The Pacolet Area Conservancy and Walnut Creek Preserve invite the public to attend a free presentation on “Native Grasses in the Carolina Foothills” presented by Bill Stringer, PhD. The program will be held at the Anne Elizabeth Suratt Nature Center at Walnut Creek Preserve on Saturday, Aug. 6, at 10:30 a.m.

The program will discuss “why native and why grasses.” During the presentation, Dr. Stringer will point out the major native grasses in the Piedmont and Foothills.

Dr. Stringer is a retired professor of crop science at Clemson University. He has served the South Carolina Native Plant Society as president, newsletter editor and field trip leader. He also occasionally serves as a consultant on native landscape issues.

To get to Walnut Creek Preserve’s Nature Center from the Tryon and Columbus area, take Hwy. 108 East and turn left on Hwy. 9 toward Lake Lure. Follow Hwy. 9 north for five miles and turn right onto McGuinn Road (at the Exxon Station). Go one mile to the intersection with Big Level Road. Turn left, go 2/10ths of a mile and take the first right onto Aden Green Road. Follow Aden Green for 4/10ths of a mile and turn left on Herbarium Lane and into Walnut Creek Preserve. Take the first left onto Conservatory Lane, which takes you to the parking area for the nature center. (GPS coordinates to the Nature Center are available at the PAC website, Pacolet.org)

For more information or directions from another location, contact the Pacolet Area Conservancy at 828-859-5060 or e-mail landprotection@pacolet.org.

The next PAC/WCP program will be held on Sept. 17, when Melissa Pilgrim, director of research and associate professor of biology at the University of South Carolina Upstate, will present on amphibians.

– article submitted

by Pam Torlina