Articles About Environment and Planning
By Mary Newsom Choices made decades ago ruled out the preservation of large-scale green belts or farmlands in Mecklenburg. This is the story of how that came about. You can drive south down Dixie River Road beyond the venerable Dixie Grill & Grocery and for 2 miles you’ll see only woods, a few driveways and […]
One interesting and beautiful plant you may have seen along a river or creek, sometimes in great number, is spotted jewelweed (Impatiens capensis). You may be more familiar with another of its names – touch-me-not. It is also called common jewelweed, orange jewelweed or orange balsam. Spotted jewelweed grows predominantly in wetlands and can grow […]
I wanted to know more about the rarest butterfly in North Carolina, so I caught up recently with Nick Haddad, the William Neal Reynolds Professor of Applied Ecology at N.C. State University to ask about the St. Francis’ satyr and its conservation status. First, I wanted to know, what exactly is the St. Francis’ satyr, […]
Myth and legend surround willow trees, as well as facts. The graceful weeping willows have long narrow leaves and limbs drooping from the tree trunk, an appearance sometimes associated with death and dying. Shakespeare uses willow trees in several of his plays, including the “Willow Song” in Othello, and in Hamlet Ophelia breaks willow branches […]
The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute is cosponsoring the fifth annual Urban Forestry Summit by the nonprofit group TreesCharlotte on Sept. 20 at UNC Charlotte Center City. The aim of the event is to share information and discussion about topics relevant to Charlotte’s urban forest. The event is free and open to the public but registration […]
Summer is winding down. Kids are heading back to school. Days will soon be shorter than nights. Labor Day weekend marks the end of peak season at the beach, but birders and fishermen flock to the coast in fall. If you plan to visit Kitty Hawk, Hatteras or Bald Head Island in the coming weeks, […]
Update: This survey has closed. The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute is helping Mecklenburg County’s Land Use and Environmental Services Agency (LUESA) learn about county residents’ recycling practices and preferences. The institute has worked with LUESA on an annual phone survey for 11 years. This is the first year in which an online component has been […]
According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, North Carolina ranks third in the nation in the amount of installed solar capacity, more than all other Southeastern states combined. At last count, 188 solar companies employed 6,000 people in our state. As a recent article in the Montgomery Herald noted, there’s now a 25-megawatt solar farm […]
A stop by the Eldorado Outpost one recent morning included a sighting of a barn swallow that had built a nest on a ledge of the building under the eave. Barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) are fairly common, and you’ve probably seen them on your own property. A couple of years ago, kayaking on Mountain Creek, […]
Two years ago, over Memorial Day weekend, I witnessed a phenomenon in the Uwharries that has proven difficult to explain. I stepped out of the house after dinner and looked toward the grove of majestic oaks surrounded by our fields of native warm season grass. Thousands of lights were flashing in the canopy. It was […]
Is Jim Garges, Mecklenburg County’s normally ebullient director of parks and recreation, fretting right now? He might be, and for much the same reasons that Janette Sadik-Khan worried eight years ago as commissioner of the massive New York City Department of Transportation. For Sadik-Khan, the summer of 2008 was when her staff decided to gamble. […]
Are you new to North Carolina and looking to discover one of the state’s great main streets? Or are you a life-long resident searching for a new place to explore? Or do you want other North Carolinians to know about the great places in your town? Welcome to the fifth annual Great Places in NC […]