N.C. DENR Lists 2009 Accomplishments

The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources has released its 2009 list of notable accomplishments. Environmental education and outreach accomplishments from several divisions were noted in this year's report and are listed below (The Office of Environmental Education is a division of N.C. DENR). The entire release can be viewed on the N.C. DENR Web site.

N.C. DENR Environmental Education and Outreach

The state parks system put in place a full-service, Internet- and call center-based reservations system for its nearly 3,000 campsites as well as picnic shelters, community buildings, conference rooms and auditoriums. The reservations system has been the most requested amenity in recent years by visitors to the state parks. Beyond helping residents plan visits to state parks, the system provides valuable information about visitor demographics and preferences.

The Division of Soil and Water Conservation helped put on the 2009 Canon Envirothon, the world’s largest high school environmental science competition. Professional staff, volunteers, mentors and parents from the United States and Canada came to UNC-Asheville in August to support 54 participating teams. Students competed in soils and land use, aquatic ecology, forestry, wildlife and current environmental issues. North Carolina’s team, The Sequoias, took second place.

Some DENR attractions saw increased attendance. The N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences welcomed 750,000 visitors in 2009, making it the most-visited museum and the No. 1 field trip attraction in the state. The North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher saw a 16 percent increase in attendance from June to August after opening the albino alligator exhibit. The North Carolina Zoo set an attendance record for Easter Saturday with 10,681 visitors. The previous record of 10,437 was in 1995.

The Office of Environmental Education published a comprehensive guide to the state’s environmental education centers. The Guide to Environmental Education Centers in North Carolina is at http://www.eenorthcarolina.org/eecenters.htm. It profiles more than 180 facilities that provide environmental education learning opportunities for the public. The centers include state-owned facilities and federal, local and nonprofit parks, visitor centers, nature centers and museums.

The state Ecosystem Enhancement Program worked with staff from the internationally syndicated television show “Aqua Kids” for the second straight year. The show showcases water quality protection efforts in the Tar Heel State. Program staff worked with “Aqua Kids” in Alleghany County to film segments on stream restoration and mountain stream ecology at Roaring River in Stone Mountain State Park, and on mountain bog ecosystems and the endangered bog turtle in Sparta. The shows are set to run in early 2010 on cable systems statewide.

In May, the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island broke ground on a new educational ocean fishing pier, Jennette’s Pier. The pier is one of three proposed new hurricane-resistant concrete structures, one near each of the three North Carolina aquariums. All three piers will provide family-oriented educational sites from which aquarium staff can conduct programs such as recreational fishing and do research.

More than 100 teachers and environmental educators attended North Carolina’s first Outdoor Classroom Symposium at the N.C. Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill, thanks to hard work from department staff from the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Program, the state Office of Environmental Education and their partners. The symposium focused on techniques for creating, maintaining and using outdoor classrooms and integrating outdoor learning into the curriculum.