Environmental Education Center Friday!

It’s Environmental Education Center Friday!

Did you know that today (March 19th) is Arbor Day? While national Arbor Day is on the last Friday in April, the official North Carolina Arbor Day is celebrated on the first Friday after March 15. Some cities may celebrate Arbor Day at different times, depending on the best time of the year to plant trees in that area. You can learn more about Arbor Day in N.C. in this press release from the N.C. Division of Forest Resources.

Several N.C. Environmental Education Centers have forestry as their main focus, and many more offer programs and exhibits on trees, forests and forestry. Be sure to check out our EE Events page for Arbor Day events in your area. They run now through national Arbor Day.

Here are some EE Centers that focus on forestry. Each of these provides forestry education as well as a wide variety of other environmental education programs on air, water, wildlife and much more.

· The N.C. Division of Forest Resources operates seven Educational State Forests across the state. If you have never visited one, you have missed a treat!

· There is also the North Carolina Museum of Forestry, located in Whiteville, NC. This museum celebrates the story of the natural history and cultural heritage of North Carolina forests through exhibits, educational programming and special events.

· Finally, there is the well-known Forest Discovery Center at the Cradle of Forestry in America, located in Pisgah Forest. Spanning over 100 years of forest conservation history, the Cradle of Forestry offers a snap shot of life at America’s first school of Forestry along the Biltmore Campus Trail. You can also take a picturesque walk along the Forest Festival Trail complete with a restored 1915 logging locomotive, or take a ride with firefighters aboard a helicopter on their way to a roaring fire in the wilds of Idaho in the Forest Discovery Center Exhibit Hall.

photo by samtron9