pollen, be it from trees, from ragweed, or from flowers, is one of the leading causes of allergies. However, pollen
